139 Comments

• Bored on Empire

  1st, I was involved and saw first hand the churban the last minute desciion had on the parents and students.

  Beis Rivka prides itself on being the Rebbe’s School, so why make the Rebbe’s daughters suffer,

  This was done the last minute, not givcing the parents enough time to get organize themselves, and each one had to fend for themselves.

  Its a shame on all the administration, who co-oerced the parents, and left veryone with such bad tastes of the school.

  It will be a very very very long time if at all for bais rivkah to regain the respsct of the community.

  This is not at all to negate the fact that parents need to pay the old balances, and current tuition, but there is a time a nd place for everything

• yungerman in ch

  evry peroson on the board if u look they all have money they dont know how hard it is for some pepole to pay for tuition let alone to tell them to go to a gemach in wiech case most likely already owe the gemach money and tell them to borrow more money

  pepole should make a stand for a new board and we should vote them in and have them put pepole with money ther but pepole who care

  thank you very much

• a very angry parent

  As one of the parents of children who were turned away, I would like to take my hat off to the tuition committee for all their efforts in helping us arrange our tuition for this year. As usual, there is no way to institute change in Bais Rivkah because the administration refuses to empower anyone to whom a job is delegated. This incident was done with cruelty and heartlessness. My heart goes out to the other parents in my situation who were so terribly mistreated. I would like to know if the teachers actually got paid and if they know that their salaries came from tremendous embarrassment to the students and families.

• Bad Taste

  I agree with the tuition committee for resigning. You don’t send out letters to parents with old balances 2 days before school starts. It was done in very bad taste and without tact.

  I agree that the old balances should be addressed but it was done in bad taste, unorganized and tactless.

  The new Vaad should learn from these mistakes to better address the old balance situation.

  Hatzlocha Rabbah!

• lizman

  and dont forget the promisary note they had to sign.

  so that they can go after your house your bamk account and anything else . how degrading to hit on the poorest people of the neighborhood.

  these people with the balance are not driving new cars they are not redoing their houses. they are peopel that went through hard times.

  this mr yossi karzanovski he lives in monsey. what does he know about the parents in crown heights. he is known for his rough tactics and in monsey he foreclosed on peolpe houses hashe yirachem.
  people from the neighborhood should be the ones to mak the decisions at the school. so then they will have to face the parents.

  not one of those advisory board members had the guts to face us. they hid behind the adminstration of the school. and some even denied being involved in this tragedy.

  le this board meet with all the parents that got the letter and hear their story face to face.

  they never will because they have no guts. when i asked one of them if he was involved he told me no. so i asked him if he could my cosigner he said no.

• Former Bais Rivka teacher

  As a former teacher of Bais Rivka I would like to say that teachers are owed so much money. We used to get paychecks for chanukah before pesach!!! When parents dont pay tuition, teachers dont get paid. Many newly married teachers struggle because they are unable to pay rent and put food on their table. It is unfortunate that people dont realize that part of the responsibility of having children is paying for their tuition.

• Very Disturbed

  I’m sorry, Beis Rivkah, but you royally messed up this time.

  You either have no understanding of what it means to have not enough money to pay tuition, or feel that the families are all lying to you.

  If you honestly feel that parents are cheating you out of your well-deserved tuition, by willfully misleading the tuition committee, take it up with the Beis Din! Why are you being judge and jury, at the risk of people’s dignity, sanity, and livelihood?

  Why are the daughters suffering? Where is their sin?

  If Gemachs are such a wonderful long-term solution, let Beis Rivkah go to a Gemach in order to pay their bills.

  Oh, it’s not such a great long-term solution?

  These parents who are applying for less tuition are either already using Gemachs for more basic needs, or are trying their hardest to stay out of the black hole of debt. Why are you forcing them over the edge?

  Afraid that later on down the line they’ll make a fortune and you’ll lose out? Sign an agreement that whenever they come across a sum of money unnecessary to continue their standard of living, that they commit to pay up to 25% of their outstanding balances, no matter how old.

  Make an agreement that when all children are married and out of the house, the parents continue to give Maaser and pay a certain sum monthly to Beis Rivkah.

  If they are taking undeserved tuition breaks, you can rely on the Gemara that states the end which comes to those who take Tzedaka needlessly. It’s not your job to ferret out people’s Aveiros and punish them. If it affects you, that’s what a Beis Din is there for.

  I would hope to see a public apology, retraction, and more dignified solutions in the future.

• ???

  I thought Bais Rivkah is the Rebbes school. What happened? Would the Rebbe like what happene if he was here?

• Please be fair

  Dear angry parent,
  I’m not arguing with your whole comment- your anger is certainly justified and it’s not my place to judge a situation I am not in. But please leave the teachers out of it- they don’t have to be made to feel guilty for the way their money is coming to them. They work very hard and deserve to get paid and be appreciated. The fact that the money is being obtained in this way has nothing to do with them. Thank you. I wish you only mazal and hatzlacha!

• BrookAve

  Wake up! Schools are businesses and run as such. What would those parents whose daughters already received goods and services (Chinuch), who have past due balances, like the tuition committee to do, give 6 month notices to pay? Gee, when my Mastercard bill comes in, nobody will negotiate with me. You pay for services rendered. Parents, stop putting your heads in the sand and expect a Mosod to run on luft!

• NOT in CH

  What were they to do, though? Schools need money to function. Teachers have to be paid. Administrators have to be paid. As do the maintenance people and other bills.

  I believe that no Jewish educational institution should ever turn away a Jewish child, but sometimes parents need reminding. I have heard horror stories of the principal of our small cheder threatening parents to kick their children out of the only religious school in town. But sometimes people need a kick in the pants to help them prioritize their spending. People manage to fly all over the world for family simchas, but they can’t pay for tuition.

  I agree that giving parents 2 day notice is not fair, but the request was not.

• KOL HAKAVOAD

  YOUR EFFORTS ARE TO BE APLAUDED. BUT, IT MAY BE TO LITTLE, TOO LATE. WE NEED A STRONGER MESSAGE. COMPLETE REORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. THEY HAVE BEEN IN THEIR POSITIONS TOO LONG WITH TOO MUCH POWER AND SITTING VERY COMFORTABLE$$$!

• observer

  Doesn’t anyone think that teachers need to get paid? How can you send your child to school, not pay tuition, and expect teachers who are devoting their entire lives to YOUR children to be able to pay rent and put food on their table?

• fed up with bloodsuckers

  i think you guys who live in section 8 and own houses and bussneiss and dont pay shuld be embrassad about not paying,you can only cry wolff a couple of times and this yime the schooll called on your crying wolff,(not to say thet their some people who rely cant afford id)stop trying to suck what ever you can get for free and haking a chineek about the rebbe medelach,tzsol up

• disgusted

  ‘a very angry parent’,
  Only a complete idiot would put any blame on the teachers. The administration of the school – like any employer – must pay those it hires. Period. Otherwise, the teachers should all be fired and volunteers be brought in to teach. Perhaps you can become a volunteer (assuming you are qualified) and thus help make the school tuition-free. Then you might also be in a slightly better position to rebuke the teachers for wanting to get paid (what a chutzpa!) for their work.

• observer, B H I wasn-t called down, but

  Kudos to the VOLUNTEER tuition committee!!
  They have worked with parents in such a respectable and reasonable manner for these few years – kol hakovod to them, and also for resigning and making a stand about the heartless way things were done this year.
  These are also people of means, but they are mentchen! The fact that they BA"H have money did not make them treat others badly. The treatment the parents got this year from "the board" was unconscionable, never should a child be refused admission to school on the first day because of money. I know, I know, the teachers weren’t paid and all that, but this is not the way to do it

• Feigie

  This is so sad. The administration should be ashamed of themselves. They should have let these parents know when they were 3 months behind that they needed to make arrangements to pay….or set up a Bais Rivkah Gemach for those families.
  It is sad that families think it is more important to go on trips, buy expensive clothing, shaitels etc rather than pay full tuition or help another family to pay tuition.

• nu nu

  i guess your all right forget the old bills we need a vaad that lets you send kids to br for free with no enforcment of payment.

• Parent

  I am not chaz Veshalom judging anyone I would just like to understand, why is it that the addmisnstrain seems to find money for all personal needs, ex. summer HOMES for children. Homes for children. But he cant seem to find a way with all the same programs to pay the teachers????????????

• Beis Rivkah Teacher

  How about people stop complaining and realize that theres hundreds of teachers working in the school that should be getting paid. People have to start realizing that their not the only one out there and if someone works they should be paid. Side point im sure that the people that got the letter about paying up tuition are not the ones that dont unfortonalty dont have the money to pay, its those people who are out right there to shtech the schoool and try adn get away with everything that they can.

• It can improve. It must. It will !!!!!!!

  Congratulations Former Tuition Committee!

  Thank you for doing the right thing. Let the message ring UP and out.

  Bais Rivkah is apparently struggling to gain financial stability. Unfortunately, they are stomping all over the parents to do so. The tuition letter sent out before the year was a disgrace. It was laced with hurtful, direspectful, and disgusting comments and I believe those thoughts emanate from the top.

  You guys were always fair in your approach and very sensitive when dealing with parents. However, the message from the school is always negative. We don’t pay enough. We don’t pay the teachers on time. We dress inappropriately. We are evil. We are unappreciative. Etc. The school: They are righteous in all their ways.

  The administration has lost touch with the thoughts and feelings of the parent. Don’t misunderstand. The school is fantastic. The finances though are ruining relationships, not fostering them.

  If you took an opinion poll of Bais Rivkah, I bet the results would look like these:

  Education: Extremely Satisfied
  Organization: Satisfied
  Education Administration: Extremely Satisfied
  Financial Administration: Whatever

  If Bnos Menachem had the capacity, Bais Rivkah would be operating with half the student body it does today.

• Brokenhearted

  Heartbreaking does not begin to describe the scene of parents and children lining the halls of Beth Rivkah, trying to iron out their tuition balances. The people who were there were not people who are weighing whether to buy a new chandelier this year or next. These are people who are struggling daily for their lives. Their kids go without shoes, clothing, healthy food…even a haircut is a luxury. (I personally witnessed a doctor in our community handing a young boy money to go get a haircut when he found out that the reason the boy’s hair was terribly overgrown was that his parents couldn’t afford a haircut.) Their kids probably feel bad enough about themselves because of the poverty they live in. How do you think standing in the hallway with their crying parents affected them? Or being told in front of their friends that they have to go home because their parents have financial issues? When you are pushing people to the wall, you must ask: Are these people just procrastinators, or stingy? Or are these people who do their Shabbos shopping only after desperately opening a Pushka and leaving an IOU in it? Halachically, the chinuch of our children is the responsibility of the ENTIRE community and if there are parents who cannot afford to pay, then Beth Rivkah, as a community school, needs to find more creative ways of shouldering the burden. Here’s a concept: FUNDRAISING.

  PS A big Yasher Koach to the former tuition committee for the incredible dignity with which they treated parents. May they have much nachas from their families and Brochos Ad Bli Dai!

• Next Step

  maybe the next step of the “Advisory Board” will be to sue the parents in a court of law as one member of this “Advisory Board” sued his sister in law and brother in law in civil court .

• Former Bais Rivkah Parent

  To Former Bais Rivkah teacher:

  You ignore the responsibility of the Hanholas Hamosad to RAISE the substantial amounts of money that cannot come in from tuition. There are plenty of ways to raise funds. If "part of the responsibility of having children is paying for their tuition" as you say, you are being goram that many parents will opt H"Y to use birth control methods to have only one or 2 children like the Chinese.

• B.R. dad

  Oy! what to do people in c”h have no parnose but so many leased cars. The teachers are not paid and nobody is “$$$tealing” C”V. Plus you have opportunists who instead of working on improving our school are steeling our teachers promising them more money and now THEY are not able to pay. I believe this a necessity and hopefully will allow the school to pay and retain good teachers

• abc

  how come the oleder grades have tons of teachers for the girls cut it out get less teachers

• To a very angry parent and everyone else

  You wrote: "I would like to know if the teachers actually got paid and if they know that their salaries came from tremendous embarrassment to the students and families."

