Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg vows to “go to war” if the Edison Board of Education goes ahead with a school construction bond issue referendum on Rosh Hashana.
August 12, 2008
A rabbi is demanding that Edison school officials reschedule a special referendum set for Sept. 30 — the first day of Rosh Hashana.
The referendum seeks the approval of township residents on a $57.8 million bond issue that would finance construction of one new public school and renovations of three others.
Officials say state law mandated the date.
The Edison public school district and the state Department of Education say the dates of such referenda are mandated by state law, and individuals have the option of voting by absentee ballot.
But Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg of Congregation Beth-El in Edison says the date of the vote is disrespectful. He promised “a war” if the date is not changed.
“I heard a rumor they were trying to pull this one off,” he told NJ Jewish News. “I warned a member of the board [of education] that under no circumstances was this to happen. I told him I was going to go to war — and I mean nuclear war.”
Rosenberg said he also thinks Edison’s Orthodox Jews, most of whom send their children to private day schools, have a particular interest in the referendum.
John DiMuzio, Edison’s school superintendent, said he was aware that the vote was scheduled for the first day of the Jewish New Year.
But, he said, the board was locked into an election date established by state law.
Kathryn Forsyth, director of public information at the state Department of Education, agreed.
“The law only allows school boards to hold these referenda on only five specific dates,” she said. “One of the dates is the last Tuesday in September. The law has been in effect since 2001, and dates are very specific.”
They include days in January, March, April, and December, as well as the one in September.
The next permissible time to schedule a vote would be Dec. 9, but DiMuzio said it was vital that the referendum be held as early as possible. “We are in dire need of space and our elementary schools are really getting overcrowded,” he said.
He urged anyone who is unable to vote on Sept. 30 to request an absentee ballot.
But Rosenberg says that offer shows “complete disrespect.”
“They can’t seem to figure out that voting by proxy is an insult,” he said. “I asked my Christian friends, ‘How would you like it if they had the vote on Christmas?’ and they said, ‘We’d be insulted.’ They can be insulted on Christmas, but we can’t be insulted on Rosh Hashana?”
“I think the rabbi definitely has a point,” DiMuzio responded. “But the longer we wait the less space we have, and I have to think about the 14,000 students that I have in the district. I would like to get some of these additions done soon.”
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