9:30PM EST Sunday: As first HERE reported by YWN on Wednesday evening, all Lakewood High Schools were ordered closed for the start of the school year – under the Psak of the Gedolim – until all girls have been placed into schools. As of late Sunday evening YWN has been informed that there has not yet been any change in the forced closure of the High Schools, as there still remain a handful of girls left without a classroom.
As previously reported on YWN, this drastic move was done as per the directive of the Lakewood Mashgiach and Roshei Yeshiva Shlita. It follows the Psak Halacha of Maran Hagon Rav Elyashiv Shlita and Hagon Rav Aaron Leib Shteinman Shlita – that Lakewood’s girls high schools cannot open until all girls are accepted into a school.
(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)
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44 Responses
why does this only happen to the girls schools and not the boys schools? Who knows what these girls are doing with so much free time on their hands. Additionally, isn’t it gnaivah to not have school when you are supposed to, all these yeshivos insist on being paid with head checks for the whole year, now they are withholding a week or more of school? Will this happen next year as well? Next year, Rosh Hashana will IY”H be on sept.18th. so maybe they should just start school after succos, to give them time to get their act together and not charge for that month of school they didn’t give? Something really does not make sense over here.
The best takanah out there . It should be followed in all the cities including Monsey. The Bais Yackovs have no problem coming to us for money, but our heiliger children are not good enough for them. How many girls and families lives are ruined because they don’t have a school to go to.
WHY ARE THAY SiNCE LAST WEEK WENSDAY NOT SETTLE THiS PROBLEM why should parents go true all this AGMES NEFEHSCH for so long
#1, you are missing the point completely. These schols are being forced to close for the sake of these girls and their families. It is not because they are tightfisted and want more money (which they do have a great need for), but rather to insure every child has a place. The only question is why does it have to take so long to find each girl a place. One should only feel the greatest sympathy for the girls and their families.
Most of these girls do have schools to go to. They just don’t want to go to those schools. I wonder if it is really fair to stop all High Schools for girls who just are waiting to get into the school that they want.
ladies And gentelman i just came from a parlor meeting in lakewood for yeshiva gedolah of passaic.the room was packed with a few hundred people.the rosh hyeshiva rabbi meir stern shlita spoke,you could hear a pin drop.the basic jist of the speech was that bain odom lamkom with out yiras shomiem can’t have a kium.which means for example if someone sits and learns but has no yiras hashem his torah has no kium.but bain odom lachavaro however is different even if one has no yiras hashem but does an act of bain odom lachavaro it has a kium.the rosh hayeshivah than said we our living in very hard times, people who where bali parnassa are no more!people have children that neeed shiduchim!people have children that need to get into a school!what are we doing about it? the first thing we have to do is be mispallel tfilah helps.if you have a neighbor or a friend or a family member that has a need be mispalel for them say the name in davening in any language!the geulah will come with acts of tzidaka and kindness.tziyon bamishpat teepadehaw the navi says.bamishpat said the rosh yeshivah is bain odom lachavaro!worry about someones children!worry about someones parnassa and even with out yiras hashem we will bring the geulah!so all the readers and writers who only have questions and opinions please just take out a tehilim for a moment & be mispalel for someones needs and if you can actively do something to help may it be with a shiduch or parnasa or help someone get their child into a school than do it but lets go dont just sit idle and do nothing!
ok- so what is the real story here? Are these girls so bad that no school will take them? this has been going on for a week now, are the schools resisting the gedolim and saying we will outlast you? there is WAY more to the story here than what we are being told.
I agree, “The best takanah out there”!
No one should know the heartbreak of parent and child without a school! May this be a Z’chus for the K’lal!
