Lakewood, NJ – Girls High Schools Canceled Until Every Teen Is Placed In A Classroom

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    Lakewood, NJ – A ‘Psak Halcha’ given a few years ago by ‘Gedolei Hador’ from Israel by Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, on the issue of schools and teens, has prompted that all Lakewood schools this year to delay the opening of the school year.

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    At issue, is that 6 girls from the Lakewood community were not accepted for unspecified reasons in any of the many girls schools available in the community, therefore the Hanhalah management of BMG moved quickly to hee to the Halcaha of the Gedolim that states every child must be placed before any school starts.

    Until its resolved the schools will remain closed.

    This admirable act should be as a guidance to the many schools in Brooklyn and surrounding community, where VIN News has learned have not accepted some high school girls for no good reasons, the girls are left with no school to attend. one of those schools is in Borough Park. We are currently doing an investigation and VIN news will not hesitate to publish the names of schools, and the people heading those schools for their insensitivity and lack of understanding that Our kids are our future.

    While our community is always actively involved with ‘Tzdokah’ tasks to help place many Jewish kids into schools around the globe from Russia to Israel, we say Charity begins at home, every child in our community must be placed and assured a place where to go.


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    143 Comments
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    Teacher
    Teacher
    15 years ago

    About time there was a sensible ban. Yes, this should apply in Brooklyn, too….AND FOR THE BOYS AS WELL!!!

    If these 6 girls have issues that need to be addressed…deal with them. The schools have an achriyos to help every child, not just sit him/her in the back of the class with the instruction to not move & shut up.

    I should know…I have kids with issues every year. That’s part of the job & it IS a responsibility. Too bad! If you call yourself a teacher you help every child, not just the rich, clean, A++ students.

    And the Rabbonim might want to consider “banning” the lazy, useless, nasty teachers who are so burned out they do more harm than good. You know who they are!

    Must run to school, first day!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    My son is LD and I was horrified the way schools act towards their fellow jews. Once upon a time, yeshivas were a community service. Today it is a business and all that matters is reputation and dollar signs.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    60 years ago the nazis yimach shimom considerd all of us yiden (and murderd us) but the heimeish schools dont consider us yiden enough to be ecepted in their schools.

    SHAME ON US

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Its more than six children. that sit home and cry

    JBC
    JBC
    15 years ago

    Didn’t they go through this once already. I seem to recall that something similar took place a few years ago.

    moshe
    moshe
    15 years ago

    this happened to me so many times that I wasnt accepted in a school until december.My whole life is messed up because I have no self esteem.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    How beautiful. Even though Lakewood has gotten

    so big, it is still a community that listens to

    it’s Rabbonim. May the Community have Bracha.

    Fartzonovitch
    Fartzonovitch
    15 years ago

    WOW! Something that actually makes sense from the “Godolim” maybe $$$ isn’t everything

    political  analyst
    political analyst
    15 years ago

    kol hakavod lakewood & vin for raising this important & often overlooked issue.

    Chaim S.
    Chaim S.
    15 years ago

    Several years ago the Gerrer Rebbe ZTZL the Pnei Menachem was told that there were 3 bochurim who had not been accepted into any Gerrer yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. His answer, make another yeshiva, which today is thriving. Lakewood is a community of holier than thou Jews who stick their heads into the sand and think there are no kids at risk nor do we have to take steps to prevent any.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Amazing every year same garbage over & over.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    All I can say is WOW! A new respect for Lakewood

    But my question is What if a girl brings along bad hashkafah to the school? Is it not fair to the other kids? shouldnt those kids be protected?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Yeshivas in BP are not excepting the innocence because they have a problem with the fathers beard, or some other little shtus, this profiling must stop, playgroups are full of older boys and girls because no chader will except them, this is one of the worst abuses by the mosdos hatorah, we should all stand up and put an end to it, thanks VIN for bringing this up, any chader that takes government grants can’t discriminate against anybody, if you feel you are being discriminated against, you should contact the Dept of education and report it, this whole attitude of “I am better then you” is pure Nazism.

    replay to chaim s
    replay to chaim s
    15 years ago

    Reply to chaim S.

    You have no idea what Lakewood is about. There is the “kollel” and the “minyan” who work with teenagers of various levels. From learning, semi learning and also full time working. There are programs for children as well as teenagers that are not public knowledge so they can be successfull with working with these children. Otherwise the children would not want to be part of these programs.

