Worcester Academy may be the best-known boarding school in the city, but there is another local school that draws students from far away and which reopened its dorm this year: Bais Chana, a tiny Jewish school on Midland Street for girls in Grades 7-12.
The school is part of Yeshiva Academy, which accepts students from all strands of Judaism, but the girls at Bais Chana live by the Chabad-Lubavitch tradition: They keep their knees, elbows and collarbones covered, they don’t sing and dance in front of the opposite gender (a restriction specific to females), and many of them voluntarily surround themselves with Jewish culture, from the music in their iPods to the early-morning spiritual studies they organize themselves.
Revitalizing tradition
Worcester Academy may be the best-known boarding school in the city, but there is another local school that draws students from far away and which reopened its dorm this year: Bais Chana, a tiny Jewish school on Midland Street for girls in Grades 7-12.
The school is part of Yeshiva Academy, which accepts students from all strands of Judaism, but the girls at Bais Chana live by the Chabad-Lubavitch tradition: They keep their knees, elbows and collarbones covered, they don’t sing and dance in front of the opposite gender (a restriction specific to females), and many of them voluntarily surround themselves with Jewish culture, from the music in their iPods to the early-morning spiritual studies they organize themselves.
Their lifestyle, which might seem extreme, if not sexist, to outsiders, is remarkable in and of itself. But equally notable is the girls’ commitment to it. They know there’s a cultural gulf between themselves and other teenage girls, and they don’t look down on others; they’re just not eager to live like them.
Sarah R. Sherman, 15, of Philadelphia, explained it this way: “We don’t feel like it’s an extra burden that we can’t wear certain things. It’s just part of who we are,” she said. She’s happy she doesn’t look like some of the people she sees at the mall and elsewhere, but at the same time, she added, “You don’t degrade anybody just for the way they are.”
The girls aren’t cookie-cutter copies of one another. Their personality comes through in small ways, like their socks, which are sometimes colorfully striped and paired with shoes of a contrasting color, or their earrings, which range from the unnoticeable to a fashionable chandelier style.
Small opportunities like those helped sell Sarah’s roommate, Chaya Brocha Morozow, 15, of Brooklyn, on coming to Worcester. “You wear your uniform, but you get to put your personality into it,” she said. She used to go to a school with more than 500 students in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home to Lubavitch headquarters. She was surrounded by people who live as her family does, but she wasn’t happy at the school, which she described as a “factory.” Her mother, Elke (Morozow) Nathan, had heard of Bais Chana when she herself was in high school and thought an out-of-town environment might be good for her “on-the-go, jolly kind of girl.”
It seems to have worked. Chaya Brocha has settled into the dorm, with its mezuzahs on the doorways and its seven close-knit inhabitants. “The school doesn’t have any cliques… Everyone’s friends with everyone,” she said.
One of her friends in the dorm is Lifshy Shuchat, 15, a shy girl with a beautiful singing voice who used to go to the same school Chaya Brocha did in Brooklyn. Lifshy will play Baron Rothschild in Bais Chana’s production of “Little Orphan Chanie”, which is its take on Broadway’s “Annie.” The musical is usually a Broadway show rewritten to make it Jewish, so Annie became Chanie, and Daddy Warbucks was replaced with Baron Rothschild. (To get a flavor of their sense of humor, consider that past shows have included a Jewish version of “Grease” in which the song “Beauty School Dropout” became “Hebrew School Dropout.”)
It’s all part of a world that for many of the girls is 24-7 Jewish. For day students, it varies more by family and individual, with some girls listening to pop music and watching TV and others not. But school days are long. They include both secular academics and religious studies and last from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Other activities include gymnastics (in an all-female setting), the Big and Little Sisters Program with the younger students, a student-organized program for spiritual growth, and visits to a local old-age home. On weekends, there are shabbatons, or retreats, focused around the Sabbath.
Sarah and many of the other girls fit easily into activities such as leading younger children through the Yeshiva’s annual matzo factory, where they teach children how to knead and roll out matzo quickly so the dough doesn’t rise. Some of the Yeshiva’s first- through third-graders responded to Sarah and Chaya Brocha like favorite camp counselors, with Chaya Brocha’s group chanting her name.
