WPIX

An all-girls Jewish school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn is getting backlash after fining students who had a Facebook account.

Stock: “A School Is Allowed to Have Rules”

WPIX

An all-girls Jewish school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn is getting backlash after fining students who had a Facebook account.

Administrators at Beth Rivkah High School said 11th graders were found to have Facebook accounts, which is against school policy.

“All the girls signed a contract at the beginning of the year that they aren’t allowed to have Facebook,” said Benzion Stock, the director of school.

Stock said the school principal approached the junior students and offered them an ultiminatum. To pay $100 dollars and take it off or keep it up and get suspended.

“They have a certain punishment. They will get the money back at the end of the year,” said Stock.

Stock said the crackdown on Facebook was meant to stop students from breaking school code and to restore the Jewish Orthodox code of morality.

will have a certain punishment which they will get back at the end of the year 100 dollars, yes 100 dollars

Benzion says the crackdown was meant to stop students from breaking school code and restore Jewish Orthodox code of morality.

“It’s a regular school rule. They need to obey rules,” said Benzion.

50 Comments

  • Doctor

    The rules are rules. But those rules seem twisted. If you are going to punish somebody – good do it. But then, why would you give money back at the end of the year, makes no sense at all. That is one. As far as morality goes, it is a very thin line.

  • The Silent Killer

    I thank Bais Rivah for coming and doing this. Even through it may not make them the most liked amongst their students for doing this!

    For any frum girl or boy who is trying to be educated as a frum yid, Facebook is literally a killer! It silently – yet pretty quickly – kills every frum standard, easily crosses all frum lines and is a great hindrance to the spiritual growth of any frum boy or girl.

    This is the reality!

    I’m glad someone is taking a stand! I hope parents and other Mosdos follow Bais Rivah’s lead.

    Soon the word amongst us in Chabad should be that if you have a facebbok account you aren’t considered up to main stream Chabad/Frum standers!

  • Ad Masai!

    While I agree with him, Lubavitch is known to have the most lax adherence to Tznius in the ENTIRE frum world, let alone Chassidic, just stop by CH on Tishrei והמבין יבין.
    My point is, is this where you start in fixing this Lubavitcher problem?

  • aha moment

    just awhile ago the same benzion stock had the girls make an account when they were vying for some monetary award to be given out by a certain corperation. he personally had the girls make an account so they could vote

    does every one have a short memory?
    that was ok?
    where is Bitochen in Hashem?
    oh
    sorry
    who is Hashem
    well…….

  • tsugin

    Isn’t it a principal of chassidus that we use the tools of the world to great G-dliness? Facebook can be an incredible source of inspiration, community gathering, and yes, even friendship building. Sure, it’s new and scary, and like anything there are negative elements that we should be on guard against. But running away from everything that is remotely connected to negativity is not the way of Torah.

    Rabbi Stock, why not help the girls learn how to use Facebook for good? Teach them how to organize tzedakah and other community events, how to use FB to connect to those who are not as fortunate as them to live in an integrally frum community–like camp friends or bnos shluchos–and even how to *deal* with problems like tznius and bullying. It’s not FB itself that causes these problems and it’s not FB itself that will solve them. You as an educator are the one who should open your eyes to the potential for G-dliness in the world around you.

  • Facebook is Lethal

    This school is right,
    by principle
    and by the fact that it is part of their school rules.

    I do agree though that they should never have encouraged their students to sign up for some contest on Facebook. THAT IS confusing!!!!!.

    What this Crown Heights young woman did by talking to the press is cheap on her part. In most communities around the world she would be considered a traitor. Her behavior is just further proof that teenagers especially, can at times make rash decisions without properly thinking of the consequences, which makes Facebook all the more dangerous for them. The teen years are a very hormonal time of a person’s life.

    And it is NOT just wrong for teenagers, it is wrong for adults too. I know of many breakups and divorces caused by Facebook. Many married people hook up with old flames or start new relationships. A TYPICAL marriage comes with lots of “real life” situations that can be stressful at times, but are part of real life, and when worked through properly actually help us grow. And because an online realationship/non-marriage doesn’t have that, people convince themselves that this new or renewed relationship will be all bliss. Either way, it’s wrong and destructful. Heaven help us all.

