Dear Parents and Incoming Students amus”h,
I hope this letter finds you well.
As many of you are aware, much of our summer has been spent reevaluating our school to ensure that we are being mechanech with the utmost kedushah, tahara and safety.I wanted to update you on our progress:
We have been in consultation with numerous rabbanim, machanchim and Gedolei Yisroel both in the United States and Israel for hadracha and eitza and are indebted to them for the innumerable hours they gave us and the precision and care with which they have evaluated our system and advised every step of the way. They offered their heartfelt support, and repeatedly expressed their appreciation for the excellent work Chedvas is known for and the countless exemplary bnos Torah we have produced. They encouraged us to continue our meleches hakodesh.
As per the eitza of Gedolei Torah and the Beis Din of HaRav Mendel Shafran shlit”a, Rebbetzin Blimi Birnbaum has been appointed minaheles ruchani of the entire institution. Rebbetzin Birnbaum is well known as one of the most prominent Bais Yaakov educators in Eretz Yisroel. It is truly an honor to have her on staff. We appreciate her guidance thus far, and look forward to her eitza for many years to come.
Under the hadracha of the Novominsker Rebbe shlit”a, in conjunction with the Bais Din of HaRav Mendel Shafran shlit”a, a vaad harabanim has been established to evaluate school policies and standards and to set new ones. They will be involved in an ongoing fashion, to advise and guide the schools for this year and for years to come, be”h. The vaad is comprised of the esteemed Rabbanim: HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch shlit”a, HaRav Yehoshua Eichenstein shlit”a, and HaRav Asher Weiss shlit”a.<
Gedolei Torah in America, including the Novminsker Rebbe shlit”a have written a letter endorsing the schools and the steps that have been taken. It is attached to this email (in the original Hebrew and an English translation).
It is our tefila that Hakadosh Baruch Hu give us siyata dishmaya to continue to be mikadesh shem shamayim
As usual, please do not hesitate to be in touch with any questions. I remain,
Sincerely,
Rabbi Meir Kahane
Menahel
In contrast to the previous letter, it appears that he had someone look this over before he sent it out.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful letter.
ReplyDeleteWhereas your comments remain as mean-spirited as ever.
ReplyDeleteWhich of my comments have been mean-spirited?
ReplyDeleteThere was no point to such a comment, Michael.
ReplyDeleteThe 7/13 IBD letter said that everything was fine and that people shouldn't hold back from sending their daughters. In other words, the sems were perfectly safe.
ReplyDeleteNow comes Meir Kahane and says that there were tons of changes and new staff. Not only that, but they had "countless hours" or "hadracha and eitza" regarding the situation.
First, Kahane himself has a serious problem with credibility, first telling people to ignore the lashon hara, and now basically saying that the sems needed to be re-vamped. Second, if the IBD deemed the schools to be safe six weeks ago, then why the need to make any changes?
@Jasper there is no contradiction. The IBD made the statement with the understanding that the seminareis would keep their obligation to insitute all changes that they requested. No great surpise.
ReplyDeleteSo, BEFORE changes were made, they kashered the sems? I don't believe I've ever heard you make that claim. Only that major changes weren't necessary.
ReplyDelete@Jasper what ax are you grinding?
ReplyDeleteI am pointing out what seems to me a major problem. Why would any parents send their daughters to a sem that supposedly was ok as of 7/13, but now is only ok after major changes. Had Kahane said that they acknowledged the problems and were working to correct them, I would agree with you, but that's not what happened here. First they said that everything was ok, and then they talked about major change. Smacks of dishonesty.
ReplyDelete@Jasper how much change is a major change? The IBD said the seminaries were safe and to ensure they remain that way they instituted changes. If they had to fire all the staff and give them extensive retratining etc then you might have a point. You are simply quibbling
ReplyDeleteJasper, be happy even more changes were made to make the seminaries double and triple safe.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Eidensohn, have you contacted the rabbonim of the vaad to confirm they agreed to do anything more than answer shailos? The language of the letter by the gedolim implied much more as I noted in a previous comment. Or are you relying on second hand information?
ReplyDeleteThe was no point to the first letter.
ReplyDeleteYou mean which of your other comments besides this one?
ReplyDeleteYes they would. If the restaurant / school is closed anyway over the summer, and all the staff is away anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely did not get the point!
ReplyDeleteDear Rabbi Eidensohn,
ReplyDeleteWould you send your daughter / granddaughter to any of these institutions?
Would you recommend that people close to you send a daughter or granddaughter?
Do you know if any of the five signers of the letter dated last Wednesday are sending any family member? Would they recommend that people close to them do so?
Dorron Katzin
What are you saying?? This letter says the system was evaluated. No contradictions. Your trying to find a problem with this letter. Its a very nice letter. Your looking silly and irate as RDE correctly pointed out.
ReplyDeleteYes - since you wrote "your comments remain as mean-spirited as ever". That implies my comments have been consistently mean-spirited, which is why I am somewhat perplexed. I admit the last comment was sarcastic, but I am certain it is also true.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I find it humorous that I am being accused by someone whose comments are frequently mean-spirited against those with whom he disagrees.
This moshol/nimshal applies to chedvas. I don't know anything about the other 3 schoools.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I understand the majority of the complaints here. Someone buys a house. His wife notices that there is a creak. No one can be exactly sure where it is or what it is. But his wife can't stand it. So he hires a carpenter. Carpenter drives nails into all places that would tend to creak in a wooden house, and pulls the beams together by doing this.This increases the strength of the support. Now there are no creaks. She is happy.
The problems are like creaks. No one is absolutely sure what was wrong. There were intimations, allegations, accusations. No indication that Meisels was in Chedvas at all the last 2 years. Kehane wrote a stupid, ill advised letter. Sounds like a letter that an enabler would write. But we have no direct accusation of enabling that I know of anyway.
So the carpenter comes in, and adds some nails and screws. 2 layers are added tnat no other school has: 3 major roshei yeshiva in Israel and talmidei chachamim are now available for advice. Certainly not there for day to day, but available if needed. Also, An excellent mechaneches is added to the staff.
The house no longer creaks.
Why are you not satisfied?
Michael's comment was a compliment= Kehane had someone look over his letter to make sure it was okay. Good! nothing to complain about,
ReplyDelete@Dorron Katzin - yes I definitely would send family members to these seminaries and I would not have any hestitation about recommending it to others. Have no idea about the 5 gedolim.
ReplyDeleteI would have hesitation about other seminaries which don't have the new protocols and superivision that these do.
I don't think you are a good spokesperson for the sane folks of the world.
ReplyDelete