New York Times headquarters. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
News
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April 25, 2023
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4
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Agudah to the Pulitzers: No award for NYTimes Hasidic yeshiva stories

Advocacy group argues that the explosive investigation is not worthy of the prestigious prize.

Agudath Israel of America, an organization that lobbies on behalf of the Haredi community, is urging the judges of the Pulitzer Prize not to give any of its prestigious awards to the New York Times for its recent coverage of Hasidic yeshivas. In a 30-page letter, Agudah criticized the quality of the Times reporting, and suggested that it may lead to antisemitism.

In September, the Times published an investigative story about how some Hasidic yeshivas offer insufficient secular education and use corporal punishment. The Times found that Hasidic boys schools’ receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the state, citing more than $375 million of government funding the last year before the pandemic. The journalists interviewed over 275 people for the story, including current and former students, teachers, administrators, and parents. Since then, the news outlet has published several more stories on issues related to these yeshivas.

“We believe that awarding these articles, in any way, will be seen not only as a tacit approval and furtherance of offensive, antisemitic tropes, but would diminish the standing of the Pulitzer Prize by celebrating articles of demonstrably poor journalistic integrity,” the letter says.

Marjorie Miller, the administrator of the Pulitzer prizes, confirmed receipt of Agudah’s letter. Miller said the board receives many letters about work produced during the year, but declined to comment further.

According to a former member of the Pulitzer board, who asked to remain anonymous, letters like this are not unusual, and they don’t have an impact unless they raise problems the board views as serious.

Agudah’s letter alleges that the Times articles reinforce antisemitic tropes. “The articles raise and reinforce the notion that Orthodox Jews and their ‘bloc vote’ control and manipulate politicians; that Rabbis hold some kind of menacing, iron grip on their sheep-like congregants; that religious teachers are intrinsically oppressive and abusive to children; and that Hasidic Jews, generally, are inherently corrupt and intent on bilking the system,” it says.

The letter also describes data collected by the Anti-Defamation League and the New York Police Department indicating a rise in antisemitic hate crimes since 2020. The letter quotes ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt as saying that the vast majority of antisemitic attacks target Orthodox Jews.

The letter doesn't draw a direct link between these stories and the rise in antisemitic attacks, and the ADL did not respond to multiple requests from Shtetl seeking such data.

The letter criticizes the Times’s use of sources associated with Young Advocates for Fair Education, an organization that advocates for the government to regulate Hasidic yeshivas more strictly, and Footsteps, an organization that helps those who choose to leave the Orthodox community. Yaffed was formerly led by Naftuli Moster, the editor-in-chief of Shtetl.

Agudah’s recent letter to the Pulitzer board is one of many actions it has taken to criticize the Times investigation; Agudah has also mounted a media and billboard campaign near the Times building in Manhattan.

This work is part of a campaign among Haredi leaders to shed doubt on the Times report. Before the September article was published, state assembly member Simcha Eichenstein, who represents Boro Park, penned an op-ed in the New York Sun accusing the Times of bias.

In February, the New York Times won a George Polk award for its September report on Hasidic yeshivas. Pulitzer Prize winners will be announced on May 8.

District Details

District 29

includes Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and a small part of Rego Park. This area is home to a large Bukharian community and a Litvish community.

  • Lynn Schulman (D, incumbent), who is Jewish, has a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. A member of the council’s LGBTQIA caucus, Schulman signed a letter urging Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBTQ club on campus. Schulman has used discretionary funds to contribute to local causes such as education, youth programs, workforce development, parks and clean-up services; she’s also contributed to a Jewish soup kitchen, local congregations and local Chabad chapters.
  • Ethan Felder (D), who is Jewish, is a union-side labor lawyer. He told Patch he supports raising the city’s minimum wage and hopes to improve public safety by addressing mental health. In 2017, Felder won a case where he worked pro bono to reverse the move of a polling place away from a predominantly African American residential area in Queens. In April 2020, he signed a letter to then-mayor Bill de Blasio that criticized what it described as the mayor’s singling out and heavy-handed policing of the Jewish community and Haredi gatherings during the pandemic. Later, in May 2021, after a major outbreak of violence in Israel and Palestine, Felder organized a rally in Forest Hills in support of Israel.
  • Danniel Maio (R) is a mapmaker. He has criticized bail reform, congestion pricing and COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Sukhjinder Singh Nijjar (D) works at the Queens District Attorney’s office. He has also worked in finance. He told Shtetl his top priorities include funding educational programs to tackle hate crimes and violence and ensuring language access for all languages spoken in his district. He supports QueensLink, a project that looks to provide a new north-south transit link in Queens while also supporting new parks.