    I remember Dr. Joy Brown, the well known pschychologist, once saying on her talk show that Facebook should have a pirate ‘skulls and bones’ symbol on their homepage so that people are warned of what facebook can do to people’s lives. She said that many divorces nowadays were directly caused by facebook!

    Facebook has many benefits, but one must weigh if the benfits it offers is worth the harm and destruction it has caused and will continue to cause.

  • to #6

    I would have to disagree with you.

    Four Points:
    1-Crown Heights is NOT “the whole Lubavitch”
    2-Many in Crown Heights ARE Tznius, thank G-D
    3-Unfortunately, there are FRUM communities where the tznius is just as bad or worse.
    4-Hashem, please send Machia’h NOW.

  • Fining is not the answer.

    While I agree facebook is dangerous and a waste of time. I think fining is punishing already strapped cashed parents. Situations at home can be tricky, and in some situations girls cannot ask the parents for money, especially if they know the parents barely manage to place food on the table or pay the rent. I think the girls should instead have to do ten hours of community service such as babysitting or helping out with some administrative service after school like stuffing envelopes or making photo copies.
    Too me fining sounds like a quick scam to get an easy interest free loan from the parents and not in anyway used as a discipline tactic.

  • Drop in the bucket

    So they got the 20 or 30 girls that weren’t savvy enough to privatize their accounts.
    Do they honestly believe that none of the other 600 girls have facebook? My rough estimate would be 400 out 600 minimally still have facebook…either private accounts or fake names. So what was accomplished?
    The internet is here to stay.
    Teach the girls to make good, safe choices…and daven that all will be well.
    There is nothing more you can–or should–do.

  • Facebook is a red flag for a Shiduch

    All frum Rabunim should come out with a strong letter stating that if a frum girl or bocher that has a Facebook account, it should be considered a blemish and negative note on their Shiduch resumé!

    If a girl or bocher has a Facebook account it should be a red flag for parents looking into a Shiduch for their child, because of FB negative impact it very likely had on the bocher or girl with thet FB account.

    Let’s not fool ourselves here – Be real!

  • YOU KNOW WHAT-S FUNNY?

    Is this a way to collect money for teachers you haven’t paid in several weeks? B/c it’s not the way to do it!

    Also, I know so many girls who have FB accounts under names you will never find. For example Mushky under Moo Sh’Kay. You will NEVER find her-she is unsearchable. Or Mushky under Moosh Kie! Yep, there are about 100 other ways to spell it!

    And how come only the girls get punished for this? So many “Chassidish” bochurim don’t get charged for having FB?

    Lets use it to spread light and not cause upheaval and uproar!

  • Chana

    Why doesn’t anyone comment about the fact that this would not have gone to the media if not for the it being first posted on this website? The media loves these stories and no matter how well Benjy responds, it reinforces the “haredi” stereotypes. The point is that not every thing that happens in Crown Heights needs to be posted on the internet for all the world to see.

  • Chaya Mushka in High School

    Commandant Stock:

    Make us – don’t break us.
    Earn our respect – don’t impose it.
    We listen to reason – not to orders.
    Hostility evokes rebellion – not compliance.
    Corruption and hypocrisy by the school destroys us.
    How many more casualties before the methods are changed???
    Get with the program before you lose all of us that are still believers!
    Be Educators – not Dictators!!!

    Signed,
    Chaya Mushka
    (If I gave my family name I’d be expelled)

  • Milhouse

    #9, No, it is not a principle of chassidus. Next you’ll say that chassidishe homes should have a TV! You know very well what the Rebbe had to say about that. So how can you claim that it’s a principle of chassidus to use everything in the world? Chassidus is “kadesh atzmecho bemutar loch”, or as the Lubavitcher proverb goes, “dos vos men tor nisht, tor men nisht; un dos vos men meg, darf men nisht”. Kol shekein something that is not so muttar.