  This statement of yours needs to be rethought-if the reason parents were turned away was because they DID NOT pay up their tuition, then the teachers receiving salaries was not because of any extra money that these parents gave and therefore the students/parents embaressment is not connected to the teachers receiving their salaries.
  I do not know exactly what happened with this situation, and it is true it may have been done in a very improper way, but please EVERYONE, bear in mind the following…
  To run a school is a VERY EXPENSIVE project. There are teachers, principals, secretaries, janitors, all types of utility bills, insurance bills, administrators…..that need to be paid. In the first place staff members are NOT making much money. Many have to pay for babysitters, which automatically cuts into their income. Teaching involves hours upon hours of work OUTSIDE of school time when teachers prepare for school, corrects piles of paperwork, write reports, go to meetings, work with parents/students/principals… Teachers do not get paid for these hours.
  Are you aware that there are times that teachers are paid a few months late ?!? How are they supposed to pay THEIR bills, THEIR tuition, for their food, rent, mortgage, clothes…. How would you react if the electricity was cut off in your child’s school because the bill was not paid? And so on and so forth….
  Yes, there should be tuition commitees that help decide on a fair tuition according to each families capabilities, but you can’t expect the school to run for free.
  I would also like to add that people need to be very honest about their spending habits. I know that this does not apply to everyone, but there are parents who can save some money if they were more careful. There are some who may eat out a lot, go on pricier vacations, buy their children and themselves expensive clothes/shoes or buy more than they really need, make expensive cosmetic home renovations,…sometimes we may need to go a little out of our way to get a bargain, but we need to try.
  Some parents give in to many whims of their children and buy them items that in reality the children can do without, this being even when the parents can’t really afford it.
  Of course we would all like to be able to spend as our heart desires, but tuition should be a first prority. Your house does not run for free, neither do schools run for free…and neither does your child’s teachers’/principals’/secretarys’/
  administartors’ (etc) home run for free!
  Wishing every Yid to have Parnassa beharchava right away and may no Yid be lacking in anything- both physically and spiritually.
  Ksiva veChasima Tova.
  Moshiach NOW!!!!

• Donating money

  "You ignore the responsibility of the Hanholas Hamosad to RAISE the substantial amounts of money that cannot come in from tuition. There are plenty of ways to raise funds."

  The truth is, if I know how (or to whom) my money was being used.
  I would donate my money to BR.
  Unfortunately, I don’t know who the money will be going to in the end.
  (Which Vaad Member will be driving the newest model car etc…)

  Personally, I don’t like giving money, I rather like donating Certain equipment (that the organization might need) unless I know for sure they will put the money to good use.

• lizman

  to br dad

  be real this is not the way to pay teachers. remember there are 2 issues and confuse them
  1) about parenst paying their fare share. and that the tuition committie did a great job. they raised tuition alot. and alot of those that payed more felt good about it
  2)then you have parents that owed money from years before some from the past year some from 10 or more years ago. and these peopel dont drive new leased cars and dont have fancy houses etc. these are the poorest of the poor they fell on bad times. and have other issues but to be treated in this manner is unheard of

  and we should not attack any people on any board personally that is not what this is about.

  beis rivkah needs help. and hashem should help them. hey does anyone want to volunteer to seve on the tuition commitee now ?

  please call the school they are looking for new volunteers

• Member of Anash

  "It Can Improve"
  Try going to Bnos Menachem and get out of paying tuition, see how far you get.
  Will everyone please get over their own self-righteousness? Jewish education is not free – period! We as members of anash have just as much responsibility towards the mosad as they have to us, we owe it to ourselves, our community, our mosdos, and our daughter’s teachers to make sure that we are giving back to the school that gives so much to us.

• AL TODUN ES CHAVIRCHO AD SHATAGIA

  AL TODUN ES CHAVIRCHO AD SHATAGIA LEMKOMO.

  ALL THERE IS TO ASK G-D THAT THIS "Advisory Board"

  WILL BE AT THE SAME PLACE WHERE THOSE PARENTS

  ARE FINANCIALLY SO THEY WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR

  PLACE.

• FINALLY GOT MY CHANCE

  FINALLY, a chance to speak my feelings. I feel that tuition should be a top priority on our list of expenses. It is the education that will shape our childrens lives forever. BUT, that’s when you’re talking about proper education. Teachers definitely should be paid and on time, But that’s if they are teachers in the true sense of the word. The experience of way too many Bais Rivkah students was and is that they are no good, dishonest, cheaters etc. all compliments 0f the teachers and principals. when the chinuch a child gets from the teacher is to be belittled, embarrassed, disbelieved, called names by the teachers, who physically (in their own mode of dress and actions) set a terrible example of a Dugme Chaiya, one doesn’t get the feeling that they must pay for this as well. On the contrary the school should be sued for the emotional, mental and spiritual damage they do to their students. one of the happier days of my life was when other girls schools opened in crown heights. At least now the parents have a chance to save their daughters from the ruination of Bais Rivkah. The tragedy is that it bears the Rebbe’s holy name.
  Look around CH at all the young marrieds and single women who don’t dress as they should and Bais Rivkah can take all the credit for that, for their ridiculous methods of attempting to enforce tznius in the most undignified, disrespectful manner.
  There’s another school in CH that I understand charges top dollar for tuition and they get it. for one simple reason IT’S A QUALITY SCHOOL, WITH QUALITY TEACHERS. IT’S A SCHOOL WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE’NT CONSIDERED CRIMINALS WHO ARE GUILTY OF EVERY CRIME UNTIL PROVEN INOCENT.
  But history is showing that Bais Rivkah refuses to learn. They will not fire any teacher even though she is damaging the students on a regular basis. They should be thankful for the students they have.

• Show me the money

  You can see the same thing happen in Israel,
  The schools and Yeshivas have no money because parents ¡§can¡¦t afford to pay tuition¡¨ yet come Tishra time and Crown Heights is full of Israeli¡¦s (shopping etc¡K)

  They will all tell you that they worked 3 weeks in a camp or worked in a Motzo bakery, That how they got there money.
  Are there enough Camps and Motzo Bakeries to employ every Lubavitcher Bocher?
  If they pay that well that they can afford a ticket (about $1,000 at least, not to forget some spending money), we (Americans) should move to Israel to work (we may make enough in two months to pay a years tuitionļ).

  This is also happening here in Crown Heights (not every body),
  People can afford expensive summers, but to pay tuition they can¡¦t.
  They should be looking in to were people spend there money (that is if they are asking for a brake) and then decide (on each individual) if he/she should pay the full amount.

  From reading the comments above, I see two sides that are either truly right or wrong.
  Therefore, I believe that something can be worked out. (it¡¦s a dance, if both side learn the right moves, it can be beautiful).

• FUND RAISING

  WHAT THE SCHOOL NEEDS IS A SAVVY FUND RAISER. SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO GET THE MOST GOVERNMENT FUNDS ETC. PERHAPS THEY SHOULD SHOULD LEARN FROM SATMAR AND OTHER WILLIAMSBURG INSTITUTION HOW THEY MANAGE TO GET SO MUCH FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

• sara

  maybe its time for Bais Rivkah to start writing a list of how much YOU Parents names and last names pay for your children to come to school maybe then teachers will get paid on time!!!!

• Fed Up with BR admoin

  again and agai, the problem with Br is the entire infustructure is Tohu V;vohu, hiding deceit and lies.

  The teachers are the best, so with the principals, but the administration needs to be takenm out and replaced with qualified memebrs of the community to make a seder, and be abe to answer to the community

  Lokk ar Oholei Torah, not that everything is so great, but there is a desk where the buck stops, and there si obne who runs the pl;ace and an active board trying to save $$ and also bring in more money

  The solutrion for BR is not easy, but bringing in new people is no t the answer if the administration is not ready to open eveything, and let them look over where money gopes in and out.

  Somehow maybe now things will change, it happeing in OT maybe now in BR

• For anyone at Beis Rivkah Administration

  There was a question on the yellow scholarship form:

  "In order to qualify for a scholarship, you must volunteer some time to Beis Rivkah"….

  I have PERSONALLY volunteered to help out over the past few years and NOT ONCE have I been called. I am very active in my son’s Yeshiva, I consider this my duty since I don’t pay full tuition.

  Beis Rivkah seem to be the only school who don’t have, eg. a chinese auction, mishloach manos campaign, raffles etc. There are SO MANY WAYS to raise money. I think a committee needs to be formed for THIS, not for tuition. There are many parents who would volunteer (especially if it was really made mandatory if you do not pay full tuition).

  So please, if anyone in the Beis Rivkah admin is reading this, take note, these are the way to combat your budget crisis!

  P.S. I thank the tuition committee this year who I felt were firm but fair.

• hi

  There has to be some system of deciding how much everyone can afford,,,,maybe a professional outside company can do this for them.

  They can’t decide one person can pay 50, because of their tax return, and then another person pay 500 and not care about their tax return, but judge them by the fact that they went on a vacation. There has to be the same system used for everyone.

  My husband and I work like dogs, we can’t afford a trip to Florida, but Benjy Stock managed to take his whole family the previous year. Wow!
  Is anyone on top of whether money is being distributed to just the top people or the teachers as well?

• parent who pays $14.000 per child in LA

  once again you pepole in crown heights are showing that you are truly welfare lowlifes.

  why in the heck should the parents not pay?. obviusly what they promissed the tuition commite last year was not lived up to, otherwize there will be no money owed.
  \
  in adtion i was woundering if the cadd has take any true responsibilty other then decideing how much money pepole should pay? DID THEY HAVE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR FUNDRAISING? OR COMING UP WITH MONEY TO PAY TEACHERS.

  it is quite obvious that the did nothing that will get there hands dirty. that is why they quit when the going got tough.

  anyway… this is typical of pepole that live in crown heights, the welfare capital of …….

• i feel like screaming

  This is not the first place where Crown Heights went wrong (I"m not cursing out ch, I’m just saying that this is not necessarily where the problem is at)
  Lets see, I don’t recall all the names that were signed on that letter- but lets put it this way, they all have money- besides for that they all have the "connections" meaning section 8— one of the people on thelist lived in sectin 8 for a very long time before buying a mansion….another one has his children getting it, another one has his father owning a section 8 apartment and distributing it amongst his grandchildren/ nieces/nephews as he sees fit, maybe if these people, let their children pay rent, and make some of these apartments available to the poorer people, these people would be able to afford tuition. No, they’ve got it all, but now, suddenly when they have the chance to sign their name as part of something that they never did or will have to experience, they are all proper—claiming that everyone has to pay what’s due…. with all due respect, if every system offered by the government was not abused, maybe it would help others have an easier life as well.

• active parent

  I know first hand this story I’m about to share
  before shevuous a mosad in crown heights called beis rivkah and asked if they want flowers free of charge and I stress again free of charge that they had left over to give to the teachers in honor of yom tov and guess what she was told that is would be nce to give the teachers flowers if they werent giving them their pay checks end of story!!!!!!

  we see how much the board cares about the school and teachers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• EXCUSE ME????

  PEOPLE, YOU DONT UNDERSTAND, THESE KIDS CAME HOME CRYING. YOU THINK THE MOTHERS SHOULDNT START COMPLAINING?????????? I SO UNDERSTAND THE PARENTS. THERE IS NO REASON OF THE BLAME ON THE PARENTS.

• AD MOSAI!

  when anash will start paying full tuition to all moisdos i am sure their wilL be a gevaldike effect on our shcunah-
  paying full tuition (if one can) shows that eduction is what is imp to one.
  If one has two cars a bungelo house and doesnt pay full tuition THIS shows what???? AND I AM SURE THE POEPLE POSTING ON THIS SITE ARE TAKCE THE ONES THAT HAVE WHAT THEY NEED AND WANT CARS HOUSES CLOTHING VECHULU AND ARE NOT PAYING FULL TUITIONS!!!
  SO THE EQUATION IS SIMPLE
  PAY TUITION
  TEACHERS WILL GET PAID
  PAYING TEACHERS
  ARE CHILDREN WILL HAVE A BETTER CHINUCH
  A BETTER CHINUCH
  THE FUTURE OF LUBAVITCH
  G-D BLESS YOU ALL
  AND REMEMBER
  THE REBBE WRITES THAT THE FREIDIKER REBBE
  WAS THE AND IS THE BALHABOIS OF THIS MOISED
  SO WHAT WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT IT
  BECASUE WHAT GOES COMES AROUND!
  SO LOOK AROUND AND SEE WHATS GOING ON
  YECHI HAMELCH!

