Lakewood, NJ – It appears the Thanksgiving school bus debate in Lakewood is calming as bus companies say they’re willing to send out drivers on morning routes and private school say they don’t necessarily need buses on the holiday.
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About 18,000 students — or three-fourths of the school-age kids in the central New Jersey town — attend Orthodox Jewish schools.
While the schools, about 65 in number, are private, the public school district is legally obligated to provide transportation for them. The school district hires several private busing firms for the job. And under state law, they’re required to transport the students whenever school is in session, Monday through Friday, September through June.
And unlike Christian private schools, the Orthodox ones aren’t giving students and staff the day off for Thanksgiving.
In years past, the schools have given the bus companies the day off.
But this year, some said they wanted their services. That set off tensions in the last few days.
School board lawyer Michael Inzelbuch said that one company put in writing that it would not send out drivers on the holiday, and two others said the same thing by phone.
But by Thursday afternoon, he said, things were looking better. He said all the bus companies said they would provide service, at least for morning routes.
Meanwhile, 10 of the schools said they would not need busing at all and more than 20 said they would need it only in the morning. He said most of the rest are still deciding what to do.
Inzelbuch has said he’d buy dessert for all the drivers who end up working the holiday.
“We are very confident this will all be resolved,” he said.
why can frum people observe American holidays, that are not religigiuos
you live in the country, get all the benefits of citizenship.
yet behave that any holiday even July 4 is goyish. I have head that from many if not most frum people
then you wonder why people say that Jews (really frum jews) are really not loyal to any country they live in
it seems there is some truth to it
Think of the bus drivers that would have to go out on one of the biggest holidays of the year. Seriously lack of mentchlechkeit on the part of the schools.
We also have this problem every year on Xmas. Most of the parents have off that day so you can drive or it’s easy to find a ride with someone.
In Lakewood most of the parents do not have the day off on Xmas.
They do however get off on nittel, the night before Xmas.
I thinks its a chutzpa what these bus companies are doing. It is the drivers job he should do it for these wonderful frum children not giving into the shtus of thanksgiving
Inzelbuch has said he’d buy dessert for all the drivers who end up working the holiday.
that will do it, I will not spend my time with my family on thanksgiving like i have for many years to get some pudding.
pay them overtime for working on a holiday maybe then
It was a moronic idea to begin with. Nice way to start schism between the bus drivers and frum community. Pure arrogance.
Not really understanding the opposed ppl. If the contract says that when school is open there will be busing, then that’s it. Not sure why this is getting heated up. A lot of ppl are off for TG, on the other hand a lot of ppl work. Either way an agreement is an agreement. I wish new York had a contract like this, bit they don’t, so every little holiday or voting day or PTA day etc… There is no busing. But that is the contract.
Derech Eretz Kadma La’Torah! Unfortunatly we’ve just done the opposite. This could have been a great Kavod Habrios lesson instead what the kids walk away with is, if you have enough clout you can get what you want. Mentchlechkeit lost today!
Why doesn’t the Jewish community celebrate Thanksgiving? It isn’t a religious holiday, it’s an American holiday. This is a Holiday for everyone in the USA, aren’t Jews Americans?
Instead of showing appreciation for the non jews who respect us in this country and don’t make us work on shabbos and yom tov we turn around and spit in their faces. A nation that has no daas.
Its kind of crazy for Lakewood people to make a whole fuss about this and make this big news. They get enough benefits frome the state and now they want more benefits that they arent entitled to. Its a poor shame that the fathers can now spend 20 minutes driving their kids to school before they go off learning and not earn a living.
It is clear that the religious schools can decline the bus service if they so desire (and some of them are doing just that). The right thing to do would be for the remaining schools to also decline the bus service. If it is so important that our tayere yungen go to school on Thanksgiving, their parents can be moser nefesh a little to drive them.
If YOU want the gentiles to respect you, then YOU better respect them.
Firstly what most of you are missing is that ON THANKSGIVING most businesses are closed!!! They open Thursday late at night for the black Friday sales. That being said, govt. offices, banks & business are closed on thanksgiving & unless you work for a jew (which i do & he is closed for thanksgiving) most people are off on thanksgiving, so parents it will not kill you to carpool your kids once in a while & if you do have to go in to work, then work something out with a friend or neighbor!!! it works wonders in Brooklyn. Yes!!! Every legal holiday & then some including Sundays I carpool my kids to school & I always end up enjoying the extra time I get with my kids in the car!!! this whole attitude of me!!me!!me!! makes the rest of us frum jews embarrassed to be affiliated with the ME crowd!!!!
by the way my girls have school (with no bus) on thanksgiving but my boys are off & in both the schools teach the kids the importance of thanksgiving and at night at home we have a big turkey dinner with all the trimming & the kids talk about all that they are thankful for. Its a great opportunity to teach our kids about saying thank you!!!!
I am shocked, amazed and disappointed in the Lakewood community. I grew up there when it was a small town and the yeshiva was located in a rikkity old building on Forest Ave. I was there when Reb Aharon was niftar. I am a product of the Bezalel Hebrew Day School and I turned out okay. Raised my kids to be erlicher Yidden and mentchen. But wake up, folks. Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. If we cannot live in Eretz Yisroel then I think we should be grateful that we are in the USA. Thanksgiving is a day when families come together. What is wrong with that? My parents are Holocaust survivors and celebrated Thanksgiving every year. They were grateful to be here and alive. So all you fellow Lakewooders — lighten up. Be happy you have bus transportation at all. One day won’t kill you if you have to carpool. Here we have to do it an entire week until January. There are other things that the Lakewood community should be worried about–not one day of no bus service!!!
Reb Moshe Feinstein wrote about Thanksgiving in a Teshuva. I don’t have it in front of me, but I definitely did see it “inside” in the original Hebrew. He stated that Thanksgiving is NOT a religious holiday, and “BeHukuseikhem’ does not apply. I had a Rebbi/Magid Shiur from the East Side who was close to Rav Moshe z”l. He said that it’s OK to observe Thanksgiving – the intent of the Holiday is that every American should give thanks to the A-mighty in their own way. As Orthodox Jews, we do give thanks to Hashem in our prayers thrice daily, and the fact that the government asks us to set a side a time to thank Him does not contradict our religious obligations. The Rebbi said, however, that we are not required to eat turkey, although we may, if we desire so….
Rav Avigdor Miller zya taught that yidden may not eat turkey to honor thanksgiving day but they should put out a flag