Punishing innocent children because you think their parents are inferior

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  • #618269
    TheGoq
    Participant

    These are yidddishe kinder of yiddishe parents this kind of elitism and racism is against the holy Torah how dare you exclude children based on your feelings of superiority over their parents shame on all people who would do this to a child.

    http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/457305/telshe-stone-children-of-working-and-sephardi-parents-still-not-registered-for-school.html

    #1175161
    Chortkov
    Participant

    DISCLAIMER: I am NOT discussing any individual scenario; I haven’t read the link and nothing I say should be taken out of the parameters in which I say it in.

    Klal Yisroel is filled with different types of people, all who pride ourselves on our individuality. Everyone has different standards, everyone has different nisyonos. And of course, we have the dictum ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ??????.

    There is a fundamental difference, however, between not judging and accepting. Or, more importantly, there is a difference between accepting their lifestyle and allowing it to filter into your own.

    Most of us come from working families, and those who were privileged to have an even more Torahdike upbringing [and yes, i KNOW that the two are not directly related etc. etc.] generally don’t feel a working background to be a problem with schools. And I personally am fine with that.

    But I also respect those who don’t. I have an uncle who doesn’t let his kids eat in my house. As far as I am concerned, we keep the best standards London has to offer – which isn’t good enough for him. His children don’t eat at chasunas, they don’t eat any meat which schita wasn’t observed by my uncle. And they look down on me for having a text phone (albeit internet-free), and they look down on me for having internet access (albeit totally filtered). And I respect them for that.

    Never have I heard a word from any of them said in a superior fashion, nor any statement about any yiddishkeit preference. My uncle and cousins are warm, nice people. Yet I know that he sends his children to a chassidishe school (Yekkish notwithstanding), because the exposure in Litvishe schools is too much for him, and that he wouldn’t like his kids friends to be like me. And I’m fine with that.

    I don’t feel the need to live like that. I am happy with my standards. But I totally understand that if he were to open a school for his children, I wouldn’t be accepted. And I don’t find that unfair. I did read “goyisher books”, I do listen to Eighth Day, and my level of exposure is not something he wants his kids exposed to.

    Elitism is the name given to it by those who feel bitter not being accepted, or being labelled to have lower standards. And it isn’t a nice feeling, to recognize that there are those out there who have higher standards, and to feel ‘second rate’. But they are allowed to protect their children, to keep higher standards they feel Hashem wants them to have.

    (Obviously: (a) generalizations in standards are always wrong, because people in the ‘lower class’ will always point to specific members of the ‘higher class’ and show how they are in fact just-as-bad-if-not-worse, and point to the guy-whose-parents-are-bts-and-now-has-a-chabura-in-mir. Blanket labels is not the way to set standards. (b) there is a way of doing this. Elitism and superiority are disgusting things, and any expression of this crosses suddenly from ‘protecting your standards’ into ‘i-am-holier-than-thou’, which is horrible.)

    #1175162
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    Most of us come from working families, and those who were privileged to have an even more Torahdike upbringing

    I’ll disagree with this premise. Why do you make the assumption that a Kollel family is more “Torah-dike” than other families, where the children see their parents make sacrifices for the RBSO? Kollel, especially in EY, is the easy way out. It certainly is not true with Chassidim.

    Other than that, I agree with you. different strokes for different folks, and as long as they don’t ask me for help or assistance, or force others to follow them, whatever floats their boat.

    For example, I B’davka send my children to a “less frum” school because I don’t want my children being exposed to the bad environment of the “more frum” school. That doesn’t make me “elitist”, it makes me want what I believe to be best for my children.

    #1175163
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    You can’t believe everything you read in the news. Halachically, you are not even allowed to (source: any sefer on hilchos Loshon Hora.)

    I have a close family member who is a journalist and I know for A FACT that she has written things that weren’t true. I know this because she quoted ME as saying things I never said (she obviously thought I had and she misunderstood me).

    #1175164
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Yekke2 -beautifully written post!!!

    #1175165
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    gavra_at_work: kollel in EY is definitely not the easy way out!! You may not agree with it, but it is definitely not easy. Learning in Kollel in EY means resigning yourself to a life of poverty and struggle. People do it because they feel it is important and they are willing to sacrifice for Am Yisrael.