• ex-BR TEACHER WHO NEEDS TO BE PAID

  About 15 years ago, we BR teachers weren’t paid for
  5 1/2 months. We sat through endless apologies, promises etc & received…nothing.

  From what I understand, the situation today is pretty close to how it was then.

  I remember being told by a parent that I obviously didn’t need the money if I was still there. What were we to do….STRIKE???.

  No. I just taught because I was too stupid (with all my degrees & experience) to do anything else. Or maybe it was because I loved the abuse I got from kids & parents in my own community.

  TEACHERS TEACH BECAUSE THEY’RE DEDICATED. BECAUSE THEY LOVE THE JOB. BECAUSE THEY LOVE THE KIDS.

  But yes. We want to be paid. JUST LIKE THE CLEANING WOMAN WHO CLEANS YOUR BAIS HA KISEI!!!

  Only I think we’re on a slightly higher level.

  Tell me, you smug parents out there. If you don’t pay your electricity bill, what happens? If you don’t have money for gas, can you fill your tank?

  If you don’t pay tuition, do you have the right to expect your kids to go to school?

  Let me be very clear. All Jewish kids should be educated in Jewish schools. We have an obligation to pay: AS MUCH AS WE CAN!!

  I always paid (still do!) TOP DOLLAR FOR CHINUCH. I am paying $50,000 A YEAR RIGHT NOW. And I’m still a Yeshiva teacher. All my salary goes on tuition & of course, it’s not enough.

  I don’t complain. If I want Chassidishe kids I have to pay for it. I can’t raise them in the right Derech all by myself…the schools are my partners in this.

  So. Having been there, I want to add the following points.

  1. Despite not getting paid (& BR STILL OWES ME!!!) I have the highest regard for the school. It helped me raise wonderful Frum, Chassishe daughters.

  2. The tuition committee is right. You can’t renege on a signed agreement. Why bother with a tuition committee if you’re going to override them?

  3. ALL PARENTS SHOULD PAY ACCORDING TO THEIR ABILITY. Then add 10%. G’virim (you know who you are) some of you sponsor a few students in addition to your own kids. Kol Hakovod. Can you help out a bit more?

  4. Don’t blame the teachers. They (we) are entitled to their salary. G-d knows, they earn it!!

  5. Trim the fat. Does BR REALLY need so many administrators, secretaries, etc. etc.

  I made a commitment so I keep to it. Even if it’s not much, pay what you promise. Don’t overrun the year’s tuition.

  Bais Rivkah is a great school, even though I don’t teach there any more. Support it!

• wtvr

  So FUND RAISING is suggesting that bais rivka learn to steal more from the government to pay tuition. interesting viewpoint- but i disagree considering that one of the aseres hadibros is LO SIGNOV—DO NOT STEAL!

• the facts

  this situation is not fair to the children. to the parents, to the teachers, or to the staff.Beis rivkah needs money. the parents don’t haver it. teachers need to be payed well and on time. Beis Rivkah should put all their effort into having some financial balance. Start fundraising. Someone has to know how to raise money around here.

• BR TEACHER

  AS A TEACHER IN THE SCHOOL IT BOTHERS ME WHEN I DRIVE DOWN THE STREETS OF C.H. AND SEE NEW CAR AFTER NEW CAR. THESE ARE THE SAME PARENTS WHO SAY THAT THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO PAY FULL TUITION.

  OUR SCHOOL HAS ONE OF THE LOWEST TUITIONS. GO OUT OF CROWN HEIGHTS AND THE TUITIONS ARE 2-3 TIMES HIGHER AND THE PARENTS THERE PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE.

  IMAGINE IF YOUR BOSS DID’NT PAY YOU FOR 6-7 MONTHS AND HE TELLS YOU THAT I GAVE OUT TO MUCH CREDIT AND NOW CAN’T AFFORD TO PAY YOU.

  CUT OUT THE HOMES UPSTATE AND CUT OUT YOUR NEW CARS AND $100 SHOES AND YOU BE ABLE TO PAY YOUR FAIR SHARE.

• Chilul Shem Lubavitch

  I think the worst part of this is all the comments folks leave with improper grammer! Remeber this is BR not OT!

• lizman

  to 14.000 in la
  you write
  it is quite obvious that the did nothing that will get there hands dirty. that is why they quit when the going got tough.

  i gues if they spent night meeting face to face with parents. you call that noting? i didnt hear the advisory board do that ?

  the bottom line is i am sure tht by paying 14,000 per child you have kah a big family and you earn 250,000 a year ? or do you only have 2 kids and thats it ?

  remeber alot of people living here work for moisdois and dont get the big salaries

  let us not bash beis rivkah it is the rebbes moisad. let us help them be kinder abd gentler and they should do what they have to to raise the funds

• GrammAr Teacher

  To Chilul Shem Lubavitch:
  It’s GRAMMAR…not grammer!!!

  Get it right before you write!

  LOL :))))))

• DAVZH

  This is a sad parsha in the history of Lubavitch. on the one hand, parents feel an obligation to send to the Rebbe’s Moised while on the other hand, the administration hides behind the fact that it’s the Rebbes Moised "un m’mont miseras nefesh" from the parents (m’ken nisht monen miseras nefesh fun di tzveiter, and especially those on the Va’ad, who are primarily rich, but that’s a separate story).

  Many years ago, there used to be very talented individuals who used to fund-raise for our community and schools. This talent is gone for several reasons. Amongst those reasons are: 1. The (ignorant) members of the community used to curse out the fundraisers for taking their (disputedly) due piece of the action 2. Fundraisers were classified as Shnorers (which makes no sense, then by that exact term, every shliach is a shnorer) 3. The moisdes ended up in Din Torahs or, heaven forfend, court, with these fund-raisers because it turned into an orgy of financial gain for both sides.

  We are not a rich community – we were taught it’s better to go on Mivtzoyim and Shlichus than to make money – Hafotzoh was Real and making an honest Parnassah was luft.

  It is just over the past few years that some of us within the community started making money. This small group of individuals of neauveu riche (newly coming into some money) seem to be totally impressed with themselves and don’t know how to handle themselves anymore. It got to their heads and now feel they can pass judgement on the have-nots because G-d entrusted them with wealth. What fools these are!

  Bottom line: the haves do not understand the have-nots. It’s rapidly turning into a class differenciation between the rich and the poor – middle class is being left out. the Vaad’ doesn’t understand those that can’t put lukshin on the table and are passing judgement on the have-nots. Is this what the Rebbe taught us? Is this Ahavas Yisrael?

  Of everything you can say about Avrem’l Shemtov, his thing wasn’t to be roidef the parents for money – until now. He fell in to the getzchke of money that poor parents don’t have and realizes he can hold their children hostage until they pay up.

  And so now, parents are publically humiliated, told not to "wear nice clothing – not to wear fancy shaitlach" to pay tuition. For your information "faigi" (from the haves) the people who were forced to sign the gmach with co-signors were already living on lokshin and ketchup for supper. You stand in judgement of parents?? how dare you! those that stand in judgement of others will later be judged themselves – in this world or the world to come.

  As for the teachers of the BR, my heart goes out to you. It is most unfortunate that BR has not worked on fund-raising as much as they used to long ago. It’s not a shnorers job, it’s a profession – college courses are given in fundraising, with a certificated business degree. Yet, ‘spasst nisht’ for our chassidim to learn these arts – the art that came to so many chassidim throughout the generations naturally. So yes, while I feel terrible that you are a few checks behind, don’t blame the parents who are struggling to put food on the table in a community that (used to) frown on making an honest living – look where the administration is packing it away. The don’t seem to be going hungry. Demand, as teachers that they hire professional fund-raisers – this is your only hope.

• proud of BR

  I personally wanted to send my kids to Bnos Menachem. I thought it would be better for my child its a smaller school and they are nicer there boy was I wrong. I was turned away because I couldnt afford the amount of tuition they wanted. In Beis Rivkah they treated me nicely with respect. I brought my child there on the first day. The teachers were realy nice everyone was very friendly. I think there is a very big misconception out there about BR. I am happy it didnt work out in the other school. People are blaming BR for every situation out there. LOOK out the majority of the students families in the other school very modern. I dont think anyone has the right to blame BR. What happened was a mistake and I’m sure it will be corrected. They are the Rebbes mossad because they accepted me while the other school only accepts close to full tuition.

• troubled thoughts....

  everyone is saying about all the new cars and all that the people have- maybe those people got the new cars for cheap with tons of miles and the owner before them kept it nice and not like all those sick people talking about having nice things….maybe to keep the jobs they have, they need to have a car to drive to work and wherever they need to go…the schools that do these things and then actually dont accept the kids to go to school that year-alright now lets think straight….where the hell do u think these kids are going to go? to go learn in 770 (is it free there?)??? or do you think they would go work in the summer and then spend their own money to go to school??? i dont think teenagers want to go and work their butts off just to go to school when they dont even like school (im talking from my perspective as being friends with alot of girls from BR)…. no-they arent going to just go and learn out of their own free will….they need parents encouraging them to go but since the parents cant pay the tuition and all the help they get from their own community is this letter and people critisizing it, alot of them wont be able to send their children to school and their children wont want to go to school because they know how much their parents arent able to pay and they come home from school and they see the mail with letters like this or in other peoples cases they listen to the answering machine with messages like Mrs. so and so- your daughter cant come to school tomorrow because you didnt pay the tuition from that month-you know how bad the parents feel? you know that the parents themselves have no lives because they go to work the whole day even longer than their children are at school just to be able to pay for these kids tuition?? the kids grow up messed up just because their parents are so frustrated with the schools administration and they cant give their kids a normal/loving life???? ….could someone tell me why the 14 year olds have to know that they cant go to a good lubavitch school just because their parents tell them "we cant afford it" ??? this letter is to nobody in particular but i want people to read just about just what Ive been thinking since ive been 14 and possibly other lubavitch girls that want an education- and we have to pay more if we need extra help (tutoring)!!!

• The Younger Generation

  What this is teaching us newly married folk is: birth control. 1 maybe max. 2 kids, and that’s it!

• STAY ON THE SUBJECT

  IT LOOKS LIKE WE GET DISSTRACTED FROM THE

  MAIN SUBJECT. THE MOSAD IS THE REBBE’S AND

  NO ONE HAS ANY CLAIM TO OWN THE MOSAD,

  AND MOREOVER IF YOU CAN’T RAISE THE FUNDS

  TO OPARATE FIND A DIFFERENT JOB. AND GIVE

  OVER THE ADMINISTRATION TO A QUALIFY

  ADMINISTRATOR. I AM SURE WE CAN FIND

  PEOPLE TO RUN THE MOSAD (MONTIFIORY IS

  FULL OF PEOPLE THAT DIDN’T HAVE A

  REPLACEMENT).

  YOU CANNOT RUN A SCHOOL WITHOUT

  FUNRAISING AND IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE

  NOT THE PERSON TO DO FUNDRAISING.

  PLEASE GO HOME AND LEAVE YOUR CHAIR

  TO THE NEXT PERSON.

  LETS BE REALISTIC EVERY PERSON ON THE

  ADVISORY BOARD OWNES MORE THAN ONE

  HOUSE IN CROWN HEIGHTS PLUS A SUMMER

  HOME. HOW DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO DO

  ANYTHING FOR THE POOR IN CH ?

  WHEN RABBI CHODOKOV REN THE SCHOOL

  HE TOOK THREE BAALY BATIM FROM CH

  AND SEND THEM TO RAISE MONEY.

  I AM SURE WE CAN FIND ENOUGH YUNGELITE

  TO RAISE FUNDS FOR A MOSAD OF THE REBBE

  AND DO NOT FORGET WHOEVER YOU ARE

  NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO DO THE JOB

  IF YOU CAN’T RUN THE MOSAD JUST GO

  HOME.

  AND TO ALL THIS BIG MACHERS WHO SAY

  PAY PAY PAY .

