Jewish teacher accused of forcibly removing a student’s hijab at NJ school
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — A Jewish teacher at a New Jersey public school was accused of pulling a hijab off of a 7-year-old girl.
The teacher, who was named in social media posts as Tamar Herman, allegedly told the girl, who is Muslim, to take off her hijab in front of her class at the Seth Boyden Elementary school in Maplewood. When the girl refused, the teacher allegedly removed the hijab herself, according to an account provided to local media by a lawyer for the girl’s family.
Herman has also taught at Congregation Oheb Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in South Orange, New Jersey.
A lawyer representing Herman disputed the account provided by the girl’s lawyer, saying Herman asked the student, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, to take off her hood because it was blocking her eyes. When Herman realized the student was wearing the hood as a hijab, the lawyer said, she told the student she did not need to remove it.
The South Orange-Maplewood school district said it is investigating the matter in a statement issued Thursday. The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the teacher’s actions and called for her removal.
“Forcefully stripping off the religious headscarf of a Muslim girl is not only exceptionally disrespectful behavior, but also a humiliating and traumatic experience,” they wrote in a series of tweets.
The South Orange-Maplewood school district has seen instances of antisemitism and racism in recent years, with racist graffiti found in bathrooms and reports of students chanting Hitler’s name, all within a few weeks in 2017.
— The post Jewish teacher accused of forcibly removing a student’s hijab at NJ school appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