    #1175166
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    kollel in EY is definitely not the easy way out!!

    Going with the herd is certainly the easy way out. Especially in EY where the government supports the learners, and the monetary expectations are much lower, it is easier to be in Kollel than to fight the tide, leave Kollel (with all of the issues with the Army that come along with that choice) and then find a job in a society that doesn’t want to employ Charaidim. I agree with Joseph on this one, that it is much easier to be a Yeraim Jew outside of the state of Israel.

    People do it because they feel it is important and they are willing to sacrifice for Am Yisrael.

    I’ve got a bridge to sell you. It’s in Alaska, only $398 million.

    #1175167
    Chortkov
    Participant

    Most of us come from working families, and those who were privileged to have an even more Torahdike upbringing

    I’ll disagree with this premise. Why do you make the assumption that a Kollel family is more “Torah-dike” than other families, where the children see their parents make sacrifices for the RBSO? Kollel, especially in EY, is the easy way out. It certainly is not true with Chassidim.

    I guess I’m a fool for thinking that adding “[and yes, i KNOW that the two are not directly related etc. etc.]” would stop people from attacking this one line.

    My assumption is based on the Kollel people I have met. Almost every kid in yeshiva with me whose father is still in learning has a more solid set of Hashkafos, and lives an entirely different lifestyle to those of us more exposed to the outside world. I am well aware that not everyone in Kollel is not exposed. I am also well aware that there are some working people without internet access and without the exposure. But on a general basis (UK Facts; I’ve never been to USA, and can’t tell you anything about Israel) – children from kollel families are on the whole on a higher standard of yiras shamayim than those from working families. I am jealous of them.

    And your premise that kollel people are taking the easy way out is just a blatant lie. I know first hand of kollel families in Eretz Yisroel who barely have money for chicken on Shabbos, who struggle to feed their own children. Very intelligent men who would have been successful in the business world. And they are sacrificing everything for Torah. (There are many who are sacrificing far more, but I am talking on a first hand basis) — Incidentally, they are among the happiest people I have met. Their children see much more sacrifice for Torah than any working family.

    (And, of course, sacrifice [whichever sacrifice you refer to] isn’t the only form of Chinuch. Just saying.)

    #1175168
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    GAW.

    “I’ll disagree with this premise. Why do you make the assumption that a Kollel family is more “Torah-dike” than other families”

    The following quote from LU applies to what you just did. ” I know for A FACT that she has written things that weren’t true.”

    Yekke2 specifically added “[and yes, i KNOW that the two are not directly related etc. etc.] ” to his post.

    Gold star for you, nisht (just for the second part). Check out Yekke’s response which wasn’t up yet when you wrote this

    #1175169
    NeutiquamErro
    Participant

    yekke2:

    Literally cannot think of anything to add. Superb post.

    #1175170
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    yekke2 –

    I guess I’m a fool for thinking that adding “[and yes, i KNOW that the two are not directly related etc. etc.]” would stop people from attacking this one line.

    BS”D

    No more of a fool that Rabbi Adlerstien in his recent article “Satmar: Do They Take Us For Fools?” posted on Cross Currents.

    Many (as people and Yidden) automatically assume that the more to the right someone is, the “better” they are. Your post reeks of that concept. Chazal certainly disagreed, and put guardrails (largely ignored in this day and age) to protect Klal Yisroel from this Avlah (examples include “Mechzi K’yuhara”, etc. etc. 🙂

    Rabbi Adlerstien (and you) make the mistake that just because someone is further to the right, they have “higher standards”. It is just as likely (as far as Chazal are concerned, not this “Olam Hafuch”) that you have “higher standards” by accepting more, and being more involved (and yes, accepting the other’s child into your school). Not eating at your relative’s house puts you at a “higher level” (vs. OCD)? Do you really believe that? You can understand the other side not wanting children in school (protect my kid from the disease of the other!!), but have to consider if that is how the RBSO really wants you to act towards his children.

    There is a famous story with Rav Yaakov where he was at a wedding with a bunch of other Rabbonim. They were all ordering the chicken (over the beef) until someone figured out that they could order fish, which then everyone switched. Rav Yaakov, seeing that the waiter was getting nervous that there wouldn’t be enough, ordered the beef. Is Rav Yaakov therefore on a “lower level” because he didn’t go with the herd’s Chumrah?