The girls’ success in such programs is by design. “When they’re going to grow up, they’re going to have to organize different evenings and things,” explained Principal Chani Fogelman. “They’ll feel confident to stand in front of a crowd, to take leadership.”
Sarah hopes to run programs at a Chabad house someday, and it was a Chabad network that first brought the school to her father’s attention.
“It’s not that rules are imposed upon them, but it’s a lifestyle and a value system that they nurture within each student,” her father, Rabbi Shraga Sherman, said of the school. “It’s kind of part of a family team.”
Mrs. Fogelman accepts very few of the girls who apply, and the student body includes people from as far away as Winnipeg, Manitoba. “I only take girls with high academics, and I do a lot of research” into the girls’ character, behavior and academics, she said. She prefers that the school grow slowly, and it has been tiny at times. Last year, it had just ninth- and 10th-graders and fewer than 10 girls in the entire school, said Rochie Shaw, 15, of Worcester, who has gone to the Yeshiva since preschool. This year, however, the seventh- and eighth-grade girls moved from the Yeshiva into the Bais Chana building, the dorm reopened, and enrollment rose to 20 in Grades 7-11.
“This year’s one of the best years so far,” said Chaya Liberow, 13, of Worcester, who has also gone to the school since preschool.
One thing the girls don’t worry about in their busy lives is time for a boyfriend, because they won’t date until they’re ready to marry. “I don’t think it’s good to go out when you’re 14,” Rochie said.
“It’s like a waste of time. There’s no purpose,” added Chaya Liberow.
Exactly how a girl will meet her mate varies by family. Some go to a matchmaker, while others find their own. The timing also varies depending on what path a girl takes when she graduates from high school. Some might marry, while others will go to a Jewish women’s college in Israel or Australia first.
The girls are taught that they can be anything — doctor, president — but their first duty will always be to their family, Mrs. Fogelman said. That family may well turn out to be large: Mrs. Nathan, for instance, describes her seven children as “only a small family,” and many of the girls at Bais Chana have four or more siblings.
Whatever her choices after high school, Sarah said Bais Chana is good preparation. “I think it gives me a good background for life when I’m older,” she said. “Maybe some people might think we are forced to do a lot of things that we don’t want to… (But) we live normal lives.”
D.D.
very nice
Mamash
‘she wasn’t happy at the school, which she describes as a factory.’ bais rivka? factory?
sp
i think your right alot of people are mad about that
parent of thruth
it is a factory who are you kidding ?!no personolized attention etc why are you living in a fantasy world our girls are getting lost in the shuffle when daughters turn that age i would send them out of town asap
girl
why would someone describe beis rivka as a factory?
ok i agree they force you to do lots of things but a factory? whats the connection?
parent of truth
in a factory there is an assembly line that manufactures the product in bais rivka its teachers manufacturing students there is no personal connenction between teachers and students no warmth ,im not being negative its a reality ask your self (or your kids)
lebidiker
why are we nervous about the word FACTORY lets face the truth.lets be honest they have a small group of chassidishe girls with personal;ized attention i wish i would have sent my daughters to worcester.or somewhere like it.
shlucha
wow great work!!!i have very fond memories of worcester
my shlichus is much easier because of my years in worcester!1
thank you
a shlucha in us
not trin to be chutzbudik!
my frend gose to beis rivkah and she said the girls dont have a cold feeling batween them but not a warm one in most school its like that
sp
ut i love this school it has such a chassidish felling
GIRL
att parant of truth:
ok i agree you have a valid point there but there are other schools in crown heights like b’nos menachem or even beis chaya mushka where the schools are smaller and the students get more attention etc.
