Oif Simchas ח'אדר Tuesday
The First Yahrzeit | Rav Chaim Kanievsky, Z”TL
The First Yahrzeit | Rav Chaim Kanievsky, Z”TL
The First Yahrzeit | Rav Chaim Kanievsky, Z"TL from Torah Umesorah on Vimeo.
Wednesday March 1 News Updates Lakewood
Hashkafa Q & A
Hashkafa With Rav Gershon Ribner Shlita
Developing appreciation for the bnei Torah you come in contact with Settling marital strife regarding perfect care for a first baby Some aveilim abandon major zechusim and obsess over the Save your marriage by taking the initiative The great opportunity Purim presents is often mismanagedOif Simchas Wednesday ט'אדר
Thursday March 2 News Updates Lakewood
Weather:56° Mostly cloudy. High 56F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
- Lake Terrace is granted 2 week postponement on motion to shut them down completely see full story on faanews.com
-Simcha halls now permitted use in school buildings The New Jersey Appellate Division today released a decision upholding Lakewood Township's Planning Board 2019 approval of Bais Reuven Kamenetz's application for a yeshiva - which turned out to include the Ridge Terrace banquet hall, with no notice to the public - on Ridge Avenue near Brook Road, and an adjacent 15-unit Farmer's Drive Subdivision off of Ridge Avenue. FAA news
- Bais Shaindel's building at 685 River Avenue was sold last year to Congregation Lutzk for $25 million. Since that time, Bais Shaindel has been constructing a new school campus with a wedding hall on a lot they previously purchased at 500 Lewin Avenue for $3,750,000, as well as in Toras Ahron's existing rear yard. Bais Shaindel has just now closed on an additional $2,240,000 purchase of the adjacent 3.5 acres lot at 400 Lewin Avenue, FAA News has learned. Faanews
Oif Simchas/Shiurim י'אדר Thursday
Amalek Kugel for Shabbos Parshas Zachor

A for apple or epel (the ayin)
M for Mehl, or Flour (the mem)
L for lukshen or noodles (the lamed)
K for kartofel(potatoes) the kuf.
In Europe and in other places Chassidim serve these four kugels on the Shabbos when Parshas Zachor is read and then they eat them thereby symbolically annihilating Amalek by eating him all up.
Friday March 3. News Updates
Video: Zechor- Shabbos Zachor
- מתוך יוצר לפרשת זכור קֵל נָא בְּלָשׁוֹן אֲשֶׁר הִזְכַּרְתָּ לְזוֹכְרֶיךָ זְכוֹר. בּוֹ בְלָשׁוֹן הִזְכִּירוּךָ נָא אַתָּה זְכוֹר. וְאִם הֵמָּה כְּאָדָם עָבְרוּ בְרִית מִלִּזְכּוֹר. וְאַתָּה קֵל וְלֹא אִישׁ לָמָּה לֹא תִזְכּוֹר. בְּזֹאת יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יֵשׁ לְךָ לִזְכּוֹר. אֲבָל תָּשׁוֹחַ עָלַי נַפְשִׁי עַד זָכוֹר תִּזְכּוֹר. וּמַה כֹּחִי כִּי אֲיַחֵל לְקֵץ זָכוֹר. וּמַה קִּצִּי כִּי אַאֲרִיךְ נַפְשִׁי עַד שֶׁתִּזְכּוֹר. אִם לֹא לְמַעֲנִי תִּזְכּוֹר. לְמַעַנְךָ וּלְמַעַן יְרוּשָׁלַיִם זְכוֹר
Lakewood Zmanim עש''ק פרשת תצוה שבת זכור תשפ''ג
Motzei shabbos Zachor 5783 Lakewood
- Stores open tonight for purim shopping
Moadim Lsimcha Lesach order deadline is tomorrow
- Melava Malka for Minyan Avreichim shul at their new building corner Clifton Ave and 10th st.
- Melava Malka for B"M Ishay Yisrael Rabbi Millstein shlita at 110 Miller Rd guest speaker Rabbi Pesach Krohn 9:00 pm
- Melava Malka Santov B"M Irene court.
- Yeshiva Zichron Leyma evening of connection at Ohr Mattisyahu 953 E. County Line 8:45 pm
- Yeshiva Lekach Tov crowdfunding campaign 1822 Charlton Circle Toms River
- Rav Avrohom Noach Ben Yehudis Palei has been transfered out of ICU to a regular unit as he continues to heal after a terrorist attack in Ramot.
Sunday 12 Adar March 5th News Updates Lakewood
Weather: 55° Sunny to partly cloudy. High around 55F.
- Moadim L'simcha Pesach order deadline today for Lakewood info see Here
- Erev purim shopping large crowds at the wine stores and supermarkets
- TTFY Adirei Hatorah Fundraiser today in Florida with the attendance of all Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva.