    I use the internet. I don’t consider someone who doesn’t to be on a “higher level”. I don’t have a smartphone, but that doesn’t make me on a “higher level” than someone who does. Neither would I consider someone who wears a burka to be on a “higher level” than someone who covers her hair in a halachicly appropriate manner.

    P.S. Who is on a “higher level”? Baalei Teshuva, and those who go against the herd to do the hard thing. Whether it is the Maimonides child who chooses to learn in Kollel instead of becoming a doctor, or the Charaidi in Beit Shemesh who chooses to move out of his society and go to work because that is what the RBSO wants from him.

    #1175171
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    yekke2: several gold stars for you for your response.

    And millions of gold stars for all the Kollel families in Eretz Yisrael who are sacrificing for all of us.

    #1175172
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    But they are allowed to protect their children, to keep higher standards they feel Hashem wants them to have.

    Sof Kol Sof, they can have “other standards”. Until you prove to me that the RBSO wants them to act as they do (and not the rest of us for some reason, as He didn’t tell us to do so in His Torah or via His Chazal), they are not “higher” standards. They are not “more Torahdike”. They are “Kollel” or “learning Torah full time”, and Kol HaKavod to them if that is what they believe the RBSO wants from them.

    Now if you want to discuss ease or difficulty of Kollel vs. working, we can discuss elsewhere. My Moshgiach always said Kollel has easier Olam HaZeh.

    #1175173
    yichusdik
    Participant

    Too much to say, and afraid I will make the kind of generalizations that I will regret. Nevertheless

    1. Don’t confuse the actions and attitudes of an individual or even many individuals with the feelings or actions of all. HKBH was prepared to save Sdom for even a tiny minority of righteous people, if they could be found. L’havdil, there are (I think and hope) only a minority in the Chareidi community who would justify this action.

    2. That said, if even one child is treated this way it is a wrong that must be fixed. If the schools involved receive state funds, that should be leverage enough to encourage these heartless individuals to relent.

    3. Yekke2, if, as you say, they look down on you, then they have no need to speak to you in a superior fashion. The look says all that is needed.

    4. I am an individual with some learning, a family and lineage to be proud of, a job where I get to work for the benefit of Am Yisroel every day, and I DON’T EVEN HOLD A CANDLE TO THE UNLEARNED MILDLY OBSERVANT MENIAL WORKER WHO DOES CHESED AND GIVES TZEDOKOH IN THE MOST BASIC WAYS WITH LOVE EVERY DAY, WEEK, OR MONTH. I am humbled by the humility and gentle nature of these many tzadikim and tzidkaniyos who rarely hear a shiur or learn bechavrusah because they are working three jobs to sustain their family, but they still have time and a few dollars to bring groceries and some companionship to the lonely, immobile widow in the apartment above theirs.

    That’s who I look up to.

    5. Yekke2, you think it is not unfair to deny these kids a place in these schools. I think it IS unfair, but not as much to the excluded kids but rather to the rest of the talmidim in the school who will never benefit from their friendship, never have the opportunity to hear a Torah insight from them, never have the hashpooh they could bring to other talmidim to do chesed, to learn more, to be responsible participants in their community and society. The Principal is not a Novi, and cant foresee the greatness he might be excluding.

    6. Lilmod, you say “People do it because they feel it is important and they are willing to sacrifice for Am Yisrael.” Yes, you may be right. And their sacrifice is indeed immense. Why, though, does doing it because “they feel” it is right become a standard for others?

    7. All of these points didn’t even address the issue with Sefardi children. All I will say is that those children deserve to be in a school whose hanhala is on a higher madrega than this one.

    #1175174
    Neville ChaimBerlin
    Participant

    Gavra, Yekke clarified that he was just speaking about situations he’s personally seen. In his experience, Kollel families have better exposure to Torah values. Not everything has to be part of a larger, blanket statement.

    To the thread in general: Don’t criticize others until you’re on their level. Everyone in this forum has SOME threshold when it comes to who is in the school with your kids (i.e. if you send your kids to Orthodox school, you have a reasonable expectation that there won’t be militantly Atheist secular Jews with them). Some people have a different threshold on this matter than others. That was Yekke2’s point, and he’s spot on.

