Tel Aviv, Israel – Beginning next school year, students at the Orot Aviv yeshiva in Tel Aviv will be offered personal life coaching sessions to help them “better connect with their Torah studies.”
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The lessons will be offered by the yeshiva’s rabbis, who are currently undergoing training.
According to the yeshiva, in this era of television and the internet the students are finding it difficult to concentrate and relate to the texts, and are therefore in need of professional assistance.
Rabbi Ettinger of the Orot Aviv yeshiva says the lessons will be based on “Jewish books that deal with morality, such as Mesilat Yesharim (Path of the Just).”
“At the beginning of the next school year the coachers will meet with the students to determine their abilities and preferences. The project’s second phase will focus on removing their ‘internal walls’, after which they will be taught how to realize their potential.
“Sometimes problems related to childhood or social problems that stem from personal traits, such as shyness, can interfere with one’s Torah studies, or affect other aspects of life,” Rabbi Ettinger explains.
“The goal is to increase the students’ motivation to study by tackling their personal and social problems. By guiding and setting goals for the student we allow him to showcase his abilities, not only in his Torah studies, but in the army, family life and academic studies as well.”
Rabbi Mishael Cohen, head of the Orot Aviv Yeshiva, stresses that the personal coaching project is aimed at providing the students with the “necessary tools to study Torah and work on his character.”
Maybe just get rid of the internet & TV instead?
What a novel idea, better adjusted yeshiva bochurs. The only fear I have is they may get pickier when they start the shidduch process.
they should do this here in the US as well
great, they got a mashpia. we’ve had that for centuries.
I’m not sure rabbonim are really equipped to function as “life coaches”. There are more well qualified social workers and psychologists who can provide a derech for these bochurim that would meld daas torah and contemporary society than many of the teachers and rebbes at the yeshivot and kollels who themselves may be sorely in need of “life coaching”.
Some sort of training is probably better than none, but I wonder if many rebbeim are truly equipped to offer the sort of guidance so many yeshiva bochurim need these days. Why not offer more formal training to many who go into chinuch?
Keep them away from psychologists
What on earth is a “life coach”? …Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale.
I am a non profetional who is involved in helping bachurim with emotional issues & I don’t see that the socail workors & Psycholagists are realy able to reach & relate to many bochurim with problems.
Schooling & degries are far from everything. Having mechanchim who are capable & knoledgable in these areas is definatly the best thing.
Kol hakovod to this Yeshiva. I wish more Yeshivas in the US would understand this.
Do you want social workers teaching in our childrens classroom or do you trust our rabbeim to do that? A bochur with minor problems can flourish under a caring rebbe,especially with some training.