onionsoupmix (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} onionsoupmix) wrote,@ 2009-02-26 21:20:00 |
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Neshei Newsletter
This is copied from a letter to the editor in the most recent Neshei Chabad Newsletter. This is one of the primary chabad publications in English and it is sent to shluchim all over the world. I am copying the letter directly, emphasis mine.
Non Jewish Babysitters
Shock #1: Coming home from shul on Yom Kippur, I noticed two little children outside alone. I looked around for a parent, but saw only a lady wearing pants who didn't look Jewish. I got scared. What if she was dangerous? How shocked I was to learn that she was their babysitter.
Shock #2: On my way to shul on Shabbos, I saw a little girl crying on the sidewalk next to an apartment building. By the time I got close, a non-Jewish-looking woman had come out to look for her. When the girl saw her, she ran away and cried harder. The lady ran after and picked her up angrily and carried her back to the apartment. I tried to ask her who the child was so I could call her parents, but she made sure to leave quickly.
Shock #3: I saw two non-Jewish women strolling down the avenue, talking to each other, pushing two Jewish children in strollers. The children were snacking on some packaged snacks. Were the snacks kosher?
Dearest parents, how can you put your child in the hands of a non-Jew? Do you think that that lady you hired cares about your child? There is a halacha, "Eisav sonei es Yaakov" ( Rashi on Breishis 33:4). She will not show it to you, but how can you trust her not to poison your precious child with goyisheh lullabies, treifeh candies, callousness or malice? Young children cannot tell their parents how their day was. And if they are old enough to talk, their babysitters may have warned them to keep their mouths shut. Don't be naive! The worst Jewish babysitter will be 100% better for your Jewish child than the best non-Jew! If it's a problem of money, pool together and find a Jewish woman to watch two or more children at a time. I can assure you she'll do a better job than a non-Jewish woman watching just your child.
The next letter on this topic suggests that in the light of the gentile babysitter who saved Moshe Holtzberg, the little boy from Mumbai, perhaps it may be okay to hire a gentile, if she is significantly cheaper than a Jewish nanny. However, " in an ideal world, this person would also be Jewish and frum."
Frankly, I don't even know what to write in response. Should I tell you about my friend whose young daughter was molested by a frum babysitter and is now happily thriving a non-Jewish preschool? Should I tell you about the hundreds of geirim who will read this and be offended beyond belief? Should I talk about how people in chabad houses will pick up this newsletter and read this crap and walk out? Should I link you to blog posts by a "shabbos goy" who writes about how she is treated by frum people? Do you want to hear about frum schools where corporal punishment is still acceptable?
This is copied from a letter to the editor in the most recent Neshei Chabad Newsletter. This is one of the primary chabad publications in English and it is sent to shluchim all over the world. I am copying the letter directly, emphasis mine.
Non Jewish Babysitters
Shock #1: Coming home from shul on Yom Kippur, I noticed two little children outside alone. I looked around for a parent, but saw only a lady wearing pants who didn't look Jewish. I got scared. What if she was dangerous? How shocked I was to learn that she was their babysitter.
Shock #2: On my way to shul on Shabbos, I saw a little girl crying on the sidewalk next to an apartment building. By the time I got close, a non-Jewish-looking woman had come out to look for her. When the girl saw her, she ran away and cried harder. The lady ran after and picked her up angrily and carried her back to the apartment. I tried to ask her who the child was so I could call her parents, but she made sure to leave quickly.
Shock #3: I saw two non-Jewish women strolling down the avenue, talking to each other, pushing two Jewish children in strollers. The children were snacking on some packaged snacks. Were the snacks kosher?
Dearest parents, how can you put your child in the hands of a non-Jew? Do you think that that lady you hired cares about your child? There is a halacha, "Eisav sonei es Yaakov" ( Rashi on Breishis 33:4). She will not show it to you, but how can you trust her not to poison your precious child with goyisheh lullabies, treifeh candies, callousness or malice? Young children cannot tell their parents how their day was. And if they are old enough to talk, their babysitters may have warned them to keep their mouths shut. Don't be naive! The worst Jewish babysitter will be 100% better for your Jewish child than the best non-Jew! If it's a problem of money, pool together and find a Jewish woman to watch two or more children at a time. I can assure you she'll do a better job than a non-Jewish woman watching just your child.
The next letter on this topic suggests that in the light of the gentile babysitter who saved Moshe Holtzberg, the little boy from Mumbai, perhaps it may be okay to hire a gentile, if she is significantly cheaper than a Jewish nanny. However, " in an ideal world, this person would also be Jewish and frum."
Frankly, I don't even know what to write in response. Should I tell you about my friend whose young daughter was molested by a frum babysitter and is now happily thriving a non-Jewish preschool? Should I tell you about the hundreds of geirim who will read this and be offended beyond belief? Should I talk about how people in chabad houses will pick up this newsletter and read this crap and walk out? Should I link you to blog posts by a "shabbos goy" who writes about how she is treated by frum people? Do you want to hear about frum schools where corporal punishment is still acceptable?