Anonymous you have a good point the only thing that you missed is the fact that the staff are being paid for this week so that money has to come from some ware
As a Hebrew High School teacher for quite a number of years I am pained by the thought of what must be going through the mind of the girls who have not yet been accepted into a high school. Anyone in the chinuch world can attest to the catastrophic consequences that can possibly result as an outcome of the feelings of shame and inadequacy that these girls must be experiencing. Is it really worth it? Can the means justify the ends? As a teacher who works a lot with teenage students in an out of the classroom I for one can tell you that it just isn’t worth the embarrassment,and complete negation of the kovod habriyos that results in this type of situation. Perhaps it would be worthwhile for all to study the piece from Reb Chaim Shmulevitz in the Sichos Mussar with regard to kovod habriyos and tzuras haadom.
what does it mean they were “ordered”? this is not the soviet union its a free country we live in
#5-
Stop your drivel and insensitivity. You don’t know what your talking about and G-d forbid your daughter should be one of these girls & have to read a comment like yours, you’ll be beside yourself with anger.
And to all those who ask “What happens to these girls?” I say, so far I know of one girl who is probably no 16 yet and is mechalel Shabbos already. And how many do we not know about?
Imagine being one of those girls and thinking in your head, “Gee, I really am worthless and nobody cares about me. And even my parents pleas go ignored.” It’s enough to drive an adult off a cliff, how much more so a young innocent 13 year old girl.
To all you principals and administrators out there who have had the chutzpah to run your school just like a business; Who have smugly treated parents, teachers, and students like they owe you the world for giving you the opportunity to humiliate and belittle them emotionally and financially; Who have never had to answer to anybody, including Daas Torah, about some of your questionable policies and procedures:
Your g’zar din has come early this year – This p’sak is for you!!
What the Gedolim are trying to tell you is that you cannot isolate yourselves if you wish to be a chinuch institution in a kehilah. If there is a chinuch problem in your kehilah(as there sure seems to be), then it is YOUR collective problem to solve, regardless of whether your particular school is affected.
How serious is this, you wonder? So serious that the Gedolim issued a psak din – PSAK DIN! – that it is better for thousands of girls to waste thousands of precious hours that had been dedicated to limudim than for you to proceed with business as usual for your schools. DERECH ERETZ KADMA LA’TORAH!!!
SHEEMU, UK’CHU MUSSAR!!
To Zip,
Zip it; Stop being Motzay Shem Rah on the Parents. You should ask mechila b’rabim. Do you work for or own a high school that’s why you are spreading these lies?
zip, you are VERY incorrect. Its not that they were accepted into a school they dont want to attend, they were not accepted into ANY school.
Judemom, you are so right. I said the same thing when this story first posted a few days ago. I know it because I have seen it. I hope I am wrong but achar meah v’esrim the people responsible will be shown neshomos who nebach went off or were not as good as they should have been… all due to not having a school.
wallesberger rebbe, I am sure you had something good to contribute but it was completely illegible. Perhaps you could repost it and please use the as well as the key a bit more often.
ML
To #10: I do not understand what you are saying!! The whole reason for this takana is to avoid this embarrasment! Nobody should know which girls are not accepted yet and this way eventually they will be and when the schools open everyone will be in.
If they were to have opened last week and 7 girls were left sitting at home then Hashem Yerachem!!!
It’s a backwards system. The parents are in controll of the schools. There might be some schools that would accept these girls but the parents refuse and say “It doesn’t pas for me to go to that school”. All the groiser askonim that have listened to the crying of these parents have set a president that why should I settle for any school; I can hold out till the end, not have a school, and then at the last minute be forced into the school of my choice. It’s been working year after year. It even makes the problem much worse. It’s more intensifying to wait till the end – in April or May everyone thinks there’s plenty of time. Then comes bais hazemanim. The rosh yeshiva goes to hunter; the mashgiach goes to england and everything waits till the last minute. To answer why more people don’t open up more schools – It’s like jumping into a fire. Anyway just look at the children of many of the school’s deans and administrators. Pay back comes in many different ways.
this is just the beginning of rejection that our girls face throughout their school years. The same scenario will repeat itself when it comes to highschool and then again when the girls find it impoosible to get into sem.As a result of not going to the “best sems” ect their shidduch prospects will be more limited as our society is based on external appearances and not about the internal qualities of the person
Daas ballhabayis-
Your “daas” is showing.
