24 minute read
Faint Discipline by Rafi Sackville
Israel Today Faint Discipline
By Rafi Sackville
During a Shabbos meal at a friend’s house, the topic of discussion turned to disciplining school children. How, I was asked, did I manage to control the large classes that I taught? While pondering the question, my host – who is also a teacher – mentioned that there are occasions when raising one’s voice is a classroom management necessity.
His eldest daughter, a mother of three young girls, who was visiting from Netanya, reminded him that, when she was small girl, she would faint when he’d raise his voice at her.
Fascinated, I asked her if she had used it as a ruse to mitigate her father’s anger and escape his wrath. She shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know why it happened. All I can remember is the flow of blood draining southwards from my head, and then everything going black.”
“Did it work?” I asked her.
“Yes, he rarely yelled at me after it occurred a couple of times. But that was a long time ago. It doesn’t happen anymore.”
I’ve been teaching for over 35 years. Early into my professional career I realized that raising my voice as a disciplinary tool was mostly a waste of time and energy.
It is worth noting that, in general, there are differences between Israeli and American students. Some of those differences aren’t exactly subtle. I live in the periphery where over 40% of our students are categorized as learning “challenged.” These students can be as unstable as a house of cards. Some of the students possess a boldness that can often result in uncomfortable classroom situations. If one’s arsenal includes yelling, it’d best be done if you do it for show and not from anger. The louder you raise your voice in anger, the less likely you are going to be heard. In my neck of the woods, yelling is sometimes an invitation for a student to yell back in response.
I’ve observed that quick-draw responses by Israeli students are often a manifestation of a lack of confidence: a form of defense that so many young people employ when they feel threatened. When they do yell, they’re sent to the principal for a dressing down, which, in most, instances only puts a temporary halt to hostilities.
It’s not pleasant. For example, Tehila, a senior, will not suffer being told she’s in the wrong. Any hint of castigation by a teacher, and she lashes out without thought. And yet, when the conversation is on her terms – that is, when the teacher defers to her as an equal – she is as pleasant as pleasant can be.
Her friend Li-em reacts similarly, only she does it with a sense of humor. During one lesson, I asked her twice to concentrate on her work. As I was about to do it a third time, she pointed one finger at me and replied with a cunning grin, “I’m listening to you, but I’ve got other things to do.”
Secondly, when I was teaching in New York, the formal distance maintained between students and teachers always began with them calling me Mr. Sackville. That small formality is an important tool that delineates territory. In most Israeli schools (I exclude yeshivot and girls’ schools), teachers are called by their first names. This familiarity oftentimes leads students to overstep this formal red-line, and once they enter a world of informality, they – not many of them –have one less barrier on their way to a lack of respect.
Thirdly, one cannot underestimate the underlying existential threat that hovers over Israel. Over the last 73 years this has transformed the population into millions of prime ministers, each knowing better than the next what is good for the country and how to solve its ills. This brazenness is as present among teenagers as it is among their parents and grandparents.
Sitting with some parents can be a harrowing experience. Their child may have broken every rule in the book, may have blackened an eye or threatened a teacher. It matters not because some parents will support their children to the hilt. One mother I know screamed at me for not passing her daughter. After it was made clear to her that this wasn’t the case and that her daughter had, in fact, passed, the mother offered no apology. It was as if she hadn’t yelled at me in the first place.
I’ve known teachers who have come from abroad and have not succeeded in bridging the “expectations” they have of their Israeli students and how they expect them to behave in class.
As simplistic as it sounds, I found the formula for success in the classroom boils down to this: just love all students regardless; show them respect and they will return it in spades; don’t set your expectations too high; never consider your position in a classroom as a vehicle of power. Most importantly, know that teachers have flaws and can improve their performance in class. This will help any teacher to strive to be better.
I couldn’t help thinking about my friend’s daughter and her fits of fainting. In my eyes she was, without being aware of it, educating her father how to deal with her. Her sensitivity might have come at a cost, but those around her quickly discovered how to relate to her without hurting her feelings.
Later that week, my wife asked me to do a household chore – nothing more than to move a vase from point A to B. I was feeling lazy and feigned hearing her. Again, she asked. Again, I ignored her. She then raised her voice a little louder and asked me again. So I fainted. At least I pretended to faint.