Annoyed Crown Heightser
a FACTORY?! what is this school trying to put on ok theyre chasdish personal feeling, but who in a newspaper article describes another school as a factory or just for the matter DEGRADES it? ?
some 1
go bais chana its the best!
non of ur bussiness
what do u mean bais chana is the best, most fantastic school in the universe, and thats why people should start sending there kids to bais chana of Worcester massachusets.
emes
hey annoyed dont get so nervous a 15 year old girl
answers a reporters question.big deal so she said FACTory!!
student of br
i don’t think br’s a factory at all, there may be cliques but i think a lot of schools are like that i would never leave br unless it closed down
a mother
Maybe trying to be chassidish… what is chassidish or halachik in publishing this kind of pictures of girls in their bedrooms or any pictures of females… Who are we fooling? Only ourselves… We have a long way to go to actually call a school a chassidish school when we forgot what it really means, it is just in the name, I have yet to see in Lubavitch a Mossad that is more than an empty title of chassidish… Rachmonos on our girls who do not have an oportunity to taste and know the real thing. Wake up and look who in the Jewish world looks the way our girls look. Our girls deserve something much better and authentic, no fakes. Just acquiring more knowledge of another Sicha or Maamer academically without having anything to show for it does not turn anyone into a Chassidish person. It is not possible to call chassidish when the learning does not result in a life imbued with a chassidish way of life, with sensitivity to all that goes with it, including tznius in dressing and behaviour.
a human being
bais chana is such an inspring high school for my daughter and if u want your daughter to grow up and be a chasidishe girl, send ur daughtrer to bais chana of worcester massachasusets!
kidush hashem
a true kidush hashem lubavitch
thousands of people read a non jewish reporters impreesions of a lubavitch school the people who were
inspired arent locked up on 6 blocks in new york .
qz
‘a human being’ – what about bais rivkah??
not tellin-
hey i go 2 bais chana and its the best! therr are NO "cliks" or any thing like thet so they made a little mastake and wrote factory every on emakes mastakes!
emes
the bais chana girls have weekly farbrengens with shluchim from new england they are in charge of tzivos hashem ,they run a big and little sister program ,they go to different chabad houses for shabbatons once a month ,they teach in various chabad houses every sunday
too bad they cant run around nosh world and be "chasidish" like the new york girls….
A happy parent
We have to say that B’H there are all kinds of schools Big schools like Bais Rivka and out of town schools for everyones neads and everyone has to find a school that is good for their needs.
BCHS
GO BAIS CHANA
tachlis
i heard that the bais chana school in worcester is the only out of town girls school that came as a directive from the REBBE
a girl fro bchs
its a good school
from a mothers point of view
The girls of bais chana make so many kidush hashems in so many places. this school is the perfect school for my daughter it teaches her so many things, evry day after school she would be bussy with farbrengens, big and little sister programs, shabatons, sicha shares, mivtzoyim, these programs inspire each kid, i am very happy and thank-ful that i have sent my daughter here
concerned beis rivkahnick
TO ALL PEOPLE THAT WROTE COMMENTS: WHAT ARE U ACCOMPLISHING BY BASHING EACHOTHER’S SCHOOLS THE FAMOUS QUOTE: "DON’T PUT OTHERS DOWN RATHER LIFT YOURSELF UP!" moshiach now!!!
34523
happy parent you comment is very true
back seat driver
Some girls love a huge school, with hundreds of classmates, and all of the excitement and hubbub! Others, find it more difficult to find themselves in a very large surrounding. For themselves, they thrive in a smaller environment. The word factory, I’m sure, was not meant as a derogatory expression in general.
Having raised daughters out of town, in a very small community with relatively small classes, I’m sure some of my girls would have prefered the thrill and constant activity of BR.
mekushar
after they recieved that directive the REBBE sent them 5 20 dollar bills for naming the school bais chana.
so i guess their lucky to have a direct order to start a girls school
anonomyous
go bais chana!
WE HAVE TEH BEST SCHOOL!
an olt timer
I’m glad to read about Beis Chana. It is important to have a school for every type of girl. My own personal experience is tha t Beis Chana and in general all out of town schools are NOT for everyone. Unfortunately many times there is not always the proper supervision and things can go wrong.