  MAYBE YOU MADE YOUR MONEY

  LIKE ONE OF THE ADVISORY BOARD

  MEMBERS. THE EASY WAY .

  AND IF YOU ARE SO BIG GET THE AIRLINES TO

  PAY FOR EVERYONE.

• crownheightsfather

  ok bottom line
  i have five kids k"h
  oldest is 9
  so which children do i pay tution for?
  or maybe since i cann;t afford tution now
  i should "give my kid up" so four of my five
  children will be frum sorry the last one no money left
  to pay tution!
  As a father i need to make over $100,000.00 a year to pay mortgage/car/food/insurance/bills
  no vaction homes,big trips, fancy cars,
  we need need a reform in the tution education buisness!!!!!!!!!!!!
  Get a funrasier give him/her 49%
  thank you

• BrookAve

  Someone made a comment about the Chinese people in communist China. They are allowed ONE child, not two. After the ultra sound determines a girl, they abort and continue to do so until they get a boy. Another witty comment about giving parents a 3 month warning on unpaid tuitions. You think the bookkeepers have only to send mailings to the parents on their minds? What are you parents….babies? Will you then claim that you didnt get the raised gold leaf on velum invitation in the mail to pay what you owe? Will you mothers wail in the holy hallways? When Kol Tuv calls and says you owe $2000.00, your limit, will you avoid their calls or just jump to the Shuk? I say live up to your responsibilities and dont expect it all to happen with your heads in the sand. Grow up, you think you are playing house? You have children to educate.

• fundraise?

  FUNDRAISE is a good thing but parents negotiate tution payment at the begingng of the year need to live up to it its not like they being asked to pay full they are being asked to pay what was arranged for them in the begining of the year and go to bnos and try to get way with tution youll see where you end up…

• all my girls graduated Bais Rivka

  Just wait, folks!

  Bais Yechi & Bais Menachem, a huge tax dodge, will be right out there offering to pay your kids to go to their school. Some of you will be tempted to accept.

  Just remember. The grass may look greener on the other side, but that’s only because of the weeds.

  Bais Rivka is the only girl’s school that can honestly claim to be the Rebbe’s school. Didn’t the Rebbe drive down past a ceremony on Lefferts, then donate $$ to Campus CHOMESH? Or has that piece of history been re-written too?

  Don’t give up on Bais Rivka. And the Hanhala shouldn’t give up on its parent body. I don’t think they will. I think it will all work out, and it won’t take long. Nobody wants to see children denied an education.

  I feel bad for the kids, and sorry for the humiliated parents. I don’t believe this was the intent of the Hanhala. I think they’re just desperate to get out of the huge hole they’re in. Maybe some of our very rich neighbors can invest in our children’s futures?

• sence

  Hi to a former beis rivka teacher.
  do you really feel for the parents who don’t have money. they poshut DON’T HAVE MONEY..it’s not like they are hiding it or anything…they just DON’T HAVE MONEY…get it?>?? Therefore they shouldn’t learn?????????????? this is a no win zone the teachers need to be paid and the kids need to go to school and the answer is to raise money properly and that all the guys driving cars that they don’t NEED give up a little on their "pleasures of life" we were not brought into the world to drive HUMMERs….it’s so pathetic…this guy thinks he NEEDS that HUMMER of the newest infinity jeep etc. I mean i understand you HAVE money and all but there is a limit. people should bichlal be more aidel and drive more aidel cars…not HUMMERS and jeeps etc….

• Zalmans friend,

  Zalman, you finally see the truth!

  do what’s right.

  A friend

• nm,.

  good point…why doesnt br fundraise with chinese auctions and msholach monos like all other schools…???

• getting more turned off daily

  I can’t believe that people can be so obviously dumb. We are not talkign about a flatbush community. We are chabad – lubavitch. Anyone watch the telethon tonight? Anyone see what we are trying to tell the world? How giving we are to each other. Stop trying to judge people on what they have wear or drive and based on that tell them what tuition to pay. People pay as much as they can. Nobody is out to get anyone or shirk any responsibility they have to their children. These parents try hard and for a school who calls themselves "Lubavitch" under the "rebbe" to do something like this is SICKENING! Do you begin to understand how many of these girls and ultimately boys too who see what this turned out in their homes and in schools and the utter shame they were caused who will not only be turned off from "Lubavitch" like I am but associate everything together and go totally off yiddishkeit. Is this what they are trying to accomplish? because that’s what they’ve got. SHAME SHAME SHAME on all of them and everyone in this community who sits around and lets this happen. I myself dont want to be associated with this community anymore. I just hope these children grow up to realize that this is not the Torah way this is the "Lubavitch" way of people who think as long as they are chassidish they are fine and can do anything in the name of the Rebbe. What about embarrassing someone, not judging someone etc. No we dont believe in that. This is the same school who are not teaching their students that under the category of tznius now falls stiching on shoes and earrings they deem inappropriate. No wonder our teenagers want nothing to do with this. THIS IS NOT WHAT LUBAVITCH WAS. The Rebbe must be embarrassed with what is going on here with all the machlokes in the kashrus, wedding halls, shul, schools etc. Its everywhere and its just plain sad

• lost on President st

  to Chilul Shem Lubavitch,

  grammar! >:)

• Shocked

  Why hasn’t Bais Rivkah ever gone to the Gemach to pay the hundreds of thousands they owe in back sallaries?

• Are you for real?

  I think "Chilul Shem Lubavitch" ought to be concerned with spellllllling too.

  Glad your mind is on how bad grammar affects the face of Lubavitch and not how this heart-rending machlokes affects it. You must live in a very happy, if deluded, little world.

• Job Opening

  Perhaps Mr. Moshe Finkel would like to join the Advisory board. I understand he is looking for work now. He has got wonderful ways of mazimizing profits. I think he would be the perfect addition to the lineup.

• To the Teachers

  Teachers. Your hard work and dedication is appreciated to the maximum. Do not be frustrated with the parents. Your anger towards them is misdirected. I can’t blame you for thinking it is their fault for that is what is preached to you. But, it isn’t true. Consider this:

  If all the student body paid the asking price of tuition, as is required by some other schools to gain entry, the halls and classrooms of Bais Rivkah would be considerably emptier. There would be fewer teachers needed, and many of you would be without jobs.

  If all the student body paid what they could afford to pay, the school would be bursting at the seams, more teachers would be required, and the budget would be failing.

  So, do we get rid of teachers and students, or do we look for alternate means?

  Ok, alternate means. In the meantime, let’s vent anger at the parents? Does that make any bit of sense?

  The tuition committee was set up to increase tuition income. Did it work? My guess was it did, to an extent. Was it perfect? Where does perfection exist outside of G-d?

  So, tuition is on the increase but not at the pace the advisory would like. Bash the parents for not paying the teachers!!! Teachers, can you not see the ridiculousness is that approach??? Besides, the anger in the words of this blog are so potent, is there a possibility is doesn’t affect your teaching? Even slightly?

  Ok, so we are in a financial crisis. The burden of blame is getting shifted around. Time was bought by passing responsibility over to the parents. The parents are dumbfounded and upset because they cannot see what they have got to do with timely payments to the teachers. A viable solution is a work in progress. But in the meantime – lets just beat each other up. I love the approach.

  Perhaps a strike is in order. I would rather see a strike than bear the grunt of misdirected criticism.

  Advisors, won’t you advise the truth and stop hiding behind a wall of avoidance. Your volunteer tuition committee has more courage than anyone of you. They will have accomplished more on this walkout than you could accomplish in a million years of playing the blame game.

  And teachers, bless you and the work you do. Without you there would be no school. Without students and parents, there would be no school either. Let us pray together that the advisors can actually use better judgment, sharpen their financial skills and create a better school environment.

• looking in from out of town

  Yes parents have to pay as much as they possibly can for their children’s chinuch. And if there are really people who are putting upstate homes, second cars and $100 shoes before their s’char limmud then they do not have their priorities right.
  I cannot speak to a situation in which people have money and don’t use it for chinuch. I know no one like that. Honestly. Reading the comments from your readers, it’s obvious they believe so many non-payers in CH are in this category.
  Instead, consider having tuition bills amounting to upwards of $30,000 a year and being an unskilled worker (as so many of our yeshiva graduates are) or a melamed yourself, your wife also a teacher in a school. Food comes first, then shelter and clothing. These are priorities even before tuition. How exactly does a couple close this impossible gap? What if in addition to this your oldest children are getting married off at the same time?
  These are not irresponsible people who need patronizing lectures about paying bills like electricity (Is there really a suggestion that the electricity or gas bill should go unpaid and a family of 8 and upwards should live without light or heat?).
  Ten years ago the tuition bills in our school were less than half what they are now. Our yeshiva salaries have increased less than 10%. They haven’t even kept up with inflation, never mind the skyrocketing school tuitions. There is a clear change in attitude on the part of administrators all over the country. Obviously, the decision has been made, if by nothing other than by default, that parents need to help shoulder a burden that was previously covered by fundraising.
  But consider how ineffective it really is to turn amateur parents into mini-fundraisers. Is it really efficacious to ask parents of CH to turn around and create incredible strains on the gemachim in the city? How will these loans ever be paid back? By liens on homes? And who will pick up the pieces when people are displaced from their houses? Is this really feasible? In addition, consider this frightening implication: when you demand of every melamed and yeshiva rabbi to shnorr the money to pay his tuition bills, you make him less effective in his primary job of teaching, for you have robbed him of his time and any peace of mind he might have had to devote to his talmidim.
  It’s very hard to tell others their job is to raise money, but for what other reason does a person sit in the honored position of administrator of the crown jewel of Bais Rivka if not to bear this burden? Consider the Frierdiker Rebbe’s holy couriers of Stalinist Russia who endangered their lives carrying money across the breadth of the land to keep yeshivas and chedorim open. When there was no money, the children still had to learn. The money was raised to pay the teachers’ pay, meager as it was and the responsibility fell on the shoulders of heroes we still revere. G-d help that new heroes should step forward.

• BrookAve

  To Job Opening: Mr. Moshe Finkel is in trouble with his friend Jose Gonzalez who he owes money to, for those 53′ truckloads of Mexican Chickens waiting in Jersey to unload. In the meantime, he can jar Mexican Honey and slap a label on it with Hisachdus HaRabonim and sell it right quick to our fine food establishments in NY. He only has 13 days…The fish are trembling!!!!!!

• sad

  its so sad that the poor people dont even have internet or a computer to write a comment .
  but you see all this groise machers telling them on the internet to pay and pay.

  shame on you

• For both sides to consider

  My two cents.

  BR claims to be in serious financial trouble and therefore claims the right to go after parents for unpaid tuition and increases in current tuition.

  That is the way it is supposed to be, as we know Chinuch is number one on the list of priorities and needs to be paid before anything else.

  However, either to 1) finally allay accusations of embezzlement by the administration or 2) to arrange for replacement of the administration, I think parents need to request and demand that BR opens up its books (salaries, application of grants, expenses etc.) like a publicly traded concern, and prove that the administration is handling the money the way it is supposed to.

  If that is done, and the administration can actually prove that no misconduct has occurred (which I think is highly unlikely), then it has the full right to demand higher tuitions and demand that parents live up to their responsibilities.

  I think that the administration should open the books of
  BR to either finally lay away

• not fair

  Time out.

  Lets agree that everyone paid.

  But first we need to know how much to pay.

  And if you want parents to pay all expenses let them be

  involved in the spending part. Since you don’t trust us.

  WE DONT TRUST YOU ADVISORY BOARD!!!

  I call for an independent investigator in to the finances.

  And an independent body to conclude how much is the

  price and how many employees should be on the payroll.

  And were is all the money from the grants going.

• sad

  The financial situation of many CH families is extremely dire , many women cannot even afford sheitels & clothes to properly cover up .

• Marsha

  Thank You for embarasing my sister and family. I am a teenager and this turns me way off from all you self riotous chasidim and menahalim. When teens go off the derech the blood we be on your heads.Shame is the worst thing you can do to a family. I will not be suprised if the scars remain with my younger sisters and affect them later.

• The bottom line is.....