Did it work, you might ask? Let me put it this way; the vase, which I quickly moved, looks much better where it is now. I’ll never pull that stunt again.
Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.
TJH Speaks with David Weprin, Candidate for NYC Comptroller
BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Assemblyman Weprin, the elections for NYC comptroller are on June 22 but early voting has already started. How has the race been going?
It’s been going very well. We’re building a lot of endorsements that we haven’t announced yet, particularly in the Orthodox Jewish community. We’ve got the Flatbush Orthodox Coalition’s endorsement and the Borough Park Orthodox Coalition and the Far Rockaway Orthodox Coalition, the Queens Orthodox Coalition – these are not necessarily the names of the coalitions, but the Orthodox leaders and their coalitions in those areas are endorsing us. We’re working on Williamsburg as well. So we’re doing well with the Orthodox Jewish community.
I’ve always had strong support in the South Asian community because that’s been an important part of my constituency, mostly Indian community. And I have very strong support in Queens County because I’m supported by Congressman Greg Meeks and the Queens Democratic Organization. So that’s where we expect to do very well.
You’re running for New York City comptroller, which is a position not just in the borough of Queens. What about support in the other boroughs in New York City?
Well, that’s why I mentioned all those Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, which there is generally a heavy turnout. Especially in the Hasidic community, they often vote as a bloc.
You’re not new to the political scene. You’ve been a councilman; you’ve been an assemblyman. Tell us a little bit more about your background.
I’m an attorney by training. Then I went into Governor Mario Cuomo’s administration as deputy superintendent of banking for the state, or deputy commissioner for banking for the state. Then I went on to a 25year Wall Street career in municipal finance with major firms, all very relevant experience to the comptroller’s office. The comptroller has a division that handles public finance or bond issues for capital projects, for housing, for schools. So that’s all very relevant experience.
Then I got elected to the City Council in 2001 and immediately became chair of the Finance Committee. I chaired the Finance Committee for eight consecutive years where I balanced eight consecutive budgets without layoffs and without major budget cuts.
The other thing about my tenure as finance chair is that it was during two fiscal crises in the City of New York. The first one was right after 9/11, when I came in with Mayor Bloomberg and we had a multi-billion-dollar deficit because of 9/11. The city was devastated. Manhattan, especially downtown Manhattan, was devastated. We turned around the economy. We created a lot of programs with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in the Finance Committee.
But the main thing to note is that I balanced budgets during two fiscal crises. Right now, we’re going to be going through the same thing. We got significant aid from Washington due to Covid-19, so we closed up our gaps in the economy. We closed the gap at the state level, which would have been about five billion, and we closed that in April with the state budget based on the federal stimulus money. And we are going to be closing the City budget because of the federal aid. But that’s only good for a year – it’s a one-time bonus. Because of the devastation of small businesses, the devastation of the tax revenue because of Covid-19, we’re anticipating a four-to-five-billion-dollar deficit every year for the next three or four years. That’s pretty significant, and you need somebody who has actually balanced budgets and who has made tough decisions to be in the comptroller’s position.
After doing that, I got elected to the Assembly in a special election in February 2010. I’ve been in the Assembly for the last 11 and a half years. I’ve chaired the Committee on People with Disabilities. I now chair the Corrections Committee, and I’ve been on the Ways and Means Committee, which is a finance committee, most of my time in the Assembly.
I don’t think anybody running for comptroller now or at any time has had that type of background, especially when we’re facing a major fiscal crisis.
Absolutely. You have the experience balancing budgets and supporting the economy in addition to your political background. Tell me about some of the accomplishments that you’re most proud of as assemblyman or as councilman.
Well, as well as councilman, I’m most proud of balancing eight budgets during very tough fiscal times. As a member of the Assembly for the last 11 years, I’m particularly proud of two pieces of legislation that became law that took me a long time to get. In one case, the bill had been around the Legislature for over 50 years and had
never really gotten anywhere, and it finally actually became law under my advocacy for about eight or nine years on that particular bill.
What was that bill about?
It’s called the Adoptee Bill of Rights. It allowed adult adoptees, once they become 18 years of age, to have access to their original birth certificates. It’s very meaningful, and it actually changed so many people’s lives.