District 33

includes the part of Williamsburg west of Wythe Avenue and southeast of Ross Street. This area is one of the centers of the Haredi community; it has a large Satmar population.

  • Lincoln Restler (D, incumbent), who is Jewish, has the support of progressive Jews and Haredim alike. He was endorsed by several Satmar leaders and Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, who represents Boro Park in the state legislature. Restler has also won the support of The Jewish Vote, the political wing of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, a progressive Jewish organization in New York City. In 2022, he attended an annual celebration by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council. He supports policies that would shift the development of affordable housing to nonprofits rather than for-profit businesses. Last year, he released a climate plan for his district designed to reduce emissions, expand green space and infrastructure and build coastal resiliency. He has worked to reduce trash and rats by organizing neighborhood cleanups, adding trash bins, encouraging residents to compost, and using discretionary funding to pay homeless New Yorkers to help provide sanitation services. Restler spoke with The New York Jewish Week about fighting antisemitism. “I am focused on bringing together all groups in the Jewish community to engage with people of other backgrounds and build tolerance to root out this violence,” he said.

District 34

includes portions of northeast Williamsburg, where many Hasidic Jews live.

  • Jennifer Gutiérrez (D, incumbent), a former tenant organizer, has held office since 2021. She supports increasing tenant protections and shifting the development of affordable housing to nonprofits rather than for-profit businesses. She also believes in improving internet access, expanding participatory budgeting, open streets, universal 3K, and reinvesting part of the police’s budget into non-policing alternatives. As a council member, she helped pass a bill to provide no-cost doula services to marginalized neighborhoods. She previously worked as chief of staff to former City Council member Anthony Reynoso, who is now the Brooklyn Borough President. In a survey she completed for New York Jewish Agenda in 2021, Gutiérrez said she thinks the state should inspect Haredi yeshivas and intervene if they are found to not be providing adequate education in English, math and science. She also said the city should fight hate crimes by increasing culturally responsive education and funding community-based organizations dedicated to violence interruption and restorative justice practices.

District 35


includes the southern part of Crown Heights, which houses the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

  • Crystal Hudson (D, incumbent) has held office since 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hudson founded a mutual aid group to help people experiencing food insecurity and economic challenges. After assuming office, she visited the Library of Agudas Chasidei Chabad and met with members of the Jewish community there. As the chair of the City Council’s aging committee, Hudson supports the Fair Pay in Home Care Act, a bill being considered in the state legislature that would increase the minimum wage for home care aides to $22.50 in New York City. In September, Hudson introduced a package of bills to make it easier for older New Yorkers to age in their homes. The bills would ensure a right to counsel for people 60+ who are facing eviction, ensure older adults have access to services in their native language, and make it so that a portion of new apartments built are accessible to people with disabilities, among other things. Hudson’s other priorities include child care, affordable housing and holding the NYPD accountable.‌

District 38

includes a small part of Boro Park northwest of Maimonides Medical Center.

  • Alexa Avilés (D, incumbent) is a democratic socialist. Before joining the City Council, she worked in nonprofits and was a PTA president. As chair of the council’s public housing committee, she supports increasing tenant protections. Her priorities also include defunding the NYPD, investing in social services and expanding public hospitals. Boro Park 24 reported that when Avilés was first elected in 2021, she volunteered at Masbia, a local soup kitchen, and praised its work.
  • Erik Frankel, who is Jewish, is a fourth-generation shoe store owner. His priorities include building affordable housing and supporting trade schools. He supports removing the BQE or placing it underground. In 2021, he told New York Jewish Agenda he supports increasing criminal penalties for hate crimes. He said he doesn’t think the state should investigate Haredi yeshivas, which have reportedly failed to teach students English, math and science.
  • Christopher Skelly (Ind) is a public school custodian and a libertarian who supports the NYPD. If elected to City Council, he hopes to create an Office of Transparency.

District 39

includes part of Boro Park northeast of 42nd Street, and Kensington, where many Haredi Jews also live.

  • Shahana Hanif (D, incumbent), a former tenant organizer, has held office since 2021. As chair of the council’s immigration committee, she supports asylum seekers’ rights. She also advocates defunding the police, expanding protections for small businesses, expanding health services, legalizing basement apartments, and making sure social services are accessible to New Yorkers in their native languages. In 2019, after a group of boys were picked up by the local precinct for throwing eggs at their Jewish neighbors, Hanif brought together a coalition to educate Boro Park and Kensington residents about antisemitism and hate in Bangla and Yiddish.

