News & Information for the Week of
March 21st - March 25th, 2021
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As we prepare to celebrate Pesach, we are reminded that it has been an entire year without our late leader, the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow zt"l. Countless times during the past year we wished we could have had the Rebbe with us to seek his guidance. Instead, we were left trying to guess what the Rebbe would have said.
In commemoration of the Rebbe's first yahrtzeit, a documentary film was produced (watch here), several speakers shared their memories at the Daf Yomi Siyum event on Sunday, and Agudah shared a collection of the Rebbe's writings (here).
As Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rosh Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, said this week, the Rebbe's funeral was sadly notable because of the only dozen or so people who were allowed to attend due to COVID, rather than the tens of thousands that would have been expected for such a leader.
Tragically, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from COVID-19, and many families, including many in our own community, struggled to pay the funeral costs. Thanks to Senator Chuck Schumer (NY-D) and others, a funeral reimbursement grant was included in the December stimulus relief bill and expanded in the most recent American Rescue Plan Act. This week, FEMA announced some of the preliminary details of the funeral grant program. We will provide more information and guidance as it becomes available. See below for additional provisions of the recent bill and our letter thanking Senator Schumer.
Earlier this week, Agudath Israel of America condemned the alarming increase of attacks against Americans of Asian background calling it deplorable and tragic. Separately, we condemned the offensive rhetoric being used in the gubernatorial recall campaign in California. Both statements can be found below.
As school choice continues to advance in several states, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear vetoed House Bill 563, denying thousands of parents educational opportunities. The bill now goes back to the Legislature for a possible veto override.
The Israeli Ministry of Justice has asked us to share with you about the availability of unclaimed money belonging to Holocaust victims. Holocaust survivors and their family members can review and search the list by clicking here. Requests for restitution of an asset to its rightful heirs can be submitted through the this website, as well.
Congratulations to my colleague Mrs. Leah Steinberg, director, Project LEARN, Special Education Affairs of the Agudah, on her reappointment as a member of New York State's Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council (DDAC).
On behalf of the leadership and staff of Agudath Israel of America, we wish you and your families a Happy Passover and Chag Kasher V'Sameach!
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The American Rescue Plan: Agudath Israel Thanks Senator Schumer for Including Nonpublic Schools in COVID Relief Bill - Benefits for Families and Nonprofits Also Applauded
As we wrote about last week (here) the newest COVID relief bill had many provisions that will benefit individuals and our nonprofit institutions especially schools. Agudath Israel thanked Senator Schumer for his role in the public letter below,
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Scott Stringer Joins the Agudah Voting Project for a Virtual Town Hall
As part of the continuing efforts of the Agudah Voting Project, our New York office hosted a town hall Zoom meeting with New York City mayoral candidate Scott Stringer.
The Agudah Voting Project has held virtual town events previously with mayoral candidates Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan, Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Maya Wiley, and Andrew Yang and is looking forward to town halls scheduled for additional candidates after Pesach.
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Agudath Israel Condemns Anti-Asian Hatred as "Deplorable and Tragic"
The alarming increase of attacks against Americans of Asian background is disgraceful, and Agudath Israel of America condemns it unreservedly.
On Sunday in New York alone, a woman of Asian descent was thrown to the ground, another was hit in the face with a metal pipe and a third punched in the face.
Such hateful violence, and the thousands of reported -- and likely many more unreported -- incidents of verbal abuse suffered by innocent Asian-Americans over the past year must deeply concern us all. It is particularly painful to the Jewish community, which has itself endured, and continues to endure, ignorance-fueled hatred and violence.
That our country is the most diverse large nation on earth is its greatest merit and strength. Attempts by senseless bigots to mistreat Americans because of their ethnic or religious heritages are deplorable and tragic.
May we merit that the Creator guide all human hearts to compassion and good will.
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No Room for Nazi Comparisons: Agudath Israel Condemns the use of Holocaust Imagery in California Governor Recall Campaign
Whatever one’s position on the initiative to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom, there should be no room for the sort of offensive rhetoric that has emerged in some corners.
Social media posts with pictures of the governor sporting a small mustache and captioned “Adolph Newsome” are nothing short of abhorrent. To express opposition to the possibility of a mask mandate during a pandemic by invoking imagery of Americans being marched into a furnace crosses the clear line of decency, obscenely trivializing the pain and destruction suffered by the victims of the Nazis and their sympathizers during the Holocaust.
Whatever one’s views on the recall initiative, employing abhorrent images and words to further those views is simply unacceptable.
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Click on the image above to watch the webinar |
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Agudath Israel of America's division of government affairs is engaged in advocacy and legislative outreach activities on the local, state, and federal levels. In so doing, Agudath Israel seeks to protect the rights and advance the interests of observant Jews and their growing network of educational and religious institutions; and to offer a uniquely Orthodox Jewish perspective on contemporary issues of public concern.
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