    Now, I’m only referring to thresholds when it comes to religiosity. If it were a matter of rich, Upper-West-Side parents turning their noses up at kids who were more religious because of their economic status it would be different. And it would get a lot less ink.

    #1175175
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “Lilmod, you say “People do it because they feel it is important and they are willing to sacrifice for Am Yisrael.” Yes, you may be right. And their sacrifice is indeed immense. Why, though, does doing it because “they feel” it is right become a standard for others?”

    My comment was said in response to this line and this line only, “Kollel, especially in EY, is the easy way out.”

    I didn’t read the original article as it is assur to read or believe it according to Hilchos Loshon Hora. (I glanced at it long enough to figure that out).

    I know enough to know how easy it is for journalists (and everyone else for that matter) to misrepresent situations and the reasons behind them (whether deliberately or not) and how unfair it would be for anyone to judge the people involved based on what they read in the newspaper.

    Based on the gist of what I have picked up about what this discussion is about, it seems to have something to do with kids not being accepted to schools and people making ASSUMPTIONS about the reasons behind it, and ASSUMING that it was based on prejudice. Since you don’t know the reason, why not assume that they had a good reason instead of assuming the worst about them?

    #1175176
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Generally speaking when schools won’t accept students, it is because those students do not abide by the school’s standards. It is not about learning full-time or not learning full-time, but about following the school’s standards in terms of tznius and shmiras haayin, etc. A school has a right to set standards. The school is responsible for its students and it is the school’s responsibility if the child ends up being “over” on big issurim as a result of attending the school. A parent has a right to choose a school for their child that lives up to his standards.

    Unfortunately, people sometimes don’t want to admit that the school didn’t accept them because of their lack of tznius, so they will come up with other reasons, claiming that the school is prejudiced against them because of x,y, or z, without acknowledging that it is because of their refusal to abide by the school’s rules.

    I recently met a lady who was insisting that the reason that none of the local schools accepted her kids was because she was divorced. From looking at her, I could think of plenty of other reasons. In the course of the conversation, it came out that they didn’t accept her kids because she doesn’t cover her hair (and since she doesn’t cover her hair because she is divorced, so to her, that translates as, “they won’t accept my kids because I am divorced.”)

    #1175177
    Chortkov
    Participant

    Sof Kol Sof, they can have “other standards”. Until you prove to me that the RBSO wants them to act as they do (and not the rest of us for some reason, as He didn’t tell us to do so in His Torah or via His Chazal), they are not “higher” standards. They are not “more Torahdike”. They are “Kollel” or “learning Torah full time”, and Kol HaKavod to them if that is what they believe the RBSO wants from them.

    Firstly: Even if you deny that spending a full day in Limmud HaToirah is more ideal than spending a day in the stock market, my point still stands. I was coming from an observation that the Kollel homes have a stronger and more deeply engrained connection to Yiddishkeit, and the many many mailos of these homes result in children who IMHO seem like better Oivdei Hashem. [Of course, my ananlysis would be corrupt in your eyes; I value things like being Oisek B’Toirah, Mesiras Nefesh and Harbatzas Hatoirah – things that seem to get people upset] My point: Even if the work itself is all equal, the consequences are more “Torahdik”.

    Secondly: I have absolutely no sofek that the Rotzon Hashem for someone who is able to is to sit and be Oisek BaToirah without anything else. Yes, I have seen all the Gemaras, the Rambams, the Shu”a, etc. The general consensus of every single ???? I have seen is that it is commended to the highest degree to sit and learn in Kollel. There are terutzim to all the Gemaras and Ramba”ms which convey conflicting messages. And above all, the Poskim say that ?? ????? ??’ ????? ?????? – the continuity of Torah in our generation would be ????? the Kollel movement. R’ Moshe zt”l goes so far as to say that anybody who doesn’t go to Kollel because of these Rambams is just fooling himself, and it is the ??? ????. (Perhaps in a different thread, it would be K’dai to post the relevant M”Ms).

    3: Response to “4”: 4. I am an individual with some learning, a family and lineage to be proud of, a job where I get to work for the benefit of Am Yisroel every day, and I DON’T EVEN HOLD A CANDLE TO THE UNLEARNED MILDLY OBSERVANT MENIAL WORKER WHO DOES CHESED AND GIVES TZEDOKOH IN THE MOST BASIC WAYS WITH LOVE EVERY DAY, WEEK, OR MONTH. I am humbled by the humility and gentle nature of these many tzadikim and tzidkaniyos who rarely hear a shiur or learn bechavrusah because they are working three jobs to sustain their family, but they still have time and a few dollars to bring groceries and some companionship to the lonely, immobile widow in the apartment above theirs.

