Posted to Op-Ed on
by Rochele Vorst - Charlotte, NC

Like all Mosdos, our small day school is struggling. Many more of our students require financial assistance, and the donations that in the past were difficult to procure have now become next to impossible. I’m sure you are familiar with what I am talking about.

Op-Ed: Please Think Before you Spam!

by Rochele Vorst – Charlotte, NC

Like all Mosdos, our small day school is struggling. Many more of our students require financial assistance, and the donations that in the past were difficult to procure have now become next to impossible. I’m sure you are familiar with what I am talking about.

But, unlike many mosdos, we are not just struggling financially. We are the only Jewish school in a city that simply doesn’t value Jewish education. Most parents prefer to move to good neighborhoods and send to a decent public school, so they can save money on tuition. Jewish values pale in comparison to the dollar sign. If a parent does want to send to a private school, they prefer to choose one of the fancy, brand name, schools that offer ballet or have a dozen sports teams.

When we found out about the Kohl’s contest we realized that we had an amazing opportunity. It was not just the prospect of winning the money that enticed us, though it would definitely benefit our school, and especially our program for students with special needs, but also the reputation that it would bring to our school. Imagine, our tiny Jewish school winning a national contest, in which thousands of public and private schools had participated in. People would start to take more notice of us. “Who is the Charlotte Jewish Day School?” “What kind of education do they provide?” “Why have they garnered so much support?” Then, our academic excellence, and unique approach with our students would get a chance to speak for themselves.

Our parents would proudly tell their friends, “My child goes to the Day School – you know the one who won that contest.” No more shame about attending a school that is attached to the JCC, or that doesn’t have a ballet program, or debate team.

So what’s going wrong? No, it’s not that we dropped to ninth place, we were very aware from the beginning that we may not stand a chance. It’s the aggressiveness of our sister mosdos to our carefully cultivated voters that is upsetting and damaging our reputation, as it currently stands. When a non-Jewish woman, who was kind enough to vote for us, gets messaged by several different people from the same school, only seconds after voting, with a, “I see you like Jewish schools.” comment she is turned off, and annoyed. When supporters of a non-Jewish School, elsewhere in the Carolinas, were supportive enough to vote for a fellow-Carolinian school, they didn’t appreciate receiving spam messages suggesting they vote for a host of other Jewish schools, all of which are way ahead of them on the leaderboard.

Yes, funny as it sounds, this is the South, things are different here! Please think before you reach out to other school’s voters. Be polite, check the name of the person, and maybe check with the school if it’s ok to spam their voters! Whether we win or lose is not the issue, it’s the Kiddush or the Chilull Hashem that is being made in the process.

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35 Comments

  • cocoaman

    I agree.i also think that the mosdos in ch have so many programs and the chabd house schools rely solely on tuition and donors NO PROGRAMS. the ch schools like br and ly shud not be so greedy. charlotte,u got 5 votes for me.thanks for playing fair.i just wish kiddush hashen wud be more importnat to some schools than $$$$.

  • Mendel

    I could not agree more. I voted for my childhood school and then saw two request in facebook inbox to vote for two other schools. none of those people I knew. I was upset

  • someone that pays full

    well if the ppl in crown heights would actually pay tuition then we wouldnt need to be in this race.

  • ly teacher

    maybe its time for these school to send everyone a list of who pays what in tuition
    and then such articles wont need to be written

  • Rivkah Goldstien

    I am really tired of being asked to vote for this school or that school! honestly facebook is so horrible it’s a goyish thing!

    I’d love for people to STOP sending me facebook requests.

  • a cousin!

    Rochele great article!! so true!
    oh and vote for charlotte jewish day school! :)

  • on the other side

    I just want to say to all those people who are saying they are sooo annoyed from the constant messages and wall posts that are taking over their page (im talking about the frum/lubavitch.. people not the ones mentioned in the letter above) You have a chance to help a school win $500,000 with a just a few clicks and a couple of minutes of your time that’s all! No monetary donations, nothing else! That money is going to be a huge help to whichever schools manage to win and its not that hard to delete a message, not open it all or hide whoever is posting voting statuses. Are you really that lazy??? So please stop complaining that your whole facebook is being taken over, put in a little effort and help a chabad school win!

  • I could not have said it better.

    I did not vote for the spammers. That was a huge turn off for me. My last five votes are going to Charlotte. BHatzlocho!

  • friend

    beautiful article
    yes we have to choose who to vote for, we cant put down the other mosdos who are having a hard time, yes some parents dont pay full tuition and i hope its brcause they cant not because they want to on on a vacation.
    rivkah goldstein if you think facebook is so bad dont go on, but I think that tis a wonderful way of communicating and in this case to give tzedoka, as the rebbe said that we should use t.v etc to tell the world about moshiach

  • Boruch W

    I love how people say they have no time to be bothered by these petty campaigners, and then they write lengthy comments that take longer than the time of the 20 voting clicks on the mouse to vote. One guy even wrote a lengthy article about how he has no time to vote, and is bothered by their rudeness of not sending them 20 questions about how his family is doing before the monumental pitch. After mayah v’esrim, I believe, they will first ask how committed you were to lend a hand, before they ask the Dollars and cents figure that you donated over your lifetime. Think about it.

  • Josh

    Well Money talks and religion walks….

    Funny how your brought up in a Lubavitcher school were for 20 years they are yelling at you that you shouldn’t even have internet at home and so on…They kicked people out of school who had Facebook and my space..’

    All of a sudden there is a few dollars in the game everything they preached for goes down the drain.

    And they are making everyone sign up for face book and so on.

    Dont get me wrong am so for it……Just find it really weird and kind of feel everything they preached to your kids is just hot air.