    Stop bashing lakewood. You can love it or you can keep your unknowledgeable opinion to yourself

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It’s not an excuse that maybe the children will have a bad hashpoa on other children. The P’sak is to accept the children. If you find that they are ruining other kids, you kick them out.

    lebediger
    lebediger
    15 years ago

    if they can do it in monroe it would be great they have about 20 young girls age 14 on the streets

    Anon
    Anon
    15 years ago

    if you feel you are being discriminated against, you should contact the Dept of education and report it,

    Now your kid will really have a chance of making it in the school..Uh hu.

    There is a reason why they dont accept a 3 year old in school and the reason is not the child.

    Parents you cannot live a double life and have both worlds.

    MAYER
    MAYER
    15 years ago

    This behavier from yidishe mosdos in the last maybe 20 years has cost klal yisroel nebech that thousants of yidishe neshumes got lost and are not on the level that they would be if they would have been accepted.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    It is wonderful to see the Roshei Yeshiva & gedolim standing up for six Bnos Yisroel (maybe more)and making sure that they too have a place to go.

    Yossele
    Yossele
    15 years ago

    Amazing!

    Thank you!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This is tue DAS TORAH keep the schools shut till every ben/bnos yisroel gets in to a mosad

    johnd
    johnd
    15 years ago

    Chaim S. & 9:28

    These are good girls that may require extra attention. thats all!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    my first reaction to this was wow! this is great news! i am so impressed! but ten a few seconds later it hit me. why does it have to boil down to this? why do we need to have a crisis and then deal with it? why could this not have been prevented and dealt with before? why does it need to be the 1st week of school and have school delayed before placing these students? why cant everyone work together over the year and the summer to make sure each child has a school? It is nice to see that the problem is solved but it would be so much nicer if it would of been solved earlier, or not even been a problem in the first place.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I agree, lets cut off the grants to the heimishe mosdos that do not comply to their regulations. End of problem.

    BAL B'TOCHON
    BAL B'TOCHON
    15 years ago

    WHEN I WAS UNEMPLOYED, SOMEBODY FROM A VERY RESPECTFUL SCHOOL ASKED MY WIFE “IF YOUR HUSBAND IS UNEMPLOYED, WE CAN’T ACCEPT YOUR DAUGHTER!!!!

    I REPLIED THE FOLLOWING “WE LEARNED IN THE YESHIVAS DON’T LEARN AN UMNNOS (A TRADE). THE GIRLS ARE TAUGHT THAT IF U MARRY A WORKING BOY, IT’S LIKE WORSHIPPING AVODA ZORA!!! HAVE B’TOCHON!!!! SO I WROTE TAKE MY B’TOCHON!!!!

    NOT “IN G-D WE TRUST” THATS ON THE $$$$$. BUT IF U MEAN B’TACHON, MONEY SHOULDN’T BE AN ISSUE!!!!!

    TRULY YOURS

    BAL B’TOCHON

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This is a tough situation. We really need to understand why they were not accepted. I personally know people there that apply only to schools that the hashkafos are not similar to theirs because they want a better name? Then they can’t figure out why they aren’t in schools. Many people in Lakewood have TV’s etc.and very poor hashkafos when it comes to tznius etc. Lakewood is a yeshiva town and that is how they want it kept and they try to discourage people with other haskafos to come and influence them negatively.

    If this is the reason then I can understand. Hopefully it does not have to do with money, family etc. and hopefully people don’t feel they can come there and act any way they like as their kids will get placed anyway.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Require Elyashiv and Shteinman to take the kids into their own yeshivas! Then see how fast they withdraw their psak!

    Sechel Brosh
    Sechel Brosh
    15 years ago

    Lakewood an excellent example for Brookloyn

    A 5 year old child dismissed from a heimishe school for silly (political) reason trying to register in another school is being bashmeeeered by the first school and is out of school by now

    Lakewood would never let this happen

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Why does everyone here assume that these “6 girls” are PROBLEM kids?? I would guess that they’re perfectly normal kids and they were STILL not accepted.

    The first and foremost reason today for not accepting children into schools is $$$$$. I’m SURE that if money was offered on behalf of any of these girls they would be accepted immediately!!!

    It’s despicable and disgusting!!!

    And the other reasons for turning away children

    are usually so insane that alot of these people will have to give “din v’cheshbon” for thier cruel deeds. I hope that if they’re guilty they pay for it.

    Playing with childrens’ future means nothing to the people which unfortunately sit and make these crucial decision.

    It’s time to get rid of them!!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Hashkafos is the most abused word in Lakewood, they will apply it to almost any situation.

    Robroy560
    Robroy560
    15 years ago

    Kudos to all of you who pointed out that this is a legitimate ban. We have a responsibility to educate our own. Perhaps a little competition needs to be added to the mix, or we need to think about what money does to the enlightened.