    Don’t allow bringing the wonderful merits of other people to distort you from the value of learning Torah. X being good doesn’t make it better than Y. Every mitzvah is infinitely good in its own rights.

    4: And it says ?????? ???? ???? ????. The zechus of learning Torah surpasses that of Gemilas Chassadim. (It is impossible for me to convey here that we are all humbled by the humility and gentle nature etc. etc. – it truly is unbelieveable to see these people give up their time, money and effort for others in such a selfless fashion. But the “pushete yid” shoemaker wasn’t better than the N’tziv.

    5. In response to “3”: I have never heard a single comment, seen a single snide look, or felt condescended to in any way at all. The only discernable sign of superiority is the fact that they don’t eat in my house. And never has that been made into a statement. And arguing this is, of course, irrelevant to our discussion.

    #1175178
    Chortkov
    Participant

    >>R’ Moshe zt”l about Kollel<<

    >>Biur Halachah (Mishne Bruro), quoting Teshuvas Dvar Shmuel<<

    And please note – the entire discussion in the Rishonim/Achronim is regarding learning Torah at the expense of others. But everyone agrees that a life spent learning would essentially be more ideal than a life spent in the office. Anybody who cannot see that is fooling only themselves.

    #1175179
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    But everyone agrees that a life spent learning would essentially be more ideal than a life spent in the office.

    Truth. Full stop.

    #1175180
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    Unfortunately, people sometimes don’t want to admit that the school didn’t accept them because of their lack of tznius, so they will come up with other reasons, claiming that the school is prejudiced against them because of x,y, or z, without acknowledging that it is because of their refusal to abide by the school’s rules.

    The parents or the children? I get the children not following the rules, but I’m uncertain why the parents have rules (not related to their conduct in school). Your example of covering hair: If her Rov said she doesn’t have to (my understanding is that is not uncommon), what does the school care?

    #1175181
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    I was coming from an observation that the Kollel homes have a stronger and more deeply engrained connection to Yiddishkeit, and the many many mailos of these homes result in children who IMHO seem like better Oivdei Hashem.

    Fair enough. I (in my own anecdotal observations) have not seen this to be the case.

    As before, I think one needs to differentiate between those who are in Kollel and those who live the Kollel life (whether they actually learn full time or have to make a parnassah as well).

    #1175182
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    GAW: “The parents or the children? I get the children not following the rules, but I’m uncertain why the parents have rules (not related to their conduct in school). Your example of covering hair: If her Rov said she doesn’t have to (my understanding is that is not uncommon), what does the school care?”

    The extent to which the schools should look at the parents (if they should look at them at all) is a complex issue. If a kid is starting high school and the kid is herself a great kid who is willing to comply with the school’s standards, then in most cases, it would probably make sense to accept the kid even if the family doesn’t comply by the school’s standards (although it might not be simple in high school either)

    However, I was speaking of elementary school, although that might not have been clear. Most kids start elementary school at around 5. At that age, it’s the family that counts, since the kid is not independent of his family yet. I think you would have a hard time finding a family in which the mother doesn’t dress tzniusly, but the 5 year old kid does. (and if you found such a kid, I’d be a little nervous..)

    When a kid is 5 years, you have to assume that he is a product of his home. Additionally, the other kids in the class are going to be going over to their friends’ houses, and their friends’ parents will be their role models on some level, and they will be exposed to the things in their friends’ houses. So yes, the kids’ parents have to be in the same general ballpark as the other kids’ parents in the school.

    Personally, I was very happy when this lady told me that a certain school didn’t accept her kids, because I have a relative who will be attending that school. It is a somewhat more modern school and not a Bais Yaakov. On the one hand, I am happy that my relative is not going somewhere much more Yeshivish than her family because I don’t think it would be good for her, but on the other hand, I am glad that this school was Frum enough to not accept the children of a lady who looked like this one did. My relative’s mother does not dress or act that way; she should not be exposed to a parent body like that.