What I don’t get is how can they take so long? Lock up all the princapals in a room, and no one leaves until they work this out
Why can’t they open grades 10-12
Fact: English teachers at Baisd Faiga going on strike today!
This is way overblown. This is NOT a new thing, the same thing happened last year, and the year before.
These girls who dont have a school, applied to only ONE school and only want to go to that school… and unfortunately did not get in.
They can be given other choices, but their parents hold out to go to the school of their choice.
I know this from an insider.
Most of the commentators are missing the point.
My Great nephew, in LAKEWOOD was NOT accepted in
ANY Yeshiva. My nephew was told that they have NO room, and prority was given to siblings of those students they already have. The family was deeply sadened, but B’H my great nephew got into the
yeshivan the Day before school started. WOW
The situation is real. But, BEFORE we critisize,
there is a population explosion B’A’H’ and there is just NO space. Every year there are 1 or 2 NEW yeshivos that open, but it’s NOT enough.
The real answer is to appeal to NON-Lakewood
Baal Habatim to HELP with the building funds for new yeshivos in LAKEWOOD.
alanjayros – the real answer is to appeal to Lakewood people to support Lakewood Mosdos.
“The real answer is to appeal to NON-Lakewood Baal Habatim to HELP with the building funds for new yeshivos in LAKEWOOD.”
Excuse me?!
Us non Lakewood folks are stretched pretty thin trying to support our own mosdos!
re 23, and the “real answer”: maybe they can help if the mosdos in their cities are able to meet their payrolls.
#6- great post!
perhaps until school starts the girls should organize public tehilim around the clock all day…
thru being mispallel for our friends & neighbors we can solve this travesty .
anyone have the ability of organizing?
#23
with all respect, this is not just a problem in lakewood or monsey or bnie brak…
this is an international problem!
This deplorable for many reasons that I will not get into. Not only should the schools be closed, but a pro-rated reimbursement should be given back to the families for each day it takes for the yeshivos to respond the closing so that they may open.
Someone commented about wondering if these girls are so bad that no yeshiva will take them? This is precisely one of the terrible problems that is being caused by this. My comment is this: IF it is a conduct issue, then NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO BE IN THE EDUCATION BUSINESS IF THEY BLACKLIST STUDENTS FOR ANY REASON TO THE POINT OF NOT MAKING A PLACE FOR THEM TO LEARN! PERIOD!!!
Alanjayros,
Your idea that non-Lakewood Baal Habatim should help with building fund for new yeshivos won’t work. Everyone is under alot of financial stress nowadays, and the money that they have for tzaddakah goes first to our own communities and our own schools. As it says “the poor of your own city comes first!”
I believe the problem is not so much financial as it is who is attending these new schools. The girls do not want to go to the new school, they want to be with their friends. The parents do not want to send to a new school that will close down next year. The solution is that the gedolim and mechanchim over there should say to these parents that you should send to the new school because I, REBBE so and so, am sending MY DAUGHTER to this school, and I will be involved and I am giving this school my blessing and haskamah. Then the new school would attract more girls. Also, maybe as an incentive, the new school should offer first year girls a free tuition, or at least a very reduced one. I know they may not be able to afford this, but it will attract more students. I know the new seminaries in Israel do this, they offer a scholarship to good solid girls for the first year they open to get their girls and their name. anyways, my heart goes out to the parents who have been waiting a long time to get their girls into high school, some summer they must have had.
DESTRO613 Writes that they should close all the schools..both BOYS AND GIRLS. Great idea, especially for all those high school girls are so bored and LONELY, the girls can start checking out possible shidduchim and start dating, it is never to early to start considering the shidduch crisis and these girls have nothing else to do…
L’Shana Ha’Ba’ah b’Yerushalayim!!!
6 kids in all of Lakewood?? I don’t know what goes on in Bnei Brak but I can tell u here in Yerushalayim 6 on a block would be great. Any Shul that had only 6 would have a Seudas Hodao!!