    I went to day school. Many of my former classmates and their children are yeshivish now. Many also made aliyah and are involved in yeshivot in Israel. Why? No one cared about what type of robe their mother wore Friday night or whether their father had a beard, short-beard or none. Even the children from non-frum back grounds wound up being more observant because the administration cared about spreading yiddishkeit vs. deciding who can and cannot be exposed to yiddishkeit.

    If these girls have issues with LD, then let’s fix it. Special education is no longer a stigma. Many people with disabilities go far in life. I know of a guy who almost got kicked out of yeshiva because no one knew how to handle his ADD. Today, he is mentsch and multi-millionaire. Some very successful business people are dyslexic, or have battled other issues.

    Lock & Load
    Lock & Load
    15 years ago

    They should do this in Flatbush & Boro Park too…

    No reason why a kid cant go to school because her Parents didnt pay up there Tuition Bill…

    There is where the Chasidishe Schools have it rite….they deal with the Parents seperate…

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    IT IS ABOUT TIME!!! THEY SHOULD DO THIS TO EVERY SCHOOL!! BOYS AND GIRLS!! ELEMENTRY AND HIGH SCHOOL!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I know of a situation of a hearing imparied girl who was not accepted into the only school that has succesfull experince in lakewood dealing with this specifc issue.THEY WERE NOTIFIED MAYBE JUST 2 WEEKS AGO.

    This was the only one school capable of properly intergrating the child into their regular school system as they have had the experience how to properly set the classroom up so this child can hear and learn like all other children. This child is bright & friendly. The child is just hearing impaired.

    unfortunatly the person in charge of accepting children into the school thinks he is

    g-d and did not allow this child into the school.WHY NOT? WHY COULDNT HE MAKE THESE PARENTS LIVES JUST A LITTLE BIT EASIER? GIBE THEM A BREAK? AND the parents are extremly yeshivish.

    Now the mother has to go to another school and re invent the wheel as that school does not have much experience to properly setup the classroom and work with such a child.

    sober
    sober
    15 years ago

    there is a grade in one school in Lakewood that was killed because of this policy . the perents and teachers of that class know what I am talking about . I don’t think the Rabonim are talking about beinging in such girs. THE REAL PROBLEM IS WE DON’T HAVE A SCHOOL FOR SUCH A CROWD . THE PERENTS AY WHAT MY DAUGHTER TO GO TO SUCH A SCHOOL.

    Shaul in Monsey
    Shaul in Monsey
    15 years ago

    How can we execute this for boys also, and in Monsey as well?

    When you spend a moment to think about it – the number of mosdos actually dilutes community resources, and yet not every kid has a seat. That is really criminal. We should expect and demand better.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    “Sechel Brosh Says:

    Lakewood an excellent example for Brookloyn”

    I HOPE NOT,

    I lived in Lakewood and I can tell you that when it comes to the schools they are the worst, A principal once told me that they have to reject some applicants in order to be able to raise money, as he put it, you are not considered a good school if you except just anyone. they play with kids lives and IMHO all there “Torah” is worthless because its “torah blih derech eretz”

    Choizik
    Choizik
    15 years ago

    What about chareide girls high schools in Israel?! That an even bigger outrage!

    chnyock
    chnyock
    15 years ago

    keep the schools closed!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    No reason why a kid cant go to school because her Parents didn’t pay up there Tuition Bill…

    when I was having a problem with $$$$ I was told to send my daughters to public school by the administrator of the largest girls school in boro park .

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    OK, my situation was different but part of the problem.

    I tried to place my special boy in Kindergarden with a shadow. At that age this was appropriate. Yeshivaha like Toras Emes were extremely nasty amd hurtfull to us. Many told us about a Yeshiva in Far Rockaway(Rabbi Bender D) that would accept us but they turned us down saying Brooklyn Yeshivahs should handle their own problems. (They would not send an aplication but relented and sent the aplication, demanded and got money but never replied after that.) A Brooklyn school told us they had no space but did fill their space with… a kid sent daily from Far Rockaway at the request of the same aforementioned school and Rabbi Bender!!!

    YES, yeshivahs should work together to find the right placement and not cherry pick based on academics or money.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    As a former menahel, let me tell you every school – no exceptions – runs at a loss.

    On the first day of school parents show up who expect not to pay a dime and freeload the whole year.

    If they need money for tuition assistance, just do the paperwork like everyone else.

    But these wise guys want a free ride.

    Now in the case of these girls, if it is for LD reasons, than shame on the schools.

    They should take these girls with loving arms.

    Shame on them.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Everybody thinks it’s always money involved. How about if the girls (parents) don’t listen to the rules of school and do whatever their heart desires. Then when it comes to take their kids back to school the administration are reshuim. Why don’t you think of your kids education while they are still in school? Huh!!!

