דריי מדינות נעמען זיך איבער חסידישע עדיוקעישען

The Hasidic leader also says the city has long ignored the state law regarding secular education.

“To put it bluntly, they simply turned a blind eye to what was going on by the Jewish children,” Teitelbaum said. “They didn’t want to look

TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A court has ruled that New Jersey cannot give $11 million in grants to two religious schools

The state appeals court ruled Thursday that the $10.6 million grant to Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva in Lakewood and $645,323 to the Princeton Theological Seminary are unconstitutional

The $10.6 million to Beth Medrash Govoha was granted for a library, research center and new academic space in an existing building. Princeton Theological Seminary was granted the money to upgrade library information technology and a training room and to remodel a conference room

The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State had challenged the grants, made as part of $1.3 billion in grants in April 2013

The lawsuit claimed the grants violated the state constitution’s prohibitions against using taxpayer money for places of worship and giving preference to a religion, as well as violate its stipulation that public money be used for public purposes. In addition, the suit stated the grant awarded to the Beth Medrash Govoha, an all-male Talmudic studies center, violates state law against discrimination based on gender

New Jersey officials argued that the grants were okay because they were meant to pay for buildings and equipment, not worship or ministries

Illegal Hasidic school targeted in youth protection raid

Raid comes as representatives from Batshaw youth services seek access to school


CBC News Posted: Jun 01, 2016 12:06 PM ET Last Updated: Jun 01, 2016 4:39 PM ET


A school bus pulls away from a Hasidic school in Petite-Patry, suspected of operating without an Education Ministry permit. Youth protection officials raided the premises Wednesday. (Ainslie MacLellan/CBC)

An illegal school in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough was the target of a youth protection operation on Wednesday, led by Batshaw Youth and Family Centres with the help of the Montreal police

The school is operated by the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, apparently operating without an Education Ministry permit

About 60 students attend the school, a three-storey brick building featuring a storefront with covered windows on Parc Avenue at the corner of Beaubien Street

There was a heavy police presence at the school on Wednesday

Dozens of Hasidic boys were seen exiting the school, using their hats to cover their faces

Earlier, police escorted a group of a dozen women out of the school and to their cars. Some of them were holding folders, but neither they nor police would confirm if they were teachers in the school

Montreal police assisted Batshaw Youth and Family Centres in a raid on a suspected illegal school in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough on Wednesday. (Simon-Marc Charron/Radio-Canada)


Hersh ber Hirsch, a member of the school's board .... said the raid was not required

"We are certainly not very happy with the trauma caused to the kids, which was not in any way necessary given our co-operation with the [youth services] up until now," he said


Hershber Hirsch, a member of the school's board, said the raid was 'not necessary.' (CBC)


Claire Roy, a spokeswoman for CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal – the regional health and social services agency under which Batshaw falls – would not comment about the nature of the operation, citing the restrictions in Quebec's Youth Protection Act

Police also would not comment

Education Minister Sébastien Proulx would only say he is "aware of the raid," while a spokesperson for the Education Ministry said there isn't a registered school at the location

Debate over religious accommodation


Montreal's Hasidic population is situated mostly in nearby Mile End and in Outremont

Schools in the tight-knit religious community have come under increased scrutiny for failing to comply with Education Ministry requirements

The community has also occasionally been the target of municipal bylaws and a focal point in the province's debate over religious accommodation.

On Monday, Outremont's borough council moved ahead with a controversial bylaw that would ban the establishment of new places of worship, including synagogues, on two main thoroughfares.

The raid comes a day after a report from Radio-Canada about an illegal Hasidic school in Outremont, Beth Esther Academy.

In the report, the all-girls school showed how it was attempting to comply with provincial law by meeting the requirements for home-schooled children.