- Purim night learning at BMG seder on Bais Sholom 830 - 9:45 followed by the purim tish in Bais Aaron. There will be a section designated for supporters of the adirei Hatorah. Maariv in all botei medrashim Purim night 6:44 pm Krias Megillah at 7:08
- Decision tomorrow on Lang Lawsuit: The decision of the Appellate Division will be on Monday and it is going to be published in the NJ court reports. The decision will have a significant impact, not only on Lakewood, but on Toms River, Brick, Jackson and other towns with large numbers of nonpublic students.Happy Purim!, Aaron Lang
- B"M Arlington will have a seder limud Purim day for Bochurim and Youngeleit with מתן שכרה בצידה from 9:45am - 11:45 am up to $200 staggered.
- Minyan for entire sefer Tehillim purim morning at Kol Aryeh 6:00 am
Kupas Hair refalling off a talis worn by Rav Chaim Kanievsky to all donors who contribute to the matanos Levyonim Kupat Ha'ir will iy"H be holding a special lottery for the tallis in which Maran Sar HaTorah ztvk"l himself davened. Whoever gives $111 in matanos l'evyonim to Kupat Ha'ir is eligible for entry into the lottery. The special letter that his son HaGaon Rabbi Yitzchak Shaul Kanievsky shlit"a wrote says as follows: "BS"D Erev Rosh Chodesh Adar 5783 With this I confirm that the tallis gadol which is found at Kupat Ha'ir is the tallis gadol – it is the tallis that our father, our master, our teacher, and our Rav Maran HaGaon zllh"h davened with it tefillas Shacharis a few days before he went up in a storm to the Heavens on Adar Aleph 5783, and by his instructions we are giving it to Kupat Ha'ir for the donors".
The 2.3 million kiddush hashem at American Dream Water Park construction
Audio: The Purim Story
Videos Purim Songs 5783
Oif Simchas 13 Adar Sunday night
Monday, March 6, 2023 / י״ג אדר תשפ״ג תענית אסתר
A Win For Lakewood in Lang Court Case
R' Aaron Lang tweeted "We won. Court agreed with all our arguments. A win for Lakewood after a New Jersey Appellate Court ruled in favor of Lakewood Public School teacher and lawyer Aaron Lang and reversed the decision made by the state Commissioner of Education the court agrred that Lakewood Schools do not receive enough state aid. The case goes back to the Commissioner, and fix the problem in lakewood public schools for not providing a T&E education see ruling Here
Faa: This long awaited ruling is a massive win for Lakewood's taxpayers and students of both public and non-public schools as it orders the State Education Department to more thoroughly review the Appellants main argument that the funding structure of the SFRA was unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation.
Full news article from FAANEWS
BREAKING NEWS: APPELLATE DIVISION GIVES MASSIVE WIN TO ARTHUR LANG'S LAWSUIT OVER UNFAIR SCHOOL FUNDING FOR LAKEWOOD
In a massive win for Lakewood's taxpayers and students, the New Jersey Appellate Division today granted a major win to Arthur Lang in his long running lawsuit known as Alcantra vs. Hespe, which seeks for a fairer funding formula for the Lakewood Public School District.
The 3-judge panel agreed with Mr. Lang's long time 2 arguments: 1) Lakewood's students are not receiving a constitutionally sound education, 2) the fault of this is because New Jersey's School Funding Formula is unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation.
The court held that the Commissioner of Education owes a thorough review of the most substantive argument - that the funding structure of the SFRA was unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation.
Appellants, parents of children enrolled in the Lakewood Public School District, filed a petition alleging the District was not providing its public-school students a thorough and efficient education (T&E) as required by our State's Constitution.
They contend this is due to the failure of the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) to adequately fund the District. To that end, they assert the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA), which sets certain standards for the DOE, is unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood.
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Susan Scarola initially considered the case. After the development of a thorough record, she determined while the District was indeed failing to provide T&E, this failure was due to local mismanagement and other factors, and not because of a constitutional defect in the SFRA. She denied appellants' relief on this basis.
Appellants petitioned the New Jersey Commissioner of Education (Commissioner) for review. The then acting Commissioner rejected the ALJ's conclusion the District had failed to provide an adequate education to its students, and therefore, because it found the District was providing T&E, did not reach the issue of constitutionality of the SFRA. She denied relief.
The Appellants then moved their case to the Appellate Division.
Judges Whipple, Mawla, and Smith heard oral arguments in January 2023 from Mr. Lang and renowned education lawyer Professor Trachtenberg.