  Everything that has to be said, has been said already, what can I add?
  1. Kol Hakovod to the tuition committee, they treated the parents fairly with respect and in a dignified manner, more so than I have ever seen when I negotiated tuitions in the past.

  2. The board owes them an aplogy, and should BEG these devoted violunteers to return to help out in this thankless job.

  3. Judging by the comments of some parents, I see now why my dauighters classmates are who they are. On the one hand, we have the sincere and mentlchlich people, and on the other hand, some of the commnents are so vindicitive, (that means hateful for those who don’t know) that you really don’t deserve any better treatment. I see now why some kids are really disgusting… and they have horrible attitudes.

  4. We all must be thankful to all the teachers for what have done and continue to do, despite all the negativity that surrounds them, lack of pay, non-appreciation by parents, and even worse, for the neglect and abuse given by their employers the financial hanhala, who honestly DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE FATE OF THE TEACHERS!

  5. The situation in Bais Rivka will change only through a change in the top administration. Let all parents sign a petition to get them out and to reinstate the tuition committee- they should appoint the administrators, they should be the vaad.

  6. We are all very thankful to Rabbi Avremel Shemtov for building us this beautiful building, but it is now time to let the business of running it, be done by caring and competent people.

• Mendy Hecht

  Dear Friends and Neighbors:

  Instead of talking about the symptom (lack of money on Bais Rivkah’s and parents’ parts), let us talk about the cause: Finance.

  Why doesn’t the school have money? Because parents can’t pay. Why is it indeed that parents can’t pay? Because they don’t have money. Why don’t parents have money? Because they either don’t have good enough jobs or they don’t manage their money well.

  If you treat the cause, the symptom goes away.

  We should not be talking about whether the parents should be forced to pay or be turned away, or whether Bais Rivkah should take on more students free of charge (and thus huge new debts). Those are symptoms.

  Let’s talk about the cause. There’s got to be a better way to the whole system we have and the whole way we live.

  Thus, there should be a major change in the way our community educates itself on finance and livelihood. Children should be taught–and even in school, perhaps–how to budget, how to save their allowances, and financial organization/responsibility. This certainly holds true for high school bochurim/girls and especially newly-married kollel yungerleit. More importantly, higher education for purposes of making a respectable livelihood should not be so frowned upon. Yes, we all know the Rebbe taught us not to go to college, but I don’t think that means you can’t take a course of professional training at a college, even if it takes years, so as to earn a degree so as to raise a family in prosperity. Would the Rebbe say no to that? I think all the Rebbe had against college was the danger of losing your soul in the anything-goes campus atmosphere–but if you’re established in your derech and you know who you are, that may not be as big a danger as it may seem to be.

  But I am not arguing with the Rebbe here–I am suggesting a generational shift in attitude, a long-term solution that goes well beyond gemachs and school policies. Chasidishe emunah in the "Poseach Yad Umasbiya" does not make it a mitzvah to be poor!

  In short, I am saying there should be courses and classes on all things money-related at all levels of our educational system from elementary on. That way, the existing struggling families can go to some sort of Machon L’parnasa to learn how to get their financial act together, and the kids and teens will grow up having been taught how not to be poor so that the same situation does not repeat itself in the next generation.

  (This will also result in a change to our whole political machine–we won’t need to vote for whoever brings the most government money to our communities, which only perpetuates and rewards the status quo.)

  This way, parents can pay their schools, schools can pay their teachers, and everyone’s happy. If anyone’s interested in discussing this further, please e-mail me.

  Sincerely,

  Mendy Hecht

• Mother

  What about Ohalei Torah ? Summer camps ? Yeshivas all over the world. Every one is asking full tuition. Why is every one angree with Beis Rivka only ?

  This is the ONLY School that will have you child without tuition.

  Try any Other LUBAVITCH SCHOOL in CH or all Over US.

  Just bec. they try to be like every one else ????????????

• KOL HAKAVOAD

  EACH YEAR WHEN I REREGISTER MY CHILDREN. I HEAR BR CRYING THAT THE TEACHERS HAVE NOT BEEN PAID IN MANY MONTHS. THAT REALLY HITS A SOFT SPOT. AND MY HEART IS JUST BROKEN IN PIECES OVER THE SOB STORIES THE ADMINISTRATION IS SPINNING.
  IN THE END THEY DO OBTAIN AN INCREASE IN TUITION, AS THEY SUCCEED WITH MOST OF THE PARENTS. WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? WHY ARE THE TEACHERS STILL NOT PAID? I REALLY DO NOT WISH TO CHOSHED ANYONE BUT THE QUESTIONS ARE OBVIOUS. ARE THERE ANY MISAPROPRIATION OF FUNDS? WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? IS IT SPENT PROPERLY? OR IS IT GOING TO LINE THE POCKETS OF SOME OF THE BR DIRECTORS? ASSURING THAT THEIR CHILDREN ALL HAVE HOMES AND RENOVATING THEM?
  IT IS TIME TO OPEN THE BOOKS AND MAKE THEM PUBLIC OR OPEN THEM UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF A REVEIW COMMITTEE! THE TEACHERS HAVE NOT BEEN PAID! WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH WHY NOT OR MAYBE WE DO NOT KNOW THE REAL TRUTH?

• 1111

  I think it is time we start sending our children to public school. B”h we all have 4-6, or even more, children to send to school and with and income of $50,000 a year it is impossible to give 25,000of it to tuition. Besides chinoch our children need food to eat, clothing to ware, and a place to live. In other community’s there are people that support the mosdos, people that help the struggling families. Sadly crown heights is not a community it is a bunch a selfish people that are having a compotation who could fight more, who could have a bigger house, nicer car, shiner jewelry. The community died years ago. Teachers you deserve to get paid, go work in schools that know how to manage their finances. Get the paychecks you deserve. Personally I am not going to send my children to bais rivka!!!! My grandfather toke his children out of bais rivka 40 years ago because they were sent home because he could not afford the tuition. (he was a mashpia, and a big Chasid) and I could say that I think all parents should do the same
  It is time that every one to open their eyes and look around them,

• L.A. not heaven!

  I live in L.A – there is not ONE Moisad that charges $14k per child in L.A. You want to show off? DON’T LIE!

  Truth be told, L.A., particularly the Cheder, is one of the most heartless institutions in Lubavitch – beholden to NO-ONE! No Shliach, no Rav – Lubavitch or otherwise. As a matter of fact, no rav wants to even deal with this school’s administration. The Cheder Board consists of a few ego-maniacle crooks that are looking to control this small community without ANY regard to parents nor children. This same group try to control every aspect of the small Lubav. Community and shul in L.A. The Shul, being run by 2 brothers, sons of Harav Hachosid Shmuel Dovid Raichik who are disgruntled in the fact that Rabbi Cunin built California to the great Jewish State it is today, and that their Father OBM, who was a true Chosid of the Friediker Rebbe and the Rebbe, didn’t get the due Kavod. They are scared of anyone of their congregants would actually show some talent and do something good for the community. They stopped shiurim given by people they deem a threat, stunted growth in the community – so that Chas V’sholom they shouldn’t be "undermined". Oddly enough, if someone does begin to undermine these two, then they actually RUN to Rabbi Cunin to save them!

• Parent Of BR Student

  This is a shame!!!!

  The emoitional pain exhibited on the children who were
  turned away, will be everlasting,

  Who can bear the responsibility for that????
  In CHABAD We do not turn away a jewish neshama!!!

  Its like a shliach not letting you in to the beis chabad untill you give a donation!!! Unheard of !!!!!!
  Read what the gemarah says at the end of tractate SOTAH

  I guess Moshiach is past due!!!

  All signs point NORTH ???!!!!

  We have stopped so LOW How sad

  Its like saying Hashem has a sense of HUMOR

  Problem is IT makes us cry,

• To Younger Generation

  You write:
  "What this is teaching us newly married folk is: birth control. 1 maybe max. 2 kids, and that’s it!"

  Most people who WILLINGLY have very few children in order to save money usually end up spending more on themselves and their existing children. So, you basically end up spending the same amount of money and instead of having a beautiful Jewish family you have chosen to have a Hollywood-easy-way-out-what’s-better-for-ME-family.

  The conscious CHOOSING to have only one or two children will also come together with a whole bunch of other ideas, mode of dress, and lifestyles that are not in harmony with Torah or your Neshama. It becomes one big "Yuppy" family.

  The couple suffers, Klal Yisrael suffers, and the unborn Neshamos eagerly awaiting to perform their mission on this world suffer.

  Most people who make such a decision usually regret it, often when their decision is already irreversible. Remember, as a woman gets older it becomes harder for her to conceive and after a certain point becomes basically impossible al pi teva.

  No one is saying is easy, but you need to plow and harvest for seeds to grow. Don’t become one of the women of this generation who chooses to have one or two children, while trying to convince themselves that this is what is best and most beautiful for all involved…and don’t go blaming it on tuition or on any any other thing. Life constantly throws things at us. Imagine if every time it is hard to develop/work on a certain area in our lives we say, that’s it, it’s too hard, I’ll have only one friend, I’ll speak to only one person in this world, I’ll only go shopping once every 5 years, I’ll only eat once a week, I’ll only talk to my parents once in every 72 months, I’ll only spend my money on going out once every ten years. If something is important and worthwhile, you make it happen-even if it’s a tough/rough road sometimes.

  And besides, I’m sure that you have lots of good genes to share with this world and help make it a better place.

• Parent

  The Current executive fundraisers do not want competition. That is why they are not looking to higher more funraisers who may take away thier 50%!
  Its time for the Shareholders (ie parents and doners) to vote for new officers!

  By the way what a chutzpa of the hahola to call down the parents and tell them to dress tzneus. Instead of looking where your not supposed to, do your job and look for funds or allow anouther to do so.

  In any case, The chinuch of BR is a great and beats OT any day. So lets try and keep it together.

• Alan

  We are working on a vaad to get government intervention to open the books. We have political connections. When the Attorney General starts investigating heads will fly

• George

  The solution to this is a Vaad has to be formed by a large group of parents independent of the school and demand that the books are opened. If enough tough people get on this vaad they will be very scared. As individuals you will not be heard you must unite and start an uprising against the Adm. and demand an accounting. You dont have to be rich just tough.
  Same goes for you people in L.A.
  It worked in the past when the surfs rose up against the noblemen. Appoint a leader and make an uprising you will see that you will succeeed
  This advice for someone that did this a another school.

• lizman

  to mendy hect

  you have some good points. and i suggest that you discuss with a financial advisorthe following.
  how much does it to live in crown height for a family of six(i think that might be the average) taking into accountthe followin
  no luxuries
  a house (attodays cost of over 700,000) what would a mortgage be
  food
  health insurance(not welfare or a program)
  a car (not a lease let say a used car a good one)
  car insurance
  dentist
  clothing
  kids camp (full price)
  tuition for six kids (full price and not)
  just the basics
  and you will see that even a "proffesional" making a good living cannot afford a decent life. you need to earn close to 150,000 a yaer for that
  and taking courses doesnt help
  and how much do our childrens teachers get paid ? can they live this normal life NO

  so the system has to be changed big time
  how?
  i am not sure. but you make a good start
  let us hear some positive ideas. how people can be self sufficent and not "the rich should pay " or fundraise more"

• CH PARENT

  FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL,FOLLOW THE
  MONEY TRAIL,THE TUITION COMM. BROUGHT IN ALOT OF MONEY THE PAST 3 YEARS DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE MONEY?THE CH COMMUNITY IS STUPED .ITS NOT A PROBLEM OF TUITION ITA A PROBLEM OF THE ADMINISTRATION .HAVEING NO OVERSIGHT OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS.WE NEED A NEW BOARD FROM TOP TO BOTTOM OR THEY WILL CONTINUE BUYING HOUSES AND SUMMER HOMES.THEY ARE LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK .THE CH COMMUNITY IS STUPED!!!!!!!FOR LETTING THEM GET AWAY WITH IT FOR YEARS.ALL COMMENTS BACK AND FORTH IS A WASTE OF TIME.IN A FEW DAYS PEOPLE WILL FORGET AND THE ADMIONISTRATION WILL CONTINUE LAUGHING. LETS SEE IF THE CH COMMUNITY HAS GUTS AND THROWS THEM OUT.

