Sunday, February 17, 2013

Rabbi Schulman Sent Packing After Air-fiving Mrs. Keigher


PARAMUS, NJ—The school cracked down on its shomer negiah policy the other day, letting go of student-favorite Rabbi Joshua Schulman for allegedly “air-fiving[1] Mrs. Keigher so enthusiastically [she] would have seriously hurt her hand were it a real high five.[2]


“We just can’t have this kind of behavior present in the school,” Rabbi Ciner announced at Thursday’s press conference, “especially coming from a teacher. We tried to create a shomer negiah environment by sending Mrs. Golfischer on a ‘maternity leave’ last year for subtly making contact with Rabbi Goldfischer when handing him a diet peach Snapple, and when we let Devon the pizza man go following an incident involving him touching a slice of pizza with his bare hand that would later be eaten by a senior girl. Oh, and don’t forget when we yelled really loudly at that former Hebrew teacher for punching a senior boy of hers in the face. Simply put, Rabbi Schulman couldn’t read between the lines.”

Then, after a major uproar, Dr. Stein took the podium:

“As a result of this repeated preposterous activity, the Frisch board of directors has unanimously decided to prohibit any contact whatsoever between anyone . . . The Frisch Yeshiva is not an overcrowded Israeli mall. There will not be so much as any inadvertent contact between walkers-by in the hallway.”

Dr. Stein continued his statement with some plausible Samaritan-Jewish halakhic backing for the board’s decision, before closing with the following:

“As of today, we’ve revamped our security team with intolerably kindhearted gentlemen, well-equipped to deal with the matter at hand. Those who appear to be making contact with others will be warmly suggested to leave the school with a belaboring smile, irresistible puppy eyes, and a severance package containing my book Dual Curricu-what?! A Principal's Guide to Striking the Perfect Balance Between Secular and Jewish Studies in a Yeshiva Environment.

Meanwhile, for reasons unknown, the school has had an admittedly hard time persuading Rabbi Schulman to actually leave the premises. Perhaps a new system will be instituted in the foreseeable future.

Stay tuned for more.



[1] A high five in which participants mimic an actual high five, but without actually making contact; particularly common in the Modern Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva circle
[2] Quote courtesy of The Struggle

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