Keeping the Street Out of the Yeshiva

Left: Rabbi Yoseph Minkowitz. Right: Dr. Shloimie Zimmerman.

Chabad educators will convene next week at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Danbury, CT for 48 hours of total immersion in Chinuch. Much of the program will deal with the same issues that nearly 200 Chabad Mechanchos dealt with during their conference last week at the DOLCE center, in Norwalk. In addition, the Kinus will concentrate on the need to foster the development of children’s healthy self-image and worth within a turbulent world, an issue which is reflective of the realities Mechanchim deal with daily.

“Yeshivas must be an oasis of Kedusha and tranquility, a place of security and inspiration for each of their talmidim so that they feel wanted and worthwhile and they will be able to learn how to maximize their potential,” declared Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, the director the Merkos Chinuch Office and organizer of the summer chinuch conferences. He said that this is the most elementary challenge for every Mechanech and it is also sometimes the most difficult, it is therefore one of the primary topics to be addressed at the forthcoming Kinus HaMechanchim.

Dr. Shloimie Zimmerman, a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice and Chairman of the Clinical Advisory Board for Magen New York, will address the issue from a professional point of view. He will be followed by a panel of master mechanchim who will discuss it from the perspective and advantage of Chabad Chinuch.

As Chairman of the clinical advisory board for Magen New York, Dr. Zimmerman leads the clinical team in decision making, organization development, the establishment of policy and procedure and program implementation, and he has worked to create a healthier and safer environment for children through awareness, education, and guidance. Dr. Zimmerman was an outstanding success when he addressed the mechanchos last week.

Rabbi Yoseph Minkowitz, dean of Beth Rivkah Schools in Montreal, Canada, will address the Kinus as veteran and venerable Chassidic Mechanech. He will glean from Klolei Chinuch V’hadrocho, the chinuch magnum opus which was an essay outlined by the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe and penned by his son and successor the Rebbe Rayatz, and show how personal warmth and dedication to the individual student is a prerequisite to Chabad chinuch. He will be followed by a number of outstanding – but younger – colleagues, who will bring personal reflections and a number of practical ideas before the conferees.

Registration to the Kinus is available online at www.chinuchoffice.org, and will close Thursday morning.

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