• Yossi M

  Someone made a comment that the community is dead… I think it’s buried in the ohel in queens together with the Rebbe.

  Maybe if we concentrated more on achdus instead of color war (two teams, yechi and non-yechi with color war signs and yarmulkas)…

• KAYLA

  I SIT HERE AT MY WORK DESK READING ALL THAT IS HAPPENING WITH YOUR TUITION COMMITTEE & I AM RIVETED TO THE COMMENTS THAT FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS ARE OFFERING. MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL THOSE GIRLS AND PARENTS WHOSE CHILDREN WERE SENT HOME. I DO BELIEVE THAT I DID LEARN IN THAT SAME BEIS RIVKAH, THAT EMBARRESSING A PERSON, IS AS IF YOU KILLED HIM!! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR CROWN HEIGHTS? THERE ARE ALWAYS TWO SIDES TO A STORY, BUT THERE IS ALSO ALWAYS A WAY OF DEALING WITH A SITUATION WITH GRACE AND DIGNITY–DID WE FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM? ALL THAT OUR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, REBBES HAVE SACRIFICED–TO COME TO ALL THIS CHINUM–HATE???
  I HAVE NOT LIVED IN CH NOW A GOOD MANY YEARS, TO SEE WHAT II HAS BECOME–AND TO C"V – R"L HOW MUCH WORSE IT WILL GET, IS VERY PAINFUL
  AS I AM AT WORK MY TEARS ARE QUICKLY BEING WIPED AWAY BUT, I TRULY FEEL LIKE SOBBING!!!!

  I FOR ONE AS AN ALUMNI OF BEIS RIVKAH OF CH,TAKE UPON MYSELF, NOW IN THE MONTH OF ELUL, WHICH IS A TIME OF REFLECTION AND TESHUVA, TO HEREBY GIVE $18 FOR TZEDOKAH TO YOUR SCHOOL. (AND A"H TO CONTINUE EVERY ELUL) SOMETHING POSITIVE THAT I CAN DO. ( I AS WELL, WILL GIVE THE SAME AMOUNT TO THE BEIS RIVKAH IN MY OWN COMMUNITY.) I HOPE THE GOOD PEOPLE AND ALUMNI EVERYWHERE WILL FOLLOW SUIT. KSIVA VACHISIMA TOVAH

• To 1111 Re: & Parent Re: Tznius

  To 1111:
  You state:"I think it is time we start sending our children to public school…"

  Go right ahead, just don’t surprised when your child comes home and does not say B"H like you do in your post, stops eating kosher, stops keeping Shabbos, might carry a gun or two or be scared of a classmate who might have one, and basically mocks and throws away Torah and morals.
  Will you take a diamond ring and store it in a local park because it’s accessible and free storage?!?
  Are you you willing to sell your child’s soul for the sake of a free ride???????

  To Parent
  You state: "What a chutzpa of the hanhola to call down the parents and tell them to dress tzneus. Instead of looking where your not supposed to, do your job and look for funds or allow anouther to do so."

  PLEASE!!! It’s actually about time that someone decided to do something about the horrific Tznius of many in this town. Do you have any idea what the lack of proper Tznius of many in our community causes? It is a snowball effect. Some think if everyone else is doing it, I might as well too. First they start with one thing then another thing dissapears… As a woman I can tell you that I am embaressed to walk down the street when a member of this community walks down the street semi-undressed. Do you think the men in this community are not affected by this? I have heard many bochurim and men who have eaten at my Shabbos table say how uncomfortable they feel when walking down Kingston or other streets in Crown Heights and they pass woman or girls dresses not tznius.

  One of the reasons people choose to live in a frum community is that they are hoping to be living with people who share Torah values, making it easier to be Frum and keep Torah, Mitzvos, and Halacha.

  At the special tznius evening held at Bais Rivkah one of the speakers said a very valid point: It is true that when on Mivtzoim/Shlichus we are so much more tolerant of people we meet that are not tznius. Yet there is a VERY BIG DIFFERENCE between being tolerant of someone’s lack of tznius when they are on their WAY UP, than being tolerant of someone’s lack of tznius when they are, chas vesholom, on their WAY DOWN.

  Ask yourself, do you want your teenage daughter to go out in the world dressed in an unTznius way?

  Tznius affects all areas of our lives and in reality helps to protect us from so much of the garbage and danger out in the world.

  Do you expext Bais Rivkah and all the other schools to say that it’s OK to teach girls and woman that the main thing that they have to offer to this world is their outside.

  There are men that encourage their wives to look like they just stepped out of some fashion magazine (where all the women seem to have nothing more to offer other than their bodies and their crazy lifestyles and escapades). Be careful! To all these husbands, the same way your wife is attracting you in a not tznius way, so is she probably attacting many other men on the street or at work. Don’t dig your own grave!!! You wife can be beautiful to you without having to look like some gossip column personality.

  And what will happen when in several years time and B"H after a few children she might not look exactly they way you want her to? Will you look elsewhere? Will she no longer be special FOR YOU?

  And what message are you giving your sons and daughters with such behavior???

  Do you expect the schools to do nothing about a problem of any kind until they are perfect in all other areas themselves. If this was the case, all the shluchim should be called home and all of us should hibernate at home and become a "tzaddik in Pelz".

  When there is a dangerous disease that is spreading you don’t expect people to do nothing about it. If anything you would expect them to do more, and more, and more…

  The Rebbe said that there are so many, many Brochos that women, their husbands, their children, and all of Klal Yisroe get for wearing a full sheitel at all times outside and for dressing and acting in a tznius fashion. The schools should actually be encouraged and complimented that they are trying to bring these Brochos into everyone’s lives.

  With the proper effort, you can look very beautiful, and fashionable too, and still be tznius and not ‘prust’.

  Moshiach NOW!!!

• We NEED Moshiach NOW!

  First of all i think the problem is with the administration in the "good old days" they got out there and raised the money needed any way possible now days they all (not just BR and not just in CH) sit on there leather chair excepting the parents to cover all the costs at what ever it does to the parents I know of a yeshiva in Florida (not lubavitch) that makes the parents sign a contract they own a percent of your home and when you sell they take a peace there is no mitzvah in embarrassing a person or to make there life miserable its is commanded on us to give a person Tzidacka to have them live according to the means that they lived before just because one lives in a "nice" home or drives a leased car (witch by the way is most of the time because they cant afford to buy a car and to lease you don’t have to put down lots of money and they pay smaller payment then buying even a used car) i come from a home when i was a kid everyone told me my father is rich we did not have a nice house my father drove a junk car but he owned a business we never had anything special and i know my father struggled in short we and the schools cant always juge a book by the cover and always must be careful of what we say or think about our friends and nabbers and work together all yeshivas to work out a system that works for everyone and everyplace not just CH.

  May we zocher to moshiach now!

  PS excuses my English i know its bad ;-)

• a way out

  we need a vocation school in CH for men and women
  and yes we need elections every 4 year for administration otherwise people get too conftable and protective for their jobs of power.

• Just my opinion

  Although it sounds terrible that th BR board enforced tuition so strongly I must say that while we see many members of the community living above thier means- going to Florida for vacation buying expensive clothes but when it comes to tuition they scrimp. These are the families that the administration is cracking down on. We are living in such a superficial world that R"L we fogot what is truly imp. which is our childrens chinuch. I can tell you that your chil will get a better education if you pay up. You childs teachers will be more motivated and focused and there will be better facilties. Stop blaming the administration. Look around you and into yourselves and see what you can do without to ensure your child a beeter education- ITS THE BEST INVESTMENT!!

• to CH parent

  It’s not a good idea to call other people "stuped" while showing your own "stupedity"

  Oh, and theres no reason to shout

• to Mendy Hecht

  Teaching people how to save their money, and how to budget may be part of a solution.

  The other part of the solution is to figure out where the money they already get goes. The teachers certainly get none of it, but the directors and administration seem to be quite comfortable. Perhaps they need lessons on how to spend the money on the school, not on themselves.

  And the "Advisory board" needs lessons on how to share their considerable wealth with those less fortunate than they are.

• Cali is happening

  LA not heaven: The Bais Yaakov tuition is $8000.00 FYI this year but they do work with you. They have wealthy people that support and always will. Teachers are always paid on time, there is no question.

  As far as Congregation (read) Conversation Levi Yitzchok, The Rav Shimon is a puppet, a farkoifte Yid. The young "rat pack" do not stop yapping, but these disrespectful yutzes have fathers and father in laws that support the shul, so he wont say boo. Levi, the gabbai will never present any documentation as to where the money goes. There was a promise by Mr. W. to expand the shul and make a library kitchen classrooms etc in the Zechus of Rabbi Raichik Senior OBM, but that mysteriously was scrubbed. The Shul is a box, but they did slop on a coat of paint and laid a light colored tile floor, (bad choice). Still, it is 90 decibals. For Tylenol, see Levi.

• an angry parent

  To the teacher who responded:
  I in no way intended to insult any teacher or make them feel guilty for getting paid and I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. I only feel that the way this was handled was wrong. Bais Rivkah raises our tuition every year and it would seem that the teachers are not benefitting from this increase. Each family situation is individual. There has to be a better way to deal with this. A phone call a day or two after the first tuition committee made our arrangement with us, telling us that we still need to discuss the old balance would have been much more effective than getting this letter with such bad timing. I agree that the old balance had to be addressed. This second committee totally ingnored the fact that over the last several months, I have knocked down that balance considerably.
  Anyway, I wish you all the best. I hope that all the teachers get their salaries in a timely fashion as they do deserve it to be that way.

• Teacher

  Someone wrote about a strike. I was a teacher in Bais Rivkah in past years and more than once we as teachers discussed the possibility of striking. EVERY SINGLE TIME THE CONVERSATION AROSE WE ENDED BY SAYING THAT IF WE CARE ABOUT THE CHINUCH OF THE CHILDREN WE WILL NOT STRIKE AND IF WE DON’T CARE ENOUGH TO STRIKE THEN WE SHOULDN’T BE TEACHING THERE. Let me tell you something, with Bais Rivkah’s low pay and bad pay history I can guarantee that every single teacher who works there cares 110% about the chinuch of your daughters, because if they didn’t they most certainly would not be teaching there. There are plenty of other schools in New York that have better pay, pay on time, have benefits, etc.

• elliot

  In response to an earlier post about the boys cheder in L.A. I would make the following points with full understanding that nothing is ever perfect.

  The board consists of nine volunteer parents.

  The teachers have been paid on time for over three years.

  All money that had been owed to teachers from previous adminstrations has been repaid to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars.

  The board raises siginificant funds on an annual basis to offer tuition assistance to those in need without taking any of the aforementioned 50% commissions.

• Solutions Solutions solutions

  There is a solution. All of those parents that are having trouble paying tuition to Beis Rivka, should stop buying lottery tickets (which go to support public schools) and instead give those dollars to Beis Rivka.

  Classroom lessons should be given by video and audio lecture and security guards should watch the children Via Closed Circuit television to make sure they are seated and paying attention.

  Parents should be required to purchase food and clothing from the school thereby providing anothe avenue of funding for the school.

  Children who’s parents can’t pay tuition should be forced to clean, cook, bathe children of the schools administration, after completing their homework. Not only will this help pay their share, it will be valuable experience.

  Parents should take turns to valunteer and teach classrooms

• To: Teacher

  Teacher:

  If you read the comment about the strike, you will notice it doesn’t question the teachers dedication. It challenges the right for the teacher, or anyone for that matter, to blame the parents for the teachers being paid late.

  Your commitment, dedication, and the awesome chinuch you provide is always appreciated and respected. That was never questioned!