District 40

includes part of Flatbush, which hosts Sephardic and Haredi communities.

  • Rita Joseph (D, incumbent) is chair of the council’s education committee. Before joining the City Council, she worked at the U.N. and then as a public school teacher. She supports a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and welcomes the asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the city. In an interview with WNYC, she discussed crime; “Neighborhoods that are under-resourced always have the most crimes. So we want to make sure we’re bringing resources into the community to support job training, housing, youth services and education,” she said. “NYPD is part of the solution, but not the whole solution." She also emphasized cleaning up trash on Flatbush Avenue, and she has funded tree planting in the district. Last year, Joseph called attention to antisemitic subway graffiti on Twitter and notified the NYPD and MTA. “I condemn this hate in the strongest possible terms,” she wrote.
District 43

includes part of Boro Park southwest of Maimonides Medical Center, where many Hasidic Jews live. It also includes parts of Bensonhurst and Gravesend, where many Syrian Jews live. Newly created from sections of District 47 as part of the redistricting process, District 43 has no incumbent.

  • Wai Yee Chan (D) is the director of Homecrest Community Services, a nonprofit that serves Asian American immigrants and seniors in Southern Brooklyn. She also serves on the Language Assistance Advisory Committee of the city’s Civic Engagement Commission. Chan told Gotham Gazette that her biggest priorities include public safety, improving services for special needs families, and expanding mental health care so that it covers all seniors in the district.
  • Stanley Ng (D) is a retired computer programmer. His priorities include public safety, improving education, and fighting food insecurity. In 2007, he fought against a free course designed to help students ace admissions tests for elite public high schools. The program emphasized serving Black and Latino students, who are underrepresented at elite public schools. Ng sued the program, arguing that it discriminated against Asian Americans, and the lawsuit was settled.
  • Ying Tan is a candidate for City Council. Shtetl has not been able to find more information about Tan but will update this article when it does.
  • Susan Zhuang (D) is Chief of Staff for state Assemblymember William Colton, who represents parts of South Brooklyn. Her priorities include education, safety, and combating hate crimes. According to an interview with Gotham Gazette, she wants to increase funding for the NYPD.
District 44

includes most of Boro Park, one of the centers of the Haredi community. Communities in Boro Park include the Hasidic sects Bobov, Ger, Satmar, Belz, Munkatch and more. Some Litvish, Sephardic and Modern Orthodox Jews also live in Boro Park.

  • Kalman Yeger (D, incumbent) is an Orthodox Jewish lawyer, who has represented Boro Park since 2017. He succeeded David Greenfield, who went on to become the CEO of the Met Council. In 2019, Yeger was removed from the council’s immigration committee when he said “Palestine does not exist.” Yeger has used discretionary funding for Holocaust education, youth programs, workforce development, fighting domestic violence, services for elderly New Yorkers and more; he’s also supported local Jewish organizations. According to City and State, however, Yeger has never asked the council speaker to fund projects in his district, something most other council members do, as a way of accessing  more discretionary funding. After the New York Times published an investigation of Haredi yeshivas, detailing their failure to provide secular education and the corporal punishment that students there face, Yeger defended the education that these schools provide. Yeger successfully opposed plans for a new apartment building at 1880 Coney Island Avenue. He also opposed a proposal that would require car owners to get permits to park in residential areas.
  • Heshy Tischler (R) is an Orthodox Jewish landlord, radio show host, and permit expediter for construction companies. He garnered wider attention in 2020, when he protested against COVID-19 restrictions in Boro Park. He later pled guilty to inciting a riot against a journalist who was covering those protests for Jewish Insider. He also attracted controversy for sexist comments about former mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray. He supports Donald Trump and the NYPD. Tischler volunteers for multiple causes, including helping people with special needs. If elected, he hopes to decrease bureaucracy, build youth centers and drug rehabilitation centers, support after-school childcare programs, and introduce legislation to support landlords and small business owners against late payment fees. Tischler supports Haredi yeshivas’ independence.
District 46

includes Marine Park, where the Haredi population has grown in recent years as some have been priced out of other Brooklyn Haredi enclaves.

  • Mercedes Narcisse (D, incumbent) has represented parts of Southeast Brooklyn in the City Council since 2021. Narcisse was a nurse for 30 years and also ran her own business. Her priorities include access to mental health care, after-school programs, sports, and music programs for youth. She hopes to help bring ferry service to Canarsie.
District 47

includes Coney Island and a small part of Gravesend. The old District 47, which includes Bensonhurst and Gravesend, is currently represented by Ari Kagan. Because of redistricting, that district has been divided into other districts. In this unusual situation, Kagan has been left to battle the sitting City Council member of District 43, Justin Brannan, to represent the new District 47.