    Re: divorced women covering their hair. I don’t know what most Rabbanim say. I am under the impression that most divorced women do cover their hair, or at least the ones who are on a certain religious level.I think it is generally done for the chinuch of the kids whether or not it is necessary according to strict halacha. I certainly think it is reasonable for a school to have such a standard. The school has a right to say, “if you want to send your child to our school, do x,y,z. If not, send him elsewhere.” The parent has the choice.

    In terms of this lady, I don’t think the only issue was her uncovered hair. She was dressed very untzniusly and the way she was acting was untznius and inappropriate as well. I was quite relieved that she is not going to be my relative’s role model.

    #1175183
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “kollel in EY is definitely not the easy way out!!

    Going with the herd is certainly the easy way out. Especially in EY where the government supports the learners, and the monetary expectations are much lower, it is easier to be in Kollel than to fight the tide, leave Kollel (with all of the issues with the Army that come along with that choice) and then find a job in a society that doesn’t want to employ Charaidim. I agree with Joseph on this one, that it is much easier to be a Yeraim Jew outside of the state of Israel.”

    Sorry, but I have to correct you on this one. There are many misperceptions about what goes on in EY, and about what’s involved in deciding between Kollel and army. I have lived in EY for many years and am very familiar with the issues and the challenges involved in these decisions. I know from personal family experience how DIFFICULT it is to decide to defer the army to go to Yeshiva. I have a family member who was was not able to live up to the challenge and gave in to the pressure from his mother who was not able to deal with the financial challenges involved in deferring army service.

    It is very DIFFICULT to live in EY and not go to the army. If you don’t go to the army, you lose out on many rights and much financial aid from the government. You do not make any money while you are learning, and you can’t go to work. You are basically doomed to a life-long poverty.

    If you do go the army, the army supports you while you are doing your army service. In some cases, they even give you more than enough spending money so that you can save it to pay for college afterwards (as one of my family members did). In many cases, they train you in a profession for free, and as soon as you finish your army training, you can get a top job in your field (as another family member did). I believe that there are also many other benefits that one who goes to the army gets.

    Deferring army to go to Yeshiva is not going against the tide! It is very hard to live in a country like Israel which is constantly at war and where going to the army is the norm and so much is dependent on going to the army, and not go to the army! Anyone who thinks that it is easy knows nothing about the realities of living in EY today!

    I had a brother who could have been a Rosh Yeshiva. He was very Frum and very into learning. He wanted to learn, but my mother pressured him to go to the army because she was worried about money, and his Dati Leumi Rosh Yeshiva told him to go (after promising me that he would tell him not to go). He thought he had to listen to his Rav, so he went to the army, and he is now completely chiloni. He was supported by the government while he was in the army being taught computer programming for free. He got a great job as soon as he finished the army before he even started college. He makes a lot of money today.

    I have a sister who did sheirut leumi. She was supported by the government and given enough money to help her pay for college. She went to college and got a great job and now makes a lot of money, but is not so Frum (depending on how you define Frum -see previous threads – basically, she does not completely keep halacha).

    I have friends whose husbands are big masmidim and Talmidei chachamim and they live on almost nothing but bitachon and are extremely “mistapek b’muat.” Even with being “mistapek b’muat” to an extreme that you can’t imagine, they have to have a lot of bitachon every month that they will make it through the month somehow.

    Meanwhile, I see that people like my siblings are rolling in money.

    So don’t try to tell me that Kollel is the easy way out!!!

    I do agree though that someone who learns has more Olam Hazeh, but I do not agree that it is the easy way out!!

    #1175184
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    Will those in favor, please give one Gadol who says this is OK

    #1175185
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “Will those in favor, please give one Gadol who says this is OK”

    Who says that what is ok?

    #1175186
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    that what was done here is OK and not allowing these kids into the school. In fact I have seen Gadols says the exact opppsite

    #1175187
    ABS-SA
    Participant

    If I am special because I am unique. Then everyone else is also special! This is healthy self esteem.

    But, If I am special because I am BETTER than you, then only I can be special! This is also called narcissism and is the root of this issue.

    #1175188
    TheGoq
    Participant

    “But everyone agrees that a life spent learning would essentially be more ideal than a life spent in the office.”