  • TO 16

    I AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EDUCATORS, NOT DICTATORS. In this day and age teens make their own decisions and do not like following orders. Maybe in the olden days teens were more obedient and it was a better society, but these days this system does NOT work. When my mom says “PUT ON SOCKS, OR ELSE..” guess what? I’M NOT DOING IT!!!!!!!!!! When my mom says “put on socks because it’s the right thing to do and it’s aidel” then maybe I will listen a little more. We need to be taught with love and if we don’t do something don’t stare and criticize, let us know simply and kindly that it may be wrong but let us come to it on our own after that. I am grown and think for myself!!
    THANK YOU :)

  • Disgusted

    Facebook does not cause anything. People do things, and facebook is one tool among many that allows us to do things. Instead of focusing on the supposed ills of the outside world, bais rivkah and the frum world in general should do some serious soul-searching, and stop trying to pretend that all problems come from the outside world, when in fact, as jewishcommunitywatch has made all too clear, the worst damage comes from within. Focusing on how facebook, the internet, et al “kills” is a great way to avoid dealing with the very real insidious issues facing the community.

  • Is Fining Fine?

    Did the hanhola of BRHS (or any other mossad chinuch) EVER ask a competent Rov if imposing a fine (forcing the student/parent to pay an arbitrary amount of money under threat) is allowed al pi halacha?

    I suggest that it is a REAL shayloh of gezel or chamson.

    Is there ant difference between a robber demanding, “Your money or your life” and a principal demanding, “Your money or you get expelled”?????

  • What would Manis Frieman say??

    The school needs input from people like Rabbi Manis Friedman to properly guide them on how to deal with such issues. Maybe bring in Manis for a talk with the students.

    I ask Benjy Stock who is “known” in Crown heights to be an “intellectual giant” – what would Manis Friedman advise? What would Tzvi Freeman advise? Heck, what would Lipa Schmentzer advise?

  • Practice what you preach

    If facebook is not okay why do all the Stocks (Benji included) have fb accounts?

  • To #17 Chaya Mushka

    Chaya Mushka hit the bulls eye and with each line of her comment I say AMEN!!!!! Hello…Is BRHS listening????? MAKE US, DON’T BREAK US (too many were already broken). I wish I can know “Chaya Mushka”s real name cause I’m her fan.

  • ATTN: CH.info

    Check out your damage:
    _n_1382964.html?show_comment_id=144333831#comment_144333831″ rel=”nofollow”>http://www.huffingtonpost.c…

    http://newyork.cbslocal.com

    http://educationviews.org/2

    _fenyegettek_meg_a_facebookozo_gi_7SHXB4″ rel=”nofollow”>http://eduline.hu/kozoktata…

    italy (vanity fair no less, how very appropo) http://www.vanityfair.it/ne

    and um russian? http://www.newsnow.gr/artic

    http://www.wpix.com/news/wp

    http://www.nydailynews.com/

    http://www.jta.org/news/art

    http://baltimorejewishlife….

    March 29, 2012 9:25pm

  • NOT FAIR!

    if what #8 said was true, than this whole punishment thing should NOT happen! its just not fair!

  • a bais rivkah student

    crownheights.info the proper and moral thing for you to do is make a public apology to crown heights and mrs teichtel and all bais rivkah students!!!!!!! all this horrible publicity is no thanks to you.
    i am a bais rivkah student and i and all my friends are very insulted for all the negativity!
    and i was busted for my facebook account and i thank bais rivkah for finally enforcing the rules.

  • #29

    to #29 its a free world ur right! dont come to bais rivkah if you dont want to listen to the rules.

  • The right approach

    I totally agree.

    A Rabbi like Mains Freedman should be brought into our Mosdos to speak to girls and explains things to them so that they understand why something is right or why something may be wrong.

    Let the girls have open question and answers with Mains Freedman. You will see, this will go a long way! It will have a much better, long term positive impact on them. Its much better then when they are just told this yes this no without understanding and having it explained to them in a way they can appreciate it.

  • #32

    Heck, even Lipa Schmenltzer would do a better job explaining things to the girls than the current staff as suggested by #22. There is a total disconnect between staff and students!

  • OMG Mushkie is that you

    OMG Mushkie is that you in comment 17????? You rock!!!!!!!!! Go Grade 11!!!!

  • Eleventh Grade

    Eleventh Grade, Stick together. Achdus. United we have strength. Help each other and don’t let them divide us. It is us against them. “Chaya Mushka” is our leader. Read her comment in 17. Words of truth. Go! Go! GO! Eleventh Grade has got the power.

  • Who does the school serve?

    Does BRHS serve the community and must conform to the standards of the community, or is the community subjected to the rules of BRHS which it dictates?