  • Prou parent of LY and Beth Rivkah

    Thats a chilul H’ to say that the schools in ch dont nee help. I live out of crown heights and send my kids to BLRL and LY) because we are true Lubavitchers and know people who had to put kids in public schools here because the husband lost the job. My husband lost the job and my kids are still in yeshivah. H’ should give us that we will be able to support those school in the near future!!!!
    And by the way, facebook is goyish. It is just a matter of for what you use it. But you dont need to go in there to see, just walk on the streets in CH. A shame!!!!

  • parent

    The article makes a lot of sense and should be respected. However, people here are not bad or mean on not sensitive. It is just the burden of tuition and other expenses that make them that way
    Please, do not say that there are programs in ch schools. This is really going to make many parents very very angry. If there are all these “programs’ why are the schools asking for crazy tuition? Also the other parents out of town do not have six kids in school and are paying full tuition. With six kids in school what can I do? I pay tuition and do not have money for anything else.
    also we take people from all over into our community and then they can not pay tuition and that is ok because we want to make them ”frum” so we end up paying even more tuition.

  • Laughing!

    Stolen from a friend of mines Facebook account:
    Dear well meaning, persistent, charitable soon to be former friends…

    I am only allowed to vote for 4 schools (which I did, the first time I was asked!) and no, I am not going to add another voice to the kohlcares insanity army…

    And while I am at it let me save you some time before you pursue your new career fully…
    NO I do not need cheap prescription meds

    NO I am not looking to make millions from home

    NO I am not looking to meet singles in my area

    NO i am not looking for the cure for Male pattern Baldness

    and finally, NO I am not planning on collecting the $42 trillion that my rich great uncle in Cambodia left me
    Thank you and I really hope you do will the half a million dollars…. it’ll help you buy some friends back…

    Thank you,
    A ticked off (and normally chartable) friend (for now)

  • ch

    The spamming is wrong, BUT the CH schools are also desperate, yes DESPERATE for funds. Programs???? So you know how much money it takes to run a school, the ch schools can’t afford to pay teachers, and not what they need to pay to keep and attract many great teachers. Thank
    G-d many families in CH have many children, many work very hard but are not making enough money. So they pay quite low tuitions. Compared to tuitions in other places, what most ppl are paying here is quite low. and no, they don’t just get it elsewhere. The schools do their best to balance. There are some programs, but beyond headstart, there is not much impact on the financial situation of the school. OUR children matter just as much as any holy jewish children. There are rules for tzedaka, and one of them is to help your own city first.

    So, parents, all parents, before you do anything else, think about what you are doing for your OWN children’s education (no matter where you live) that is your first obligation.

  • How I know that you made this up

    Kohls does not allow you to click on anyone that voted or commented name to contact them.

    This sounds like a self promotion article.

  • get over it

    wow! great idea you got your advertisement ! and just like you there are jewish schools trying to do the same thing and if sending someone a 2 line message on facebook asking them to click a few more times is what it will take then get over it. its a competition dont be a sore looser!

  • Nosher

    I couldn’t agree more with the writer of this article. I literally held myself back from reporting those instant spammers. It makes you feel violated. I do what I want with my votes. People in the community where I live (out of CH) were very upset that immediately they get spammed by cheder menachem and Beth Rivka.

  • Asher

    I was called by a representative of this school and asked to vote for a CHRISTIAN school because they have a voters exchange program where the christians will have to return 5 votes to them.
    Besides for the problem of supporting Avodah Zarah, it also pushes CHABAD schools out of the top 20.
    How annoying is that?

  • to 22

    whether or not u can click directly doesnt stop people searching for a name they see that voted and messaging them.
    I am fed-up of being spammed by Beth Rivka

  • To 22

    How I know you’re stupid:

    To spam you just copy the name and search for them (and if there are a few you just match the picture) And btw, now you can click on the names.

  • TO THE AUTHOR OF THIS OP ED

    I HAVE ONLY ONE QUESTION FOR U – BUT ANSWER THIS HONESTLY – AND ASK UR SPOUSE AND CHILDREN THE SAME QUESTION

    “HAVE YOU EVER ”SPAMMED“ SOMEONE WHO VOTED FOR ANOTHER SCHOOL????”

    I KNOW THE ANSWER.

  • YANKLE

    what ppl are forgetting is that this author is talking abt the neggative affects of emailing not frum ppl – BUT FOR U FRUM PPL TO BE ANNOYED – NOW THAT IS WHAT TURNS ME OFF!!!
    I’m so shocked to hear how so called “frum” ppl get annoyed at ppl asking them to help them get this money for jewish education….really? ur annoyed that ur being asked to help???? GROW UP!!!!

  • TO ROCHELE VORST:

    I have been “spammed” by 2 ppl asking me to vote for Charlotte. No, they did not have your last name, but they did have the last name of the other shliach working there.
    Before you go posting this article around…in hopes i guess to get your “sympathy vots” please check your facts. If you spam – dont be bothered if other ppl spam you.

  • Chaim Tzvi

    HA… A bunch of people who have jealousy issues… Never heard of delete???? I get spammed from the Prince of Nigeria once a day… I delete or send to spam!

    What would it hurt if another Mosed get’s 500G as well… This article is shocking to say the least. And agreeing with this is even more shocking! You can either delete the message, or use up your remaining 15 votes helping another Mosed. Stop being so petty.

    People all around the country, non-Jews I may add, have voted for Jewish causes in this race without blinking an eye. All this moaning and jealousy is really horrid.

    Don’t like the message, delete it! Don’t like spam to your personal name, don’t use your personal information, or don’t use FB period!

  • To 27

    You’re wrong. Cheder Menachem has a computer program that sends it off automatically. It is logged into different fb accounts so that no one account gets flagged and it just sends out automatic messages to anyone that votes for the other frum schools.