    Tevya sings if i were a rich man i would not have to work and i could spend my time learning torah which would be the sweetest thing of all this is true but if Tevya does not milk his cows and deliver his wares his family will starve.

    #1175189
    Abba_S
    Participant

    The problem is not that the “kolel” parents want to punish anyone, rather they don’t want their children to associate with children they consider less religious. The secular court has tried to force the yeshiva to accept them and the parents just boycotted the yeshiva. The parents went to jail rather than send their kids to yeshiva with those they considered less frum.

    #1175190
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    lilmod ulelamaid: You are not a Charaidi. DL is a whole different ballgame. More like the MO child who fights his parents to stay in Yeshiva. Even for DL, it is becoming more common to stay in Kollel either before or after army service (instead of Hesder).

    For an Israeli Charaidi, it is easier to go with the herd. Same for a yeshivish guy in America who can live off his shver.

    If you wish to continue the discussion, I suggest moving it to a new thread.

    The school has a right to say, “if you want to send your child to our school, do x,y,z. If not, send him elsewhere.” The parent has the choice.

    Unless they take public funding, in which case the schools have to serve the entire public.

    The secular court has tried to force the yeshiva to accept them and the parents just boycotted the yeshiva. The parents went to jail rather than send their kids to yeshiva with those they considered less frum.

    Why should they not be allowed to home school their children?

    #1175191
    Joseph
    Participant

    Just because a parent uses government funds to pay for his child’s schooling, funds that are taxpayer’s fund not some nebulous entity called “the government’s” money, that the taxpayers themselves gave to the government to fund their children’s schooling, does not give the government the right to dictate to the school how to educate the children against the parent’s choices in education.

    #1175192
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    Joe – We will just have to disagree. Puk Chazi B’alma that what you say is not the Metzius, as much as you may want it.

    #1175193
    Abba_S
    Participant

    Gavra at Work – Anyone can home school their children, but if you mean the few who are being rejected, their parents work and so can’t home school their children.

    Part of the problem is that yeshivas are partially funded at a lower rate than Israeli Public Schools which would take them in. There are Less Macmur yeshivas that would take them in but they are out of the district. In my opinion school busing is a better solution to this problem. Placing them in a school that wants them is better than forcing them on a school that doesn’t and it will be a better learning environment.

    #1175194
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    Anyone can home school their children, but if you mean the few who are being rejected, their parents work and so can’t home school their children.

    I mean those who do not want to have their children forcibly with other Jewish children that may not be up to their “higher standards”. For example (that Yekke2 brought), their father did not see the local mikvah personally being filled with Mei Geshamim and not Mayim Sheuvim (which is a much bigger issue than meat being shechted, if you are going to throw out the Klal of “Eid Echad Ne’eman B’Issurim”).

    Part of the problem is that yeshivas are partially funded at a lower rate than Israeli Public Schools which would take them in. There are Less Macmur yeshivas that would take them in but they are out of the district. In my opinion school busing is a better solution to this problem. Placing them in a school that wants them is better than forcing them on a school that doesn’t and it will be a better learning environment.

    Sounds reasonable, but why does the “school”, which is being funded by the government (albeit at a lower rate than the schools that teach vocational studies), have the ability to reject someone in their “district”? Why wouldn’t the government simply go in, fire the principal, and put someone else in who would accept these children?

    And if it is a public/private partnership, why doesn’t the government withhold funding?

    (these are rhetorical)

    #1175195
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    I deliberately didn’t read the article. What type of school are we talking about? Is it a boys’s school or a girls’ school? If it’s a girls’ school, is it a Bais Yaakov or a (completely) private school? If it’s a boys’ school, is Chinuch Atzmai or a regular chareidi school (which would mean it’s a private school)?

    #1175196
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    I deliberately didn’t read the article. What type of school are we talking about? Is it a boys’s school or a girls’ school? If it’s a girls’ school, is it a Bais Yaakov or a (completely) private school? If it’s a boys’ school, is Chinuch Atzmai or a regular chareidi school (which would mean it’s a private school)?

    I have no idea (Have to admit stopping after “children not accepted at school”. Old news). That is why I laid out the possibilities:

    1: Private, no government funding – let them do what they want, not the government’s business

    2: Chinuch Atzmai or private with government funding – Withhold funding

    3: Public – fire the principal and accept the children

    4: If all schools in the area are private, bus the children to a public school

    (I don’t see why it makes a difference if the school is for boys or girls, but that may be in the funding structure).