  • nobody special

    To #26…. If this information were untrue, it should not have been publicized, but it is true. Are you ashamed that non-Lubavitchers or non-orthodox Jews or non-Jews will read about a Lubavitch institution that doesn’t practice what Lubavitch preaches. Don’t be ashamed. Is has been well known for decades.

  • mother in crown heights

    http://newyork.cbslocal.com

    for anyone who doesn’t agree read this- it does give preventative measures if kids are on- but they are lame- the best way for kids to be safe is keep them off facebook and monitor their email account or better give them access to a family one. I’d rather my kids hate me for being overprotective than not have kids at all due to the golus we are in.

  • This is insane...

    The most ludicrous assertion I have seen used over and over again pertaining to this article is how Facebook is a tool to break up people’s marriages and has significantly aided the divorce rate to skyrocket. That being said, I could make a likewise argument that with the advent of the automobile, so too the cases of divorce increased because it made it much easier for a philanderers to meet. Could anyone in good faith make the argument that we should all stop using cars because they make cheating easier? Just as with an automobile, Facebook could be used for nefarious reasons or for good. Isn’t this how we view the internet as a whole?

    Censorship in the long run never works. It makes children (particularly 11th grade girls) more curious as to what is out there in the real world. Instead, it is smarter and much more beneficial to acknowledge that, yes, there are things out there that are bad and that we should not be looking at, but there are always ways to turn it into a tremendous tool for good.

  • as

    If someone made a social website online for frum girls that was monitored and was overseen by a Rabbi, where girls could post like on facebook, would this be allowed?

  • A Mechanech

    Over two years ago the Rabonim of CH (Rabbis Osdoba and Schwei) and other communities (Chicago, Monsey, Pittsburgh, Miami, Toronto, LA, Michigan) signed and endorsed standards for Lubavitch High Schools which included a “No face book Policy”. To Quote:
    “A Talmodoh of a Mosad Chabad should not have a facebook or myspace account, twitter, buzz, or any other broad social network account”
    In addition the following schools signed (Bais Chana, FL, Bais Chana, LA, Bais Chomesh, Toronto, Beth Rivka, NY, Beth Rivkah, Montreal, Bnos Chayua , Albany, Bnos Chana, Worcester, Bnos Chomesh, NY, LGHS Chicago, Beis Chaya Mushka, Monsey, Rohr Bais Chaya Academy, FL, Yeshivah Schools, Pittsburgh.

    Kol Hakovod to Beth Rivkah and to all other schools which are keeping to the Psak of our Poskim.

  • D4N

    Seems like a great school, not backwards at all. It would honestly surprise me if the average IQ of the faculty at Beth Rivkah High School exceeds 90.

    /A swede.

  • Double Standard!!!

    Do all rules go out the window when it comes to creating fake facebook profiles to bolster the voting for the Kohl’s money. This is an embarrassing Chilul Hashem. Now no religious institutions can be eligible for the money! Way to go! I also don’t understand at all the double standard and flip flopping of the school – first they encourage the girls to be mafkir themselves on facebook and then they try to reverse it..

  • disappointed

    It seems as if most won’t care what #45 wrote& don’t give a hoot for# 30 The person(s) who wentto the press are probably from the same family(ies of mosrim who run to the presd with anything they don’t like & this site helps promote Mesirah embarrassment etc. It may have been wrong originally when they were asked to open the accounts for a good cause but a school is allowed to have rules what is facebook? It is a social network with a tremendous amount of crap on there as well as good.For a girl or a boy in yeshivah there is no place for them on face book. The answer to thosewho quote the Rebbe for convenience is easy There are good ways that it is & can be used.There is a kosher equivalentto face book that was created in Eretz Yisroel why not a site for here where frum girls could talk to each other & bachurim can do the same separately & properly those who complain are mostly trouble makers & whiners Chinuch is the main responsibility of the parents! Just because you send your son or daughter to yeshiva cheder doesn’t mean your responsibility for chinuch ends!!!& for the so called rebels Kabed es ovicha v’es Emecha L’maan yaarichu yomecha!!! does that ring a bell?? Learning never ends!

  • Magic

    It does not matter what type of “contract” the students were strong-armed into signing; the school’s rules cease when students leave the building.