• Very Unfortunate situation

  I sit here reading all these comments from parents in both situations.
  I truly feel sorry for those who can not afford to pay their children’s tuition. For all those who write that these people are driving around in nice cars and living the other luxuries of life- I really don’t agree that they are. We definitely have a disastrous situation here with the administration. I believe they are the ones living the luxurios lives. How? I wonder? On whose cheshbon? I personally know of some stories where the administration has really gone wrong. There are unfortunately people who REALLY can not afford to pay tuition and there is something called vouchers. Our school BR DOES NOT see this as a substitute for paying tuition but rather as an addition to what you will pay. You are not allowed so much as to utter the V(voucher) word in front of these people in the administration. The difference between our schools and the schools in other communities (ex: Williamsburg – where they’re always trying to help one another) is those people who get vouchers are not asked to pay anything more than that and our school does. So what’s the point I ask of being humiliated and standing on these lines waiting for the vouchers I asked one lady . She replied- I get it for my son and daughter – if I take my daughter off it than I won’t be given it for my sons school who accepts the voucher as FULL tuition. Shame on you Beis Rivkah – even when we are trying to be helped by the city you are turning it away. SHAME SHAME SHAME on you.

  On the other hand, I strongly beleive that those living the luxurious lives – education should be the # 1 priority. I give so much credit and appreciation to every one of those teachers who are doing the hardest and most underpaid job of all. It takes a lot to be a teacher. So much goes into this job. It’s not a 9 to 5 job – it’s an endless job. Those who can afford to pay should not even have the chutzpah to argue. I have 4 children ka"h in the system an tuition is my # 1 priority – and i don’t understand how anyone could think differently. All those that can afford full tuition – PAY UP. It’s not a matter of I could but should I- rather , if I could I must.
  I have siblings on Shlichus who are struggling to put food on their tables – but the schools will not let them in for free. They do all they can to get their kids the education they must have. Trust me- it"s not easy on them.
  And, for all those who can’t my heart really goes out to you- but please, you must understand that nothing runs without money. Maybe if all those parents whose kids are not in Beis Rivkah should come together and try to donate their time to the school- I’m sure there’s plenty to do – work on ways to try to raise money for the school ex: chinese auctions, purim baskets…
  I hope this all has a happy ending really soon.

• aniyei ircha kodmim

  It was interesting to read this blog. It would have been nicer without had names not been used when people were blaming others for alleged (actual?) wrongdoings. Crown Heights, and the world in general, would be a nicer place to live in without the loshon hara.

  Tishrei is speedily approaching, along with the high expense many in our community shoulder for "hachnasos archim". Why not use all that money to pay back salaries due (DIRECTLY!!) to teachers, and suggest the out-of-towners without places to stay and eat, stay home this year. Just this once, till all of our local financial burdens are lifted. "Aniyei ircha kodmim!!"
  Mendy Hecht is right. Our schools need financial courses – we are not at all teaching our kids how to fend for themselves financially, despite the rising cost of living (even here in CH).
  As for summer homes/vacations – get real!! I’m not suggesting one needs luxury in that arena, but CH is INNER CITY! We live amongst dirt and danger. Our schools do not have proper yards, gyms, pools, etc. in which our kids can run around and exercise (what happened to "vinishmartem es nafshoseichem"??!!) Getting out into the fresh air for a short while, if you live cramped in an apt. or big apt. (read: attached brownstone) is not a luxury.
  RE: BR opening their books – good idea! There must be a big hole somewhere, despite many families paying low tuitions.
  RE: The mandatory tznius meeting – the tznius in our community can certainly use improvement, however the Bais Hamikdosh was not destroyed because of lack of tznius, but because of "sinas chinam". How about a mandatory stop to the loshon hara blogs and flyer distribution? How about people being less judgmental of one another?
  As for the out-of-towners – you don’t know anything about the living conditions of CH. What might have been when you lived here, is obviously different today. Also, what is the point of generalizations? The people of CH are all individuals with different wants, needs, likes, and levels of education. So, if you are intelligent, you would not consider generalizing us as one unit. We, actually, have a long way to go until we even can truly say (Lubavitch as a whole) that today "Chasidim zeinin ain mishpacha."
  K’siva V’chasima Tova to all.

• chosid

  Please refer to the Sicha of the Rebbe about taking in kids for free. The Rebbe insisted that at least 10%+ be enrolled w/o paying tuition. What ever happened with that?

  Also, do you really want to push people to the brink? What are their options – top send the kids to public school?

  The Rebbe promised that if the above will be honored – there will be great success in the fundraising efforts.

• extremely satisfied in CH

  Please keep in mind all you HARD WORKING PEOPLE that the money, went to teachers who had NOT BEEN PAID IN "MONTHES" I would like to see how long you guy’s would hang around at YOUR job , had you been in a similer situation

• an angry teacher

  i cannot believe some of the things i have just read. what is the matter with you people? what makes you think that a school can run on air? even if everyone pays full tuition it is not enough to run a school. it definitely does not cover all the costs of running any school especially a big mosad like bais rivkah. all you people who go to work at whatever job you do. how would you feel if you hadn’t been paid in months? don’t you think a teacher deserves to get paid after all the hours she puts into her job in school and at home? the bais rivkah teachers are the most loyal and dedicated staff you can find in any mosad. The principals are top notch and devote 24/7 to the care of all the students. you had better get your priorities straight and put tuition of YOUR children as your 1st and most important priority. your children are your future. they are the only thing you leave behind not your fancy car or your country home. their chinuch should be your utmost consideration. if you don’t have enough money to pay your tuition go out and raise it. don’t expect the school to fund raise for you.

• very upset

  I dont understand how Beis Rivka could do this , there are plenty of well off people in Crown heights that they can ask to do a mitzva and help the poor jews who cant afford the tuition , its not fair and its embarrasing to the kids who cant go to school because of it and if any of the parents end up putting their kids in public school it will be beis rivkas fault and im sure the Rebbe would not approve of it ! I think they should do everything they can to help those families -its a big mitzva !!!! :)

• What is a fair amount of tuition ?

  Why is it possible for Mosdos in Williamsburg to charge only $100.00 per
  month tuition (and they do not have as many programs as the Mosdos in Crown Heights have). Every child that is part of
  the Kehilla i.e. Klausenberg, Pupa, Viznitz etc. gets accepted no matter what and in the Rebbe’s schuna children are sent home!
  Isn’t it time that the admnistrators start fundraising for the Moisad and not for themselves?

• Fair and Balanced

  I think there is 1 small Item not made in most of the comments posted an that is that when most of the parents made tuition contracts it was very early last year before the summer. Then the summer came and Katrina and all the other storms driving fuel cost way up. from gasoline to drive to work to fuel and gas to heat our homes and buildings. These increases drove up everything from chicken to orange juice to flour. So if our basic expenses skyrocket food and shelter something has to give. I am not making excuses for those that did not pay tuition the past few years but last year was very hard financially for everyone. The fact that BR ignores the times is part and parcel of the the problem. If the committee and the administration that did this horrific thing to the innocent children does not resign in the next few weeks it will just show you for what you are cowards without HONOR.

• So Turned Off

  As someone who grew up out of town , I get more turned off by the minute! I have just a few comments to make:
  1. To those of you who have new cars section 8 and house upstate and dont pay full tuition – SHAME ON YOU!!

  2. There are really very many people who really cant afford full tuition and who suffer tremendously as a result – we dont need to add embarrasment to their list of stresses.Be a little sympathetic

  3.To those in administrative positions who take BIG FAT SALARIES – why dont YOU cut back a little – why do you get paid before the teachers do anyway??How do you manage to live such luxurious lifestyles if the school has no money??? this whole thing is a disgrace!!!

• some one that lives overseas..

  I cant believe this…. what a chilu Hashem especially coming from crown heights. some where were most people look up to. This totally turns me off. I cant Evan get over it. why dont you guys open up ur eyes an realise that people cant afford to pay tuition. You’re not the only school that’s in a financial position.

  I thought that a school like yours would never have such issues. It just goes to show that sometimes the schools that might not be the strictest or the most chassidish are the ones that have the most achdus and unity.

• CH selfish?

  To say CH people are selfish is not right. Millions of dollars are given to charity in this community every year. By the millionairs and by the middle and lowclass residents.
  Satmar and Bobov may have nicer mosdos in their own neighborhoods. But hey, we also have 4000 shluchim to support. And yes they do collect in CH. And yes, some of them have nicer buldings than our own in CH.
  As mentioned in earlier posts, there might be a reason why people are not so eager to send their donations to the corrupt administrations of our local schools. The corruption is not limited to BR btw. OT, and ULY are also known for it.
  The out of town mosdos we support are probably also corrupt but since they are far away we don’t know about it. Maybe the shluchim’s bale batim who don’t know about our corruption who think all rabbis are holy should support our mosdos the same way we support the mosdos THEY may think are corrupt.

• JOE SHMOE

  I have a uncle who lives in an out of town community as the rabbi. He sends his kids to a very good hebrew day school over there and they tell him, that in order for him to get a tuition break he has to show them his income forms. True some parents really cant afford it and there kids should not be turned away, but now that every family cries poverty, its too hard to judge – it either everyone or no one, and it is impossible to help everyone. Families out there who have brand new cars, bungalows, nicely renovated house, and every other bauble under the sun, you are making the choice, dont complain to school when they turn your kids away, you are responsible for this.

• Dovid

  What on earth is up with the grammar and punctuation (or lack thereof) in this thread?

  People, if you want to be read, make sure you’re readable.

• fair is fair

  open the books that goes for the parents show income tax returns and the same Br should have a to show where all the grants go to and what tuition covers and what it doest

• Building Swap

  Lot’s of deep insight and good suggestions on this blog. Wanted to add one that has not come up:

  Why doesn’t the administration consider selling the gorgeous building to make ends meet before embarrassing parents and traumatizing children? I am not suggesting going back to the days of Church Avenue but I am sure that Bnos Menachem would consider a building swap which would a) increase Beis Rivka’s available capital and b) give them the Razag ballroom second income to boot.

  I chose to send my daughter to Bnos Menachem (and pay full tuition) based on positive feedback on the level of chinuch offered. This was a personal decision as I am sure that all Beis Rivka parents considered and concluded differently. In any case, my heart goes out to the parents and children that were affected by this decision.

  Would love to see my daughter on Lefferts instead of East NY, educated according to the directives of the Bnos Mencahem teachers, administrators and advisory boards…..

  Any thoughts?

• CHOIDESH ELUL

  What is CHABAD – LUBAVITCH

  chabad – lubavitch is about chinuch and chasidus.
  one of the first moisdos the frierdike rebbe was meyased
  was MERCHAZ LEINYONEI CHINUCH.
  from the untold stories of the frierdiker rebbe is how much he helped the bais yaakov mosed with funds and other yeshivos to exist in difficult times here in usa and around the world.

  Lets focus a bit on that subject BR is part of lubavitch and as such this story dose not fit for LUBAVITCH.

  Our chasidus is about how much to give not how much to Squeeze your fellow Jew and looking how much he has or doesn’t have and what is he entitled to have.

  the focus of a LUBAVITCHER MOISAD was and will be always to help and not to presser and kill people.

  as we see that all 3000+ chabad centers around the world are busy to do more for yidishkeit and jewish people begashmius uberuchanius.

  seem like someone lost the way here someone wants to
  brake BR away from LUBAVITCH CHASIDIM AND CHASIDUS.

  This would of not happened in the times when the REBBE was with us begashius.

  MY DEAR FREINDS
  Let’s pray for MOSHIACH TO COME FAST.

  i honestly don’t believe anything will change any time soon as one chosid said that he knows who will say the maftir yona but he knows the money will go to gurary.

  I can only wish everyone a KESIVA VACHSIMA TOVA and that the tefilas COHEN GODOL IN KOIDESH HAKODOSHIM will be Answered very fast even before ROSH HASHONO .

  VELO YITZTARCHU AMCHO ISROEL ZE LOZE VELO LEAM ACHER.

  PLEASE HASEM YISBORECH GIVE YOUR KIDS ALL
  THEY WANT AND EVEN MORE.
  GIVE THEM PARNOSO BEHARCHOVO, HEALTH AND NACHAS.

  YOU SEE RIBONO SHEL OILOM YOU CANT TRUSTS ANYONE WITH THIS SHLICHUS.

  I AM SURE YOU TRIED BUT I GUESS ITS NOT WORKING

  KESIVA VACHASIMA TOVA LESHONA TOVA UMESUKA TO ALL CROWN HEIGHTS RESIDENTS AND KLAL ISROEL.

• Wrong people sent to Gemach.

