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| Not for Everyone |
Shortly after he Agudah convention, I happened to
speak to a friend of mine who is a Rebbe in a mainstream Charedi yeshiva. He
was asked to speak at one of the convention. It’s too bad that he
wasn’t the keynote speaker. Because his message was one that resonated with
me. It is a message that should be heeded by Torah U’Mesorah whose rabbinic
leaders determine educational policy for all of their member day schools and
high schools. Heeded as well by the Roshei Yeshiva of all major Yeshivos. A message that Centrists like me
have been preaching for many years. It is a simple message. Which is:
Not
everyone belongs in a Yeshiva.
For the Charedi world that might seem quite
radical - even blasphemous!. For Centrists like me, it is nothing more than common sense. It is also common sense to those who adhere to the Hashkafa of Torah Im Derech Eretz. And even many Charedi Gedolim of the not too distant past, like Rav Yitzchok Hutner and Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz.
There may be rabbis in the right wing educational hierarchy that might actually agree with my friend. But if they do, they are far away from
doing anything about it. Furthermore there
is a competitive environment among Right wing Yeshivos and High schools that
exacerbates the problem by constantly raising their standards of
accomplishment in Torah study, making study at the top Yeshivos extremely
demanding. So demanding that even some very bright students can’t keep up. So
demanding that only the very best of the best students remains unstressed by
it.
When the competition gets that stiff, what happens
to those students that are not top tier? Which is probably most of them. Many of those will look at the top tier and realize they will never reach that level and become discouraged. The stress alone can make a nervous wreck
out of anyone. Let alone someone that cannot handle the full ‘workload’ that
many of the tip schools require of their students.
And yet what card carrying right wing parent doesn’t
want to end his sons to the ‘Harvard’ or ‘Yale’ of Yeshiva highs schools. The schools with those kinds of reputations
are the ones that create that kind of pressure in their students. They call it
Ameilus (the diligent hard work by which the Torah knowledge can be attained).
I call it a prescription for failure for most students. Many of whom might turn
away from Judaism altogether. Some overtly. Some secretly by just going through
the motions.
At the other end of the spectrum there are some students that simply do not have
what it takes to study Torah at high levels. Either they don’t have the mental
acuity to study at those levels or are unmotivated - never attaining enough interest in
it even if they are very bright. Their interests and abilities lie elsewhere. By forcing them to be in a highly competitive environment that they have little interest in, they are clearly not serving God at their optimal level.
And yet there is no infrastructure to deal with
this in the Yeshiva world of the right.
There are few if any schools that have programs that will allow
these young people to pursue their own interests and talents towards their Avodas Hashem –
serving God. Instead they are all indoctrinated to see Torah study as the only
way to serve God at a high level. Anything else takes a far second place to
that. So far that they are not worth pursuing at all. Certainly not in any
Yeshiva worthy of the name.
All of the above applies to Yeshiva day schools and high schools. The more Torah
study they have - and the less secular studies they have - the more those schools are
valued. What happens to studnets after going trough that system depends
on how inspired or disillusioned the students are.
Those that succeed in those
high pressure high schools are the elite of the Torah world and will do well in
a post high school Yeshiva Gedola and later on in Kollel. Those that have not
done well and thus become are disillusioned are in danger of going OTD.
Those in
the middle – which I believe is the vast majority of Yeshiva students – will probably follow
the path outlined for them by their high school teachers and mentors and go on
to study full time in a Yeshiva and later in a Kollel. All at the expense of
serving God best with their God Given talents that have been ignored
or downplayed by their Rebbeim in high school.
Not everyone should follow this path. I have been
preaching this forever. Not everyone should be directed into full time learning
at the expense of his other talents. Instead of negating those talents and not offering
any alternative programs for them, they ought to be developing programs where
they will continue learning Torah at a high level but at the same time
encourage them to follow their natural talents. Yeshivos should accommodate that
by providing programs and mentors that will encourage them to do that instead
of discouraging them.
In many ways institutions like Touro have responded
to that challenge. A lot of right wing Yeshiva students are taking advantage of
that. But there has been push back against that by some right wing Roshei yeshiva that denigrate that as second
class citizenry for Jews. That only full time Torah students are first class.
Which means that the current paradigm of stiff
competition among High schools will probably increase with a trend to
eliminate secular studies altogether – to make room for the extra Torah study. Which will make those schools top schools.
That will only make matters worse. The denigration of secular studies is at the
very least the subliminal if not overt message from so many Rebbeim that mentor their
students. The less secular studies there are, the less other abilities and talents
will be realized and followed. That can only lead to tragic
results.
Which is why I am happy to hear that there are
Mechanchim like my friend. He that does not blind himself to reality and has the courage to speak out publicly. Which resonated with fellow Mechanchim at the Agudah convention that heard him. But – because of the fear of losing the approval of their schools
hierarchy and perhaps even their jobs, they have kept quiet about it.
It would be nice
if there was an organized grass roots
movement among Mechanchim to try and reverse this trend before things get even
worse than they are now.