They released their decision minutes ago:
The record demonstrates Lakewood's school district is in a unique and precarious position. Due, in large part, to demographic trends in the area. Lakewood Township has seen a population rise in recent decades, primarily resulting from a thriving Orthodox Jewish community. As a result of this demographic shift, the township has approximately 37,000 school-aged children, however, only about 6,000 are enrolled in the secular public schools. The majority—eighty-four percent—are enrolled in private religious schools. Testimony before the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) established this demographic trend is likely to continue and accelerate.
Like other districts, Lakewood's state-issued school aid is calculated based upon its 6,000 enrolled public-school students. The total budget for the most recent school year at the time of that decision was $143.45 million. Of that, over half—$78 million—went to transportation and special education tuition for non-public students. This is an abnormal and unsustainable imbalance.
Faced with this picture, the ALJ found the District was failing its students to a degree that offended the basic guarantees of our State Constitution.
The Commissioner, however, rejected this finding. She reasoned that "[w]hile Lakewood's standardized test scores [and other metrics] are below the [s]tate average, they have shown consistent improvement" and therefore lacked constitutional defect.
In finding the District's students were not receiving T&E, the ALJ focused on credible evidence in the record that Lakewood's test scores were well below state averages, and students fared poorly on performance in English and math. She also observed low rates of graduation and college enrollment, as well as high rates of chronic absenteeism. Moreover, while the District offered courses in AP English and Spanish, as well as art and technology, the ALJ noted the programs in industrial arts and auto mechanics had been recently cut. Finally, she noted the only foreign language study offered in-district was Spanish, despite a high rate of Spanish literacy within the student body to begin with.
However, when the Commissioner interpreted this same evidence, she saw a glass half full. In determining Lakewood's students were receiving a constitutionally adequate education, the Commissioner made essentially three arguments. First, she asserted there was a positive trend of improvement in the school's testing averages. Second, while acknowledging cuts to various educational programs at the district, she observed the District still offered "all the courses required for graduation[,]" as well as five AP classes, music programs, and research skills courses. Third, while she acknowledged a "high rate of teacher turnover" and a high student-teacher ratio, she claimed Lakewood met various federal targets under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (with exceptions).
As legal support for her conclusion, she compared the above observations with the conditions described in Abbott II, a case concerning stark physical deficiencies in school facilities—students being taught in coal bins, eating lunch in the corridor, and using bathrooms without hot water. In the Commissioner's estimation, because Lakewood lacked these desperate conditions, the quality of education it provided remained constitutionally sound.
The Commissioner's reliance on this aspect of Abbott II does not address the problem in Lakewood. Abbott II does not hold that all a school district must do to remain constitutionally compliant is provide adequate physical facilities. Instead, Abbott II observed "a thorough and efficient education requires a certain level of educational opportunity, a minimum level [which] . . . should[] be defined in terms of substantive educational content."
Furthermore, "a thorough and efficient education requires such level of education as will enable all students to function as citizens and workers in the same society . . . ."
The question is not whether Lakewood's public schools are direct physical analogues of the unacceptable conditions observed in a school over thirty-three years ago. Instead, it is whether, substantively, the District is failing to provide its students with a minimum level of educational content and opportunity as required by our Constitution today.
The court reviewed the record generated before the ALJ which showed that Lakewood's test scores and graduation rates are below State average. The court also noted that it is irrelevant that the Lakewood School District does meet the ESSA as that is Federal legislation, which has no direct bearing as to whether Lakewood is performing to the standard required by our State's Constitution.
Based on the above, the Appellate Division concluded that the record generated before the ALJ cannot fairly be said to support a finding Lakewood's students are receiving a constitutionally sound education.
The court therefore held that the Commissioner utilized an incorrect standard in rejecting the ALJ's finding, and further held the Commissioner owed appellants a thorough review of their substantive argument: the funding structure of the SFRA was unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation.
The court reversed and remanded for the agency to consider the substantive arguments pertaining to SFRA in light of our Supreme Court's previous directive in Abbott ex rel. Abbott v. Buke: the State has a continuing obligation to "keep SFRA operating at its optimal level" and "[t]here should be no doubt that we would require remediation of any deficiencies of a constitutional dimension, if such problems do emerge."
This long awaited ruling is a massive win for Lakewood's taxpayers and students of both public and non-public schools as it orders the State Education Department to more thoroughly review the Appellants main argument that the funding structure of the SFRA was unconstitutional as applied to Lakewood's unique demographic situation.
"We won. Court agreed with all our arguments," tweeted Arthur Lang.
37th yahrtzeit of Rav Moshe Feinstein ZTL,
Today, 13 Adar, marks the 37th yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ZTL.
Audio: Hesped by Rav Lazer Shach zatzal on Rav Moshe Feinstein at the Levaya in Eretz Yisrael 1986