In New York State, since 1938, original birth certificates are sealed at adoption, which means that they exist and that they’re still maintained by the Department of Health in every county in the state, and in the case of New York City, at the New York City Department of Health. Every county has their own health department throughout the state, but they actually contain the original birth certificates that are sealed. And why is that so key? Because it has the names and addresses of the original birth parents, which is significant because it has enabled adoptees to actually find their birth parents or find out that they have siblings that they didn’t know existed or to get medical history.
That bill has actually changed a lot of lives because it’s reunited families. The Agudath Yisrael was strongly behind the bill because from a halachic Jewish point of view, if you don’t know who your biological parents are, you don’t know whether you’re really Jewish, you don’t know who’s who. G-d forbid, you don’t want siblings to marry if they don’t know that they’re siblings. There are all sorts of halachic implications. And so, they actually strongly supported the bill as well.
Why was that something that was close to your heart?
Because it changed so many lives. It wasn’t that I had personal experience with adoption. When the advocates had come to me, I was very surprised that that was the case in New York. I think 12 or 13 states have adopted similar laws to New York’s. This bill that I pushed through changed a lot of lives and is very important to me.
Another piece of legislation that I advocated for, which is important to so many religions and our diverse communities, is the religious garb law which would prohibit discrimination in all employment, public or private, for wearing religious garb or facial hair for religious reasons. That’s an important bill to the Orthodox Jewish community and the Hasidic community who often have long beards and hats and peyos and are often discriminated against. Particularly when it comes to being a police officer or a firefighter or uniformed agencies, they have all these rules. We’ve changed that.
It’s also very important to the Sikh community. Sikhs have long beards and turbans, and they’ve been discriminated against for many years, and it’s also important to the Muslim community, particularly Muslim women who cover their hair, as Orthodox Jewish women do, but also have been discriminated against for the way they look. As long as your religious dress doesn’t interfere with what you’re doing for your business, you cannot be discriminated against.
In the case of the Sikh community, grandchildren. They all went to yeshiva except for the little one who’s two, and who will be going soon. I’ve been a strong supporter of tax credits for yeshiva because, obviously, tuition has been a burden on yeshiva parents.
I’ve also fought for programs to allow a college saver-type program, which you can pay with pre-tax dollars – setting aside money for college and taking that out of pre-tax dollars and investing the money out of pretax dollars so you’re not taxed on it. I have legislation to have that apply to private school and yeshiva tuition, too, because in the case of yeshiva parents, in particular, most feel that they don’t have a choice about sending their children to yeshiva. It’s part of their religion and part of their culture. They’re paying the same taxes that are supposed to cover the public school system, so it seems fair that they should be getting some tax credit for paying what has become increasingly large yeshiva tuitions each and every year. It’s become a real burden to middle class families.
the bill arose out of a story involving an operator of the E train who had a beard and turban and wore it during 9/11. The E train went into the World Trade Center. He actually saved lives during 9/11, and then he got fired from the MTA after 9/11. The MTA had received hundreds of calls from the public saying that there was a terrorist driving the E train because he looked like Osama bin Laden with his beard and turban. There was a lot of ignorance by the people. But we changed that in New York State, that he can’t be fired for his religious garb.
Speaking of religion, you are an Orthodox Jew.
Yes. I’m frum. My kids all went to yeshiva. I have five children and six There are some candidates for comptroller who are promising voters free air conditioning, free Internet, help with the utility bills. How can they promise something to voters when it’s really not something that the comptroller can give to residents?
Look, most people don’t understand what the comptroller is. I understand the job because when I was on Wall Street for 25 years, I’ve always had the City of New York, or the firm had, as the client, and I’ve always been involved one way or another in the issuance of bonds. I know that part of the job.
I know the asset management part because when I was on Wall Street, I also chaired the Securities Industry Association which dealt with all aspects of Wall Street and Wall Street firms. And that’s another major part of the job.
And the audit function, which is really a check on the mayor, is a major part. What I’ve been saying is I think we should be auditing these large outside contracts which have never been the focus of the controller’s audit, and it should be because the Department of Education alone has an eight billion dollar outside contracting budget. There’s a lot of fraud and waste. I’m sure they could be discovered by auditing some of these contracts. Most of them have never been looked at because the city charter requires
the comptroller to audit some aspect of every city agency only once every four years. To me, that’s not frequent enough. We should be looking to audit at least some aspect of every agency every year. And we should also look to audit the large outside contracts.