  Bais Rivkah should go to a Gemach and pay the teacher’s salaries on time!!!

  I know that the Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago has their priorities straight: THEY PAY THE TEACHERS FIRST. First. Before the phone bill, before the mortgage, before the electric bill!

  If the teachers are not paid… IT’S THE SCHOOL’S FAULT, NOT THE PARENTS’.

• Frustrated in CH

  I have heard Bais Rivka complaining about lack of funds to pay teachers. However, I pay FULL tuition (and I help others pay their tuition). I do not wear $100 pair of shoes (because helping those in need are more important). I also do not owe any back money. But when I had a problem with one of my children they refused to help us. I even got the administration involved and all we got were empty promises. Since they were not putting my childs best interest before their pride I had no choice but take her out. Now they have $10,000 less to give to their teachers.
  So I can only say it is not only the administration that can HURT people (and children), the principals are doing a GREAT JOB AT IT TOO!

• yates Ha-cohen

  The real question is whether or not BR is a public institution? If its public it should be free. Otherwise youve got to pay your bills. CH really is the shtetl. Do they have these problems in williamsburgh or borough park? someone please advise

• frustrated over lost money

  I just wanted to add that I have been paying a faiar amount of tuition for my children. If my daughters teachers have not gotten paid, and most of them really deserved to be paid, then where the heck is my hard earned money going to??? The food is paid for by the government so what was i paying for? also I also want to know if all th is complaining is going to get us anywhere!

• to Building Swap:

  I live in an Apt. Do you have a house?
  Wanna swap?

• to an angry teacher:

  Hello, what are you thinking? First of all not all principals are top notch. Second whose talking about school running on air? Some people can NOT afford to pay tuition. And they do NOT have country houses. They do NOT have $100 shoes. They do NOT have a newly leased car. They live in Section 8 and have 9/10 kids to support! Do you want them to send their precious neshamos to public school? What do you want? And if the school wanted to handle the situation at all, this is DEFINITELY not the way to go about it! Anyone agree?
  Thank you for teaching our children in the Rebbes Mosad. May we merit the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days!
  Ksiva vchasimah Tovah!

• Bnos M Parent

  I too chose to send my daughters to Bnos Menachem. I too pay full tuition My heart goes out to BR parents. I hope they will prevail. If I had extra money I’d help in a blink. It is a big, rather very very big school, and obviously more then a couple of issues are falling thru the cracks.

  BM has a great name indeed. All the naysayers are slightly jealous I believe. I thought when it started it was a right wing yechi crazy school. While they are more sympathetic to the mescheist coner, by and large they have accomodated and have tried to avoid conflict and outright scorn from the world by avoiding having it in anyones face. The personal/teachers and administartion is truly interested in working and helping your children grow in the world we know today. There care is widely known today. Therefore they are succesful, and alot of leftys (wrong word, I mean leaning to left ) and most TYPICAL chabadniks would send there daughters to this fine school today.

  That said I again join in sympathy and feel bad for BR, mainly it is the Rebbe’s mosod (like all lubavitch schools mind you) and we should all do what we can to straighten the poor picture we see by them thelast few days.

• Dr

  People stop equating teachers getting paid with our paying tuition. i ran a school for a few years, it takes way more money to cover the budget then tution, tuition does not cover even a third of the budget of a school.Nevermind the school i ran was a tad smaller. these people have somehting fundemently wrong with their fundrasing tactics.

• DTW

  A friend of ours who is a skilled and devoted rebbe in a yeshiva has not had a raise in 10 years, even though tuition has increased during that time.
  I do agree that the economics of frum life needs to change and that the frum community is like a fragile house of cards economically.

• Humiliated victim

  This whole incident was orchestrated to wake up the community that BR is in dire need of money.

  Unfortunately it was the families in the same situation that were the target of this horrible crime.

  The few people that were involved knew that it could have been done in a different and more humane way but, chose not to do so. Once again the administration shows there true colors.

  For every 900 hundred mothers and fathers that met with the tuition committee there are 900 unique situations. You can’t treat everyone the same.

  If the administration thought that a family was able to afford more even after signing a contract, they should have been approached face to face in a normal respectful manner.

• Thinking Out of th Box in Los Angeles

  I think Mendy Hecht is a genius. Another good idea in the same vein is to have the accredited mosdos give their graduates bachelor’s degrees. This would enable the average boy or girl coming out of yeshiva to consider law school, business school, medical school, etc as opposed to today’s CH standard of get smicha, get married, learn in kollel, become a rebbe or sell mortgages (or credit card processing or day trading, etc). By developing a pool of professionals, you get more parents that can afford to pay full tuition, which in turn will ease the financial burden of the institutions enabling them to subsidize the ones that can’t afford it. Why can Ner Yisroel crank out doctors and lawyers while we in Lubavitch get property managers and daytraders? They are not smarter then us, they just utilize the tools that their yeshiva system affords them.

  Re. tuition in Los Angeles, there are a number of schools that charge 12-14k for elementary school (Yavneh, Maimonides, Bais Chaya Mushka, Shalhevet) and 18K for high school. Crown Heights is a bargain in comparison.

• where is the $$$$

  the unfairness of life,
  why is br sitting on a nest of golden eggs!!!!
  hatch them and put it to lubavitch public service, quite frankly most of us are disgusted!
  lunch food and lots of grants are government given, where’s the money????

• To BM parent & school swap

  To all those bad mouthing BR and praising BM…

  Aren’t the teachers of Bnos Menachem BAIS RIVKAH GRADUATES?

• to soloutions solutions solutions

  I have never heard more ridiculous ideas in my life.

  "All of those parents that are having trouble paying tuition to Beis Rivka, should stop buying lottery tickets (which go to support public schools) and instead give those dollars to Beis Rivka." Who says ALL these parents buy lottery tickets to begin with? And even if they did buy 1 ticket a week, after a whole year you have $52. Not a major amount that would help the BR situation.

  "Classroom lessons should be given by video and audio lecture and security guards should watch the children Via Closed Circuit television to make sure they are seated and paying attention." Where are you getting these lectures from? What if a child has a question, do they ask it to the video? Wouldn’t the salary of the security guard be higher than that of a teacher? Is that who you want your child being influenced by all day?

  "Parents should be required to purchase food and clothing from the school thereby providing anothe avenue of funding for the school." So now you are suggesting that BR should become the local walmart? And now you have to hire people to stock the shelves, man the registers, order the supplies etc. Businesses do not run on air either.

  "Children who’s parents can’t pay tuition should be forced to clean, cook, bathe children of the schools administration, after completing their homework. Not only will this help pay their share, it will be valuable experience." Who is going to "FORCE" parents? Are we going to import Taliban or Hezbollah for that? You will need to pay them as well = more expense. You are also demanding that parents who can’t afford tuition, and sometimes work more that 1 job just to make ends meet, don’t have cleaning help themselves because they can’t afford it, should stretch themselves out even more by cooking, cleaning, and bathing children for the teachers. Who is supposed to take care of their own children while they are out taking care of the teacher’s children? How will this help "pay their share"? Do they need to be penalized because they are less wealthy than others further degrading themselves?

  "Parents should take turns to valunteer and teach classrooms" Parents who are unskilled, untrained or maybe even unknowledgeable in the subject should TEACH? Every day someone new walks into the class. No sense of continuality, no developing a relationship with the teachers etc. You make it sound like all the teachers do is baby-sit.

• Bais Rivka-nik

  A couple of people have mentioned Bnos Menachem in their comments. Let me just say one thing- I think Bnos Menachem (from what I’ve heard) has an excellent reputation and with good reason. But I think that’s just the point. Bnos Menachem has the option to be elitist and picky, and they have every right to, because the chinuch of CH isn’t their responsibility. So if someone lives up to their standards of chassidishkeit, tznius, and money, they’re welcome and they benefit. But if not- goodbye. And I don’t blame BM for doing this- like I said, it’s not their responsibility.

  But this problem we’re faced with right now is a direct result (in my opinion) of Bais Rivkas unique responsibility to make sure that EVERY GIRL in Crown Heights who comes for a Jewish chinuch gets it- no matter what. And now, for whatever reason, they’re not living up to that responsibility!!! People would never blame Bnos Menachem if they kicked out someone for not paying- no one expects them to take anyone for free. But Bais Rivka has to!!!! The Rebbe said!!!! (I’m not being sarcastic, they really do have to!!! But it’s infinitely harder than the job BM is faced with.)

  And since people don’t have money, yes, BR MUST FUNDRAISE!!!!!! That, I beleive, is the core of the problem.

  One more thing- whoever is saying that people have 2/3 cars etc. and don’t pay tuition- please don’t add insult to injury. Look around you- there are r"l many families in this community who literally don’t have money for food and clothing, let alone the prohibitive $5,000 a year per child!!! These people should be helped, not pushed away, and definitely not blamed!!!!!

  Ksiva Vachasima Tova to everyone, and let’s daven that this golus should end right now!!!!

• Building Swap

  To BM parent & school swap wrote:

  You worte "Aren’t the teachers of Bnos Menachem BAIS RIVKAH GRADUATES?"
  I am sure most of them are. My point was not to bash BR, but to raise an alternative to an unproductive policy (how much $$ do you think you are going to get out the parents anyway?! My experience with educational institutions, from being on the administration side, is that no matter how much you manage to squeeze out of parents by using harsh tactics, it will only be a fraction is necessary to fix the problem).

  In my opinion, if parents start asking/demanding to look at selling the building as an alternative to squeezing the blood our of parents, the administration will come up with new initiatives to raising money other than throwing kids out of school or selling the building. I don’t believe that A.S. & Co. will allow the building, the apple of their eye, with many, many, many years of hard work and fundraising before its completion, be taken from BR because there just “wasn’t enough money to operate the school”. They will find alternative ways to balance the books.

  And yes, once again, I did choose to send my daughter to BM because I felt that it is a better alternative for MY family. I have no issues with someone that thought it better for them to send their daughter to BR as each child and family has different needs.

• Birth Control Advocate

  When the Rebbe encouraged us to have large families, he should have told us to jump out of the window if we can’t afford to send them to Yeshiva or BR – is there an alternative to this if G-d didnt bless you with lots of money?

• a parent

  I personally saw Rabbi Minkowitz carrying a case of chicken to his car from the kitchen. Was he taking it to a family that actually needed it????? What about the five summer homes he just bought..are they for families that could never afford to go to the country otherwise..and hes giving them this wonderful opportunity?
  Hearing the above about him would be wonderful..instead of hearing that he is padding up his own pockets!

• Amused

  It’s amusing & pathetic to read these remarks. Since Gimmel Tammuz, the whole world has been watching Lubavitch self destruct. Enjoy the show folks!!! The Rebbeim are all turning over in their graves because of all this. How utterly sad!!!

• to L.A. not heaven! and Cali is happeni

  ok here is my opinion in California tuition is triple the amount in crown heights thats first of all second rabbi baruch hecht who runs bais chaya mushka and bais rebbe had a meeting with all the parents in the second and third grades and told them that they don’t have enough money so they are only having one class next year and it’ll be for the first like 16 people whoever pays the most and regular tuition is 14,000 tell me thats normal i know because i live here and also to Cali is happening and to L.A. not heaven! let me tell you something: how dare you go and talk about rabbi raichiks like that it is a disgusting way of speaking number one and number two if not for rabbi raichik senior california wouldn’t be a regular place for anash and if not for them you probably wouldn’t be living here. are you a kiss up to cunin who goes and pretends like he’s the 8th lubavitcher rebbe? do you know what he does? i want to tell everyone here what he does:
  first of all he gives out one dollar bills second he comes to graduations and turns around to face the graduates and says birchas kohanim using Hashems naem is that normal? the whole crowd is rolling form laughter and he still goes on then he goes to n.y. and says a maamer every shabbos mevarchim that the night before the rebbe came to him in a dream and told him so hes givin it over
  enough said i wish you all the best and to please open your eyees and see the shluchim being kicked out of their cities just because hes jelous or he puts his kids next to them when he gets mad at them now please apologize for tlaking that way about the raichiks
  thank you

• obsorver

  wow thats pretty sharp stuff you say over there i also live here in l.a. and I’m telling you every word stated above is true