    #1175197
    MDG
    Participant

    “Just because a parent uses government funds to pay for his child’s schooling, funds that are taxpayer’s fund not some nebulous entity called “the government’s” money, that the taxpayers themselves gave to the government to fund their children’s schooling, does not give the government the right to dictate to the school how to educate the children against the parent’s choices in education. “

    The vast majority of that money, which you say came from the taxpayers, really comes from non-Charaidi taxpayers.

    #1175198
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “(I don’t see why it makes a difference if the school is for boys or girls, but that may be in the funding structure).”

    It was – most Chareidim send their boys to schools that are completely private and their girls to Bais Yaakovs which are partially funded by the government, although there are also many Chareidim who send their girls to completely private schools as well (perhaps for this very reason – there is less government control).

    #1175199
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    “Just because a parent uses government funds to pay for his child’s schooling, funds that are taxpayer’s fund not some nebulous entity called “the government’s” money, that the taxpayers themselves gave to the government to fund their children’s schooling, does not give the government the right to dictate to the school how to educate the children against the parent’s choices in education. “

    The vast majority of that money, which you say came from the taxpayers, really comes from non-Charaidi taxpayers.”

    NOTE: A greater percentage of Chareidi/Frum tax money goes to support the secular school system than the percentage of non-Chareidi/Frum tax money that is going to support the Chareidi/Frum schools, since all of the secular schools are completely public, wheareas the majority of Chareidi schools are private.

    NOTE 2: This is a Jewish country, and really all of the schools should be run according to the Torah. At the very least, the Torah community should be able to educate their kids the way they desire. It should be the Frum people determining how the secular schools are run (in terms of religious issues such as teaching Torah from a Torah perspective, etc). If that is not going to happen, at the very least, it should be the Gedolim who determine how the Frum schools are run and not the government (at the very least when it comes to Religious issues).

    #1175200
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    This is a Jewish country, and really all of the schools should be run according to the Torah. At the very least, the Torah community should be able to educate their kids the way they desire. It should be the Frum people determining how the secular schools are run (in terms of religious issues such as teaching Torah from a Torah perspective, etc). If that is not going to happen, at the very least, it should be the Gedolim who determine how the Frum schools are run and not the government (at the very least when it comes to Religious issues).

    I completely agree, which is why they should not be taking money from the secular government that disagrees with your points.

    If all of the Charaidim would be sending to private schools then we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

    #1175201
    Abba_S
    Participant

    Gavra at work – This is not the first time this has happened. What happens is that the courts orders the yeshiva to enroll the students, which it does. The other parents boycott the school. The court then orders the parents to send their kids to school and they refuse and are sent to jail for contempt. It may sell newspapers but doesn’t educate students.

    The government needs them to enter the workforce. If they don’t fund secular studies they wouldn’t be taught these subjects,. This will burden social services for generation to come as they will be unable to enter the workforce.

    #1175202
    Lilmod Ulelamaid
    Participant

    Abba_S: I’m still confused about what type of school system we are talking about here. From your post, it sounds like a boys’ Chinuch Atzmai school. Is that correct?

    If it’s a “regular” Chareidi boys’ school, they are private and don’t have much secular education anyhow. And if it’s a girls’ school, they would get secular education anyhow, because all girls’ have secular education and all girls enter the work force.

    #1175203
    gavra_at_work
    Participant

    This will burden social services for generation to come as they will be unable to enter the workforce.

    Bezras Hashem Moshiach will be here then and we won’t need to worry about it.

    #1175204
    MDG
    Participant

    “NOTE: A greater percentage of Chareidi/Frum tax money goes to support the secular school system than the percentage of non-Chareidi/Frum tax money that is going to support the Chareidi/Frum schools, since all of the secular schools are completely public, wheareas the majority of Chareidi schools are private.”

    The charaidim still take a lot of gov’t money. If you see the P+L of a school, you will soon realize how they need gov’t money and how much they take.

    A few years ago, there was a movement to separate Ramot Beit Shemesh into two different cites, one Charaidi and one for everyone else. The Charaidi mayor told the Charaidim not to do so because they would not have enough money if they just relied on their own.

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