The other thing that I plan on doing is that I want to open up an office in every borough. Right now, there’s only one office in the municipal building in downtown Manhattan near City Hall. It’s not accessible to the public, and I think the comptroller’s office should be accessible to the public. We have seven-hundred-sixty employees all in that one place in downtown Manhattan, and we can move some of the employees into borough offices. There’s no reason why we can’t, borough-wide, deal with issues on a borough-by-borough basis.
At those borough offices, I want to help small businesses in those areas to try to bring back small businesses. Small businesses, which have been devastated by the pandemic, result in over 50 percent of the employment in New York City. And that’s been devastated. Unemployment is at a record high because of the pandemic. It’s going to take a while to get out of it. We have to focus on bringing back small businesses.
Additionally, until we get a handle on public safety, we’re not going to get a handle on bringing New York City back. It’s already had a major effect on the economy. It’s had a major effect on the tax revenue. It’s had a major effect on tourism. We have to reopen New York City, reopen all those buildings in Manhattan, but people have to feel safe. A lot of people aren’t taking the subway because they’re afraid, and all of these incidents seem to be almost every day – another stabbing or a shooting.
Around 1991, 1992, we had a major public safety crisis, a major crime surge. Brian Watkins was a tourist who came from another state, and he was taking the subway to the US Open. He got stabbed on the subway, and that became a call to arms, so to speak. We have to do something
about the crime situation in New York City. Last week, a 10-year-old boy in Far Rockaway was killed by a stray bullet. It seems to be every week, every day, there’s another thing.
I’m the only one in the comptroller race talking about public safety as a major issue, and that’s one of the reasons why I was endorsed by every police union. I’m getting criticized for that. We had a debate last night and one of my opponents criticized me – how could I accept the endorsement of the heads of the police union because they’re racist and they support police abuse, which is not true. I supported the police reform that we did in Albany last year after the George Floyd murder, but that doesn’t change that we still have to support the police because they’re basically hard-working men and women. There are always a couple of bad apples that we have to deal with. But that doesn’t change that 98 percent of the department is made up of hard-working men and women who deserve our respect.
There’s been a morale issue within the police department, and I’m one of the few people speaking out about that. I actually attended a rally in Queens last summer to support the police.
We can’t forget, as comptroller, the police union’s members make up 20 percent of all the pension money.
The comptroller’s fiduciary obligation is to invest the pension money of all the public employees and police members, whether they are detectives or police officers or sergeants or captains or lieutenants – they make up 20 percent of pension money. I’ve been endorsed by all five unions – the detective union, the captain union, the sergeant union. I’m proud of that.
When you go around the city campaigning, do you think that it’s the majority of New Yorkers
who are calling for defunding the police or it’s the loudest New Yorkers who are calling for defunding the police?
I think it’s the loudest, and I think it’s people outside of New York who are somewhat trying to support a movement that is not necessarily a reaction to a situation here. It’s a reaction to a situation all across the country.
New York City’s Police Department now is probably one of the most diverse police departments in the country. Sixty percent of New York City police officers live in the city. And if you look at the last three, four or five different police classes, they are majority minority because they made a recruitment effort to recruit in African-American neighborhoods, in Latino neighborhoods, in Asian neighborhoods. They recruited more women.
When I came into the City Council in 2002, I would say the police department was 70 to 80 percent white Irish male. Now, if you look around and you see police officers on the street, they look a lot more like the population of New York City. That’s a good thing because if they are policing different neighborhoods, there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be diversity.
It’s important that we have good community relations with the police. In my area in Queens, we have regular police precinct council meetings which are conducted in the local precincts and consist of people from the community. They have monthly meetings, and they discuss issues in the community.
If there are small problems, you don’t demonize an entire department and you certainly don’t defund them because look what’s happening in public safety. We’re actually down 3,000 police officers. 1,000 were eliminated when we eliminated the police class last year as part of reducing the police budget by a billion dollars. But the other 2,000 officers have basically retired, some because of the way they’ve been treated. They feel their hands are tied to a certain extent from on top, and that’s creating a problem also. It’s creating a morale problem. The City Council now, led by two of my opponents – you can figure out who they are – are basically looking to cut the police department even more for this budget, which starts July 1. I’m a little concerned about that.