I wish all of our Mosdos lot’s of Hatzlacha in doing the holy task of teaching our daughters.
moshiach is coming!!!!
i dont understand you people, your fighting about the stupidest things ”factory” thats described about bais rivkah, get over it. mashiach is not going to come if hashem see’s this is what’s going on in th world.
Opinionated?
The fact that a girl said that Bais Rivka is like a factory is her own personal opinion, not the school’s opinion. Don’t judge the school like it’s putting Bais Rivka down, just because one girl feels that way.
gobnk8
hey, why isnt the most important girl in beis chana mentioned? there is a girl who does chitas club every single morning, orginized achos hatmimim, and does so many other amazing stuff for beis chana….thank you Mushky Blotner!
LVR
GO LIFSHY! WE MISS YOU HERE IN BRHS TOOOOOONZ!
LOVIN’ YA!
why so big deal?
i agree w/ "moshiach is coming". why fighting over dumb things? so a 15 yr old girl decribed bais rivka as a factory? now what?
Good Job!
Nice article (overall)!
abc
I go to Bais Chana and its a great curriculum inside and out!!!!
greatful mother
Factories actually produce wonderful things.Shoe stores have shoes. Linen stores have linen. Bais Rivkah has chassidim. It’s just the way it is. H owever it’s wonderful to have smaller schools for girls who feel more comfortable in a smaller setting. As for me I remain eternally greatful to Bais Rivkah for ‘producing’ special girls.
Good luck to all the girls wherever you are.
fishly
well, bais rivka is a good skewl. bais chana is too. each skewl has their own strength.
so go bais rivka!!
go bais chana!!!
and regards to everyone in bais rivka
bchs person
go bchs and every1 in it!!! WOW!!! all of u r amazing chassidish ppl in every way
Know her personally
To ‘a mother’ (whoever wrote from that name):
You said, "Maybe trying to be chassidish…"
Why such a negative attitude?
How can you tell just by reading the article that these Bais Chana girls are not Chassidish?
I happen to know one of these girls and she is really something, not just in Chassidishkeit, but in all her middos etc. Of course, her personal actions don’t necisserily mean that this school is like her, but I should think that one tends to be what it is like in her surroundings…as if one person is a piece of their school.
bchs person
wow bais chana!!! luv u all – ure all so special chassidish ppl!!! go bchs!!! all of u add to our skewl!!!
unknown
the girl who said factory didint mean it in a bad way it was a joke and everyone made a big deal about it.
crs
we have at bchs chana so many acctivites we have chitas club, pirkah avos and pizza,big and littel sister,achos hatamimim and gymnastics, art and were working on a great play with great heads! Ans the last thing we have a greattttttttttttttttttt princapale! Mrs. Fogalman!!!!!!!!!!!!! go BAIS CHANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
person
go crs!!!
NDLP
gr8 spelling chana rochel
go me!
kkkkk bais chana girls stop commenting no1 else is going to read this beside the amazing bias chana students
Homeschooling Imma
I hope the general public does not read these comments. This is not Instant Messaging. Does anyone esle notice how many spelling mistakes were made in all the above messages? Is is embarrasing.
Is this a result ofgoing to "skewl"?
Answer
You are right Homeschooling Imma about the spelling, but the Bais Chana girls really spell correctly thanks to their amazing teachers at the school. I don’t know why they decided to spell incorrectly here. It could have been due to their used to spelling in computer language or their way of shortening the message. Whatever it was, they are only young girls who will (I’m sure) spell correctly when they become mature adults. And besides – the main thing is that they are good, aidel girls with a motivation to learn. Spelling isn’t going to change that.
Upset.........
Stop all of you putting Bais Rivkah down, its an amazing school!! Each school is for the girls need, just b/c bais rivkah is not for your daughter dont go and put it down… watch b4 u speak!
moshiach now 18
look … i live right near bais chana … i have many friends who go there and they love it .. g-d willing i’ll be going there soon! But i also have many friends who go to bais rivka! they also love it there too! hashem made sure that there were lots of different schools for different kinds of girls just like “moshiach is coming” said moshiach is coming and hashem won’t send him if we are all fighting over a sily word like FACTORY!
moshiach now!