Total submissions:

638

To submit your letter, please copy the text below into an email, add your name, and send it to [email protected], by 11:59 PM EDT on 5/31/22.

 

May 17, 2022

Ms. Christina Coughlin
89 Washington Ave., EBA Room 1078
SORIS, SE Regulation Comments
Albany, NY 12234
[email protected]

 

We, the undersigned software engineers, are proud and grateful alumni of the Orthodox Jewish yeshiva system. We are writing to testify to the superb yeshiva education that we received, and to register our unequivocal opposition to the State Education Department’s proposed regulations on yeshivas and all private schools.

 

We are at the forefront of technological innovation, engineering the systems that power society. We are CTOs and blockchain developers, cybersecurity experts and machine learning researchers. We build internal applications that sustain small businesses, and massive frameworks that underpin corporations.

The yeshiva experience is the launchpad that propelled us to professional success. Our yeshiva foundation has enabled us to complete advanced studies in computer science and information technology. Many of us hold professional certifications, graduate-level degrees and doctorates in our field.

 

Our careers demand high level critical thinking and advanced problem-solving skills. Our exemplary analytical abilities are directly attributable to the unique yeshiva curriculum. While the proposed regulations entirely discount the value of our Jewish studies, our clear experience has been that the intensive logical reasoning skills cultivated through those very courses are at the bedrock of our outstanding success as engineers.

 

In addition to our general studies curriculum and rigorous aforementioned Jewish studies, the yeshiva experience inculcated in us a proud work ethic, and equipped us with integral soft skills in communication, leadership, and responsibility. Our teachers and administrators provided mentorship and guidance, and served as role models for personal and professional development.

It is this very yeshiva experience that makes us all valuable employees at our respective roles. We are innovators and leaders at Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon. We are engineers and architects at the Federal Reserve Bank, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Agency. From fintech to medicine, from small businesses to unicorn startups — in every sector of the technical industry, we yeshiva graduates proudly demonstrate the professional abilities rooted in our superior education.

 

Truly, the yeshiva system has engineered our success, and we unequivocally oppose any attempt to hack the very platform that has powered us through millennia.