That’s very concerning. You mentioned that the comptroller is an audit over the mayor. What are your thoughts on the mayor’s race?
Look, I haven’t endorsed anybody. I’m running my own race citywide. I like some of the candidates more than others. But whoever the mayor is, it’s important to be independent because you have to have a check on the mayor by auditing city agencies, by signing contracts with the city, by dealing
with lawsuits. At the same time, you have to work with the mayor at times, and the staffs have to work closely together. It’s a balancing act. But I haven’t supported anybody for mayor, if that’s what you’re asking.
You mentioned that you were part of helping New York City’s economy after 9/11 and that it’s important that we help New York City’s economy going forward coming out of this pandemic. In general, there are a lot of benefits given to the lower-income classes but the middle class is overlooked in New York City. Do you feel that New York City is no longer a place for the hard-working middle class?
Part of my stump speech, everywhere I go, I say I’m running for comptroller to put the needs of working class and middle class families front and center because that is a problem: nobody is focusing on the middle class. People keep talking about affordable housing. I don’t think it’s so much a need for homeless housing. We need affordable housing to allow City employees to afford to live in New York City. We want to encourage them. We want to encourage police and firefighters and teachers to live in New York City. But we can’t do that. A lot of policemen and policewomen and firefighters live on Long Island because it’s cheaper in a lot of neighborhoods than living in New York City. We want to make sure that we have affordable housing for the middle class and for New York City employees.
There is a program in the comptroller’s office called the Economically Targeted Investment Program, which has been around since 1980. It’s a whole division in which you’re allowed to invest up to two percent of the pension funds. Assets in the pension funds now are about twohundred-fifty-three billion dollars – over a quarter of a trillion dollars. You could invest up to two percent of that in what they call economically targeted investments. Most people are talking about investing them in minority neighborhoods and underserved neighborhoods. What I’ve been talking about is investing that money in the middle class and City employees because it’s difficult for City employees to afford to live in the city, and I’d like to see that as a positive thing to invest in our City employees.
You ran for New York City comptroller a few years ago, in 2009. What’s going to be different about this race that you feel that you will be successful this time around?
Well, I’m 11 years more experienced. I have the state legislative experience and so much what the city does is determined by Albany. At that time, we actually had three candidates from Queens, and it kind of split the Queens vote. I have very strong support in Queens now. I’m supported by the Queens Democratic Organization and Congressman Meeks. And my background has only grown. I’ve had more years on Wall Street, more years in elective office. We’re doing well as far as endorsements. We’ve gotten about 30 elected officials on our side. They’re supporting my campaign, as I mentioned, as well as all the five police unions. I’m also supported by the sanitation union, by the corrections union, by the court officers union, by the fire marshals, by the EMS workers. We have about 11 or 12 unions supporting me.
Most people are focused on the mayor’s race. People don’t know what the comptroller does. But I do, and I’m trying to get that message out.
It sounds like you are better geared for success this time around. I know that things are busy, but what do you do to relax?
Well, I’ve got six grandchildren whom I love to spend time with, and that’s probably my favorite relaxation – to spend some time with the grandchildren.
Father’s Day is coming up. I know that your father was in politics as well. What lessons did you learn from your father that you still carry with you?
I learned that it’s important to give back to the community. My father was in government. He was in the Assembly for about 25 years, and he rose to the highest office in the Assembly, the Speaker. He was Speaker
Davening at the Rebbe’s Ohel on the Rebbe’s yahrtzeit on Sunday
of the Assembly before Sheldon Silver. He taught me to give back, but he also taught me to be down-to-earth, be your own person. A lot of times people will treat you differently because of the office you hold but don’t let that get to your head. You’re only there to serve the people, and it’s important to give back to people and represent the people and not be in it for yourself. That’s something I’ve lived by in my 20 years in elective office.
David, you are certainly the
most qualified candidate out
there, and you’re definitely the best man for New York City comptroller. We wish you much success over the next week or so.