  • Justin Brannan (D, incumbent) represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach in the City Council. As chair of the council’s finance committee, Brannan has a powerful role in shaping the city budget. When he campaigned for office in 2017, he was criticized for taking money from real estate interests and accused of neglecting to disclose all campaign expenses. While in office, he has cosponsored and helped pass the city’s new salary transparency law and, according to Brooklyn Paper, was instrumental in bringing to Bay Ridge a ferry route that goes express to Wall Street. He hopes to help bring a ferry to Coney Island, too. Appearing on WNYC, Brannan called public safety his first priority and suggested that much of the discourse surrounding crime is driven by hysteria generated by right-wing news media. “When you walk down the street, do you really not feel safe, or do you not feel safe because the New York Post and Fox News is telling you that you shouldn’t feel safe?” he said.
  • Ari Kagan (R, incumbent) is a Jewish immigrant from Belarus whose parents survived the Holocaust. He has represented parts of South Brooklyn in the City Council since 2021. He has also worked as a journalist for Russian-language media. His priorities include supporting the NYPD, increasing access to mental health services and restoring the Coney Island Boardwalk. In 2022, Kagan switched parties from Democrat to Republican because he disagreed with Democrats over public safety and other issues. Speaking to NY1, Kagan attributed recent antisemitic attacks to bail reform.
  • Anthony Batista Perez (D), a U.S. Army veteran, worked for state Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus, who represents parts of southern Brooklyn in the legislature.
  • Anna Belfiore-Delfaus (R) is a public school special education teacher who strongly supports the NYPD and opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
  • Avery Pereira (R) is a public school special education teacher. He supports the NYPD and advocates cutting property taxes for middle-class homeowners by 15%.
  • Michael Ragusa (R) is an associate director of operations at Rikers Island. He is also a podcaster and former EMT. He supports increasing the number of police on streets, in parks and on subway platforms, and cracking down on fare evasion. Ragusa’s other priorities include helping small businesses, improving education, improving mental health services, and improving subway and bus service.

District 48

includes portions of Flatbush, along with Sheepshead Bay, which has a large Haredi community and a large Russian and Ukrainian Jewish community.

  • Inna Vernikov (R, incumbent) is a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant. She is a lawyer who has represented parts of southern Brooklyn in the City Council since 2021. As a council member, she has protested COVID-19 vaccine mandates. She also organized a march against antisemitism after a man was attacked in Bay Ridge for wearing an Israel Defense Forces hoodie. Previously a Donald Trump supporter, she condemned the former president in 2022 after he had dinner with prominent antisemites Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Nick Fuentes. Vernikov stopped giving discretionary funding to The Museum of Jewish Heritage after it allegedly barred Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from speaking there. She also cut discretionary funding to the CUNY School of Law after its faculty council passed a pro-BDS resolution. Vernikov’s priorities also include supporting the NYPD and reducing trash and rats in her district.
  • Amber Adler (D), who is Orthodox Jewish, has worked in communications, marketing, and politics. Adler spent two years as an agunah (a woman whose husband won’t grant her a divorce under Jewish law) and made an appearance on the controversial reality show “My Unorthodox Life” to advocate for women escaping abusive marriages. Along with women’s rights, Adler’s biggest priorities include tenant rights, health care, the environment, supporting small businesses, expanding childcare, supporting students with special needs, and making the city more accessible to people with disabilities. She also hopes to break language barriers by providing access to information in residents’ native languages, including Yiddish. In a survey she completed for New York Jewish Agenda in 2021, Adler indicated that she supports increasing penalties for hate crimes. She also said she would consider supporting investigations and interventions in Haredi yeshivas on a case-by-case basis.
  • Igor Kazatsker (R) has worked as a journalist for Russian-language media. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was also general manager of the American Forum of Russian Jewry-Russian American Jews for Israel.
District 50

includes Staten Island neighborhoods Willowbrook and Manor Heights which, in the last few years, have become home to many Hasidic families.

  • David Carr (R, incumbent) hopes to expand the size of the city’s police force and restore qualified immunity, a legal principle that protects police officers from certain civil rights lawsuits. New York City banned qualified immunity in 2021. “I think we need to do more to empower the police, raise morale so we have fewer people seeking to retire or resign from the department, and then also have a plan to rebuild to get us to a point where we have a police force that’s actually adequate to police a city that’s closer and closer to 9 million people,” Carr told WNYC. Recently, the council passed his bill to lower interest rates for some property tax late fees. He criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

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