INSTEAD OF BEING VILIFIED THESE RABBONIM SHOULD BE GIVEN A TICKER TAPE PARADE.
Full disclosure: I was all but adopted by the Menahel of one of these schools years ago but my facts are easily verified.
To 22-B”H 111,
Read what I wrote to Zip, the same applies to you! You mean by “an insider” -someome who owns a high school.
So, it looks like we have been too successful, producing too many yiddishe kinderlach.
to #11 “what does it mean they were “ordered”? this is not the soviet union its a free country we live in” — while we are physically within America, we are really living within the Jewish community, and the highest body of government are the gedolim (equivalent to the Supreme Court in the US), and they can make orders to accomplish the law. I think most of the frum community far prefers to see our rabbanim leading, rather than whomever is rich or well connected (at the moment, since money and connections are effemeral, but Torah lasts).
This is really what we are spending our precious time doing?? fighting and arguing with one another? Maybe we should look at ourselves first before we put blame on anyone else? A few people have a fraction of the story correct but people should know that especially in lakewood the gossip mill is always running overtime. But there are a couple of truths here… YES there are girls that did get into very wonderful schools but refuse to go to them bc their clique of friends are going to the so called elite school so they think that if they hold out the schools will just cave and they will get what they want. And YES there are girls that are being left out bc of things beyond their control ie learning difficulties but at the end of the day if everyone focused all their blogging passion towards actually trying to get something done then maybe just maybe something might actually get accomplished around here!!!
Why did the Mashgiah and the Rosh hayeshivas only get involved with the high schools. Here in Lakewood we are also having the same type of problems with the elementary schools where some admistrators feel they don’t have to listen to Daas Torah and run their schools as private fiefdoms. Have any of you had problems getting your kids into the community’s elementary schools.
Also doeas anyone know why the teachers at the Cheder and Bais Faygah went on strike?
I don’t know why the teachers went on strike. All I know is that I would never want to live in Lakewood. They must get their act together and start school.
Its time to stop playing games here. These Reshoyim obviously have no Yiras Shomayim. I say a little Yiras Basar V’Dam is in order. Call DYFS. Preventing 13 yr old girls from going to school is unequivocally abuse…
all the principals should be fired. all hanholas should be replaced.
To please get a life- #39,
Think before you post; I’m sure noone is holding out to get into the school of their choice at this stage of the game.
To 42 -Semgirl,
Is that Catholic or Jewish Seminary? Who do you want to call DYFS on -the parents? Do you think there is one parent in the world that doesn’t want their kid in school? If your anger is on the school owners- you should say so. Also,
they don’t have to answer to DYFS, maybe to the NJ Dept. of Ed. Think before you write.
I hold the Rabbonim of Lakewood responsible for this, they should take steps that this should not happen again.
Monsey has a much better system now, they try to place every girl as soon as possible, and they don’t make them wait till september. Several years ago it was much harder, but then a very respected Rov got involved. Before he was niftar, his last request was that they should continue his work, that every girl should have a high school and not feel like a used shamattah.
I really feel terrible for the community over there, for the girls who waited the whole year and summer without knowing what they would be doing for the coming year. For the parents who were beside themselves with worry, and for the families now who have their high school girls home and bored with no schedule after a long summer. since when did going to yeshiva high school become a privilege? I am very appauled by the whole thing, this must mean that Moshiach is almost here! May they solve this whole thing soon!
to #44 you are clearly one of the people I was refering to that think they know the truth but they dont I personally know one family who did get in to a high school but has without shame verbalized that they do not want to send there bc their daughters group of friends are going to the so called “elite school” and they are just going to hold out until they get in where they want and secondly if you read the posts from the other article about the school crisis you will see that a different mother said her daughter did get into a school and that it is to yeshivish for her family so she isn’t going to send there. Maybe you should get all the facts before you go and make posts. Thank you!!!
#47, please tell us what is going on and what steps they will take to prevent this from happening next year. I am amazed at these parents that have held on and not given in. I for one did not have the strength. I sent mine to the school that wanted her and ya know what? best thing I ever did.