Reply To: Rejection from yeshivos/school for no tuition

Gavra:

There is a huge difference from your example of Yankel’s grocery. Yankel is in a for profit enterprise. If you want to buy the food, pay for it. You have the option of limiting your food intake/purchase. You do not have a choice of sending a child for just a few classes because of lack of money. While the home schooling option sounds inviting, it is simply not feasible for most parents, especially those who struggle for basics, and are two parent working families. Schools portray themselves as charitable organizations who serve the Klal, not free enterprises that are chasing after profits of the Almighty Dollar. There needs to be some understanding here. Woefully, it is non-existent in many yeshivos.

Just an additional note about Yankel’s grocery. Yankel has the Torah obligation to give tzedokoh. How that is done is not for us to dictate. It can be with personal or business checks, or he can have deductions made at the counter (just 2 examples) for those who are needy. I know of pizza shops who feed certain customers free of charge because it is their form of tzedokoh. We are addressing the issue, not as much about offering services for free to poor parents, but the Klal responsibility to educate the young and maintain them as part of Klal Yisroel. Again, the yeshiva claims to be doing Avodas Hakodesh and to serve the Klal. There needs to be give somewhere, though it is hard for those outside the system to determine what that give should be. As I have repeated here many times, there are not many good solutions. The one in use too often is to leave the children in the streets or public school (basically the same), and this needs to unacceptable and not tolerated.