    MAYER
    MAYER
    15 years ago

    I shouldn’t have to write this because mechanchim shoult know better.

    A jewish child should have the value of at least a diamod that needs work. Would some one throw it away because he cant finished it. If this child reqires more work, you as a mechanech have to it. I am sure if this would be your child you would find a way to take of it and not reject it. When parant send a child to a yidishe mosad and pays tuition they expect to get the same service that the mechanech would do for there own child. Remember you are “don dinay nefushes” and generations to come. When you are in chinuch you have this responsbility, if you can’t handle it you don’t belong in chinuch.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I live in Flatbush and would not be considered chasidish by most people.

    I heard that some 5 town people that used to pay full tuition and huge donations had trouble this year. They asked for a tuition break and the school said no, go to public school if you can’t pay.

    My understanding is that Satmer takes what you can pay. Their camp fee is a small fraction of what I pay elsewhere and the kids are happy. They originated the idea of no child left behind.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Anonymous SAID

    As a former menahel, let me tell you every school – no exceptions – runs at a loss.

    On the first day of school parents show up who expect not to pay a dime and freeload the whole year.

    Well, just walk into Shulamith any day of the summer and see the parents sitting like broken people. Does Shulamith run at a loss after their real estate bonanza? Do they refund the separate building fee every parent paid for years?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    How can everyone keep discussing this if they have no idea why these girls weren’t admitted. Does anyone know?

    McCain-Palin 08
    McCain-Palin 08
    15 years ago

    Chaim S.

    You’r in dream land to say there are no teens at risk…….what do you call those who I see hanging out in parking lots or in the pool hall half drunk or on drugs these are your lakewood srudents please dont give me this crap.

    Lakewood has close to 40% yeshiva drop outs most of them come to brooklyn after and some get help

    yoshi
    yoshi
    15 years ago

    I personally know some of these girls who are not accepted into schools (or weren’t for a long time, and finally got accepted). because, some of them don’t fit the perfect “mold” of these schools standards. First off, you should know, that they are very nice, smart, and good hearted girls.

    In my opinion (and others I know as well), think they should open another girls high school in Lakewood, that cater to the girls who don’t exactly fit the specific criteria these schools are very strict about. Even those who were accepted in school (last minute after months of pleading with many schools), don’t always feel comfortable in the school they are in, they feel like they are being put down at times for not being a “certain way.” Or the fact that they feel like the schools last minute “pity case.” acceptance, (that most of the other students are aware of by the way).

    Believe it or not, there are a lot of other “types” of Jewish families who live in Lakewood. This town has become very diverse, but some of the residents here are in complete denial of that fact. So it isn’t because of who these girls are, their intelligence, or how special they are on the inside. It comes down to if they own a tv, computer, a father not wearing a black hat, a mother not covering her hair in a specific way, etc.

    The more you make Jews who happen to be more modern feel exiled, rejected, and uncomfortable by the many looks (& remarks), the further you are pushing them from the religion altogether.

    I will not go into details, but I know many people who’ve had this happen to them, and I personally know of someone who was frum for over 30 years, they came so far, but was shot down one too many times by inconsiderate, ignorant individuals, that now they are completely NOT religious in the least bit.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    living in lkwd i can tell you this problem occurs every year and their is no simple solution to this problem evidently these 6 girls arent te norm but the exception u can well imagine if out of 600 girls only 1% didnt get in thats already after all the handeling and farnegiling to get the other 100 girls who had a hard time getting in b’h we r down to only 6 girls who arent placed

    you must see their r 2 sides to this issue

    one side is if your girls are all placed in 9th grade starting HS in a new class and enviornment would you want one of these 6 girls who definatly have issues whether hashkofa,tznius,at risk,past use of drugs etc coming in to your daughters class and perhaps your daughter being influenced by her???after you spending 13 or 14 years shielding your daughter from the street would you be happy to have her introduced to it???so dont be so quick to jump on the schools who work hard to mantain a high standard

    on the otherside of the coin is why should this girl who may come from a broken home,more modern background,parents are balle teshuva etc not be given a fair chance just as any other girl adaraba maybe by being in a good class the class will befriend her and pull her up to their standards and we will have saved and have a potential of building a nice solid bayis neeman bisroel by giving this girl a chance to prove she can rise above her weak background (or perhaps a slightly colored past)

    this is a shayla of nefoshos and cant be paskened by your hum drum local rabbi but must be dealt with at the top btw unless both sides of the issue were represented when the shayla was asked its hard to say that this psak is binding today when each year the circumstanses change and must be asked anew i wonder if this was done as the letter seems to imply that this was the psak handed down 2 years ago and one can question the relevance to todays new set of circumstances