“In 20 years doing this, I’ve never had so much pressure. Non stop. People are really desperate”. That is the quote a dean of a local Yeshivah told TLS, with the mounting pressure from parents unable to place their boys into schools. And this isn’t ‘just’ the hundreds of boys left without a school since their schools shut their doors due to their financial turbulence, but also the additional children who have not yet been placed in local Mosdos.
“I understand the schools administrators are overwhelmed, but what i don’t understand is why the boys schools opened before all the children are placed”, a parent tells TLS.
A local Dean writes TLS, “I am meeting with parents whose children are out of school trying desperately to get in. I am literally swamped. We have just a couple of vacancies and I am flooded, due to all the last minute school closings”.
“Vacancies” ??? Is this a motel 6 or something? Can we stop “placing” our children in “vacancies”.
I don’t blame the schools I blame the parent body in the schools who want to keep it exclusive by not letting in certain “elements” who are not like them who they look down upon.
Blame what? Who’s blaming anything?
i agree, getting into school has become such a worry in peoples lives. i know a guy whos son is not in yeshiva yet, so he doesn’t always wear a white shirt , that doesn’t mean hes not a good guy?? i have to apply to a girl school now and I’m not looking forward. I know a guy who didn’t go to work till his girl got into school right after he got in he went to work is that normal??
Does anyone know if it is a fact that Bais Hatorah is closed? Or is it still going to open and if so does anyone know when?…..Or should I home school?
#4 If is so important for him to get his kid into a school, why doesn’t he put on a white shirt?
#5 you missed the boat , the exact opposite you shouldn’t have to change to get into school and make believe you are someone when your not take everyone for who they really are!
The blue shirt and working guy thing is a total myth. Everyone knows guys with blue shirts and guys who work whose kids get into school and white shirt, learning guys who don’t get into schools.
Having said that, this situation is a travesty. There is elitism, but I’m not sure what the criteria are–white shirt, it ain’t!
#5
A white shirt makes you a frum person?
A black hat makes you a frum person?
A black jacket makes you frum?
I grew up in brooklyn. Went to yeshiva all my life. 2 yrs in israel and than continued my learning back in the states.
To support my family after I married I had to go to work. I don’t wear a white shirt, does that make me not frum.
Where did you get your hashkafa?
To me, middos weigh in more than your clothing.
How about the girls?
to #8
to me a blue shirt tells me something about your hashkafah and just like you wouldnt want certain elements in your school i may not want other elements in mine
why is that so hard to understand
ps why cant someone open a school for all the blueshirters there seems to be enough of them around answer: bec the blue shirts dont want to be with the other blue shirts
Since when does the color of your shirt decide what kind of person u are I know many white shirt people that you wouldn’t want so stop this nonsense
I am disgusted by attitudes like the one “white shirt” has.
How could you divide brothers by the color of their shirts?
Total stupidity color of shirt? sounds like some elementary kids. i hope you white shirts out there know by now that the real criteria is torah and yiras shomaim…period. if someone davens with kavana and doesnt speak loshon hora is what counts it has nothing whatsoever to do with colored shirt..at least by Hashem it doesnt. because if not it would be a piece of cake to get in to olom haba just put on a white shirt, guess what it aint that way… maybe amongst elementary schooll kids, but not coming from real yeshivaleit???
signed a white shirter
as per mr white shirts comment above my previous post is to you..
and btw people that are tzvuim come in all colored shirts white or blue..
First of all, as to what people wear, it depends on the type of work one does, I suppose. If you’re not working at a desk job or your work gets you dirty, why must you wear a white shirt? My husband wears work clothes for work, but, for davening he always wears a jacket and hat. I do see some men wearing really sporty non jewish outfits for recreation, like shorts and T shirts and I personally do not think too highly of that mode of dress, my own sons (high school age) wouldn’t dress that way. Clothes do reflect who you are and the way one dresses shows if a person respects himself as a tzelem Elokim . But, I hardly think the shirt color is what makes one a mentsh or not.
But, there were two schools that suddenly announced they were closing and all those children thought they had a school to go to. Somehow they must be accommodated.
to #10
to me your stupid comment tells me something about your hashkafa..totally warped..and about not wanting certain elements in our childrens schools, many dont want someone like you in their sons school – serfing the net all day in your white shirt..now either get offline or pipe down and start straightening your hashkafa, learn sifrei mussar and see what yiras shomaim is about its about what you do ..think.. and act not what you wear
to #10
to me your comment tells me something about your hashkafa..totally warped.., when one truly learns sifrei mussar he will see what yiras shomaim is about.. its about what you do ..think.. and act.. not what you wear
Dear Yidden, I believe we have reached the end of an era. An end of a time where ones owns heshtadlus was placed on the shoulders of others. Parents, in-laws or the well-to-do cannot hold out forever. It was going to dry up sooner or later. Each person should have the foresight and honesty to look into themselves this R’H and ask, Has the time come to “Samach Zevulin B’tzeisecha?” Maybe if you took the step Hashem will bench you and you could support 5 additional familes.
ased on the color of the shirt you wear, you will be accepted, or not accepted into a school?
Is it like wearing a Uniform? WHAT IS WRONG WITH A BLUE SHIRT?
so blue shirts support all white shirts yeshivas and white shirts dont want to help or care for blue shirt yeshivas.
next black hat wants no hat to give big bucks so black hat could keep on building black hat yeshivas.
blue shirt supports white shirts and black hats bikurr cholim, hatzalah, kollelim, boney olam funds, rccs appeals and the least goes on.
but white shirt and black hat tells blue shirt your kids- That’s your problem!!
Sounds to me like some very sick minds!
yeh we want blue shirts to support our sons in kollel and marry only starched blue shirts and blue Boss suits so white shirts can have new black hats and many white shirts.
I guess you get the story by now!
I wear a blue shirt and I got my son into a yeshiva no problem. There are a number of yeshivas that are fine with blue shirts. I think the issue MIGHT come about when someone who is part of the blue shirt “mold” (I’m not limiting it just to the shirt) tries to get into a yeshiva where he wouldn’t fit into the parent body.
The same way you wouldn’t get insulted if you applied to a Satmar Cheder in Williamsburg, you shouldn’t get insulted when the cheder rejects you here.
obviously my above comments # 17 and # 18 were meant to adress # 11 (not # 10)
(you thought you were off the hook there huh #11)
of course we know all the raid chitzoniyos reflects pnimiyos blah blah blah, but honestlky that has to do with maybe shorts versus long pants.. but color! please
To all the outsiders who are wonderring what we arre talking about I’d like to explain when in Rome do as the Romans do. if in a town as Lakewood the dress code is white, if someone comes along and wears a pink shirt, he is makinga statement I don’t wanna be aparrt of the yeshiva world. can a person be yiras shomayim and wearr a blue shirt? of courrse, but to the people arround him it seems as if he is rebelling against society and the yeshivas have to consider is it only the shirt or are there other things we have to be concerned about . this is not to say that all white shirts are tzadikim either, rather it awakes a lightbulb (is this person rebelling and why?)
Eikvisa, #19, I like that. The times are definitely changing. Which way will they go is the question.
Wow I see I really struck a cord with the blue shirters
So tell me 1) is it ok if I want to come to your school and I where shorts and sandals to davening (I daven with a lot of kavanah and I’m very ehrlich )
2) If it really doesn’t make a difference in the color of your shirt then why can’t you just where a white one what is the statement of the colored shirt (other than I’m not a Yeshiva guy)
3) No one is yet to answer my question how come nobody opens a school for the blue shirters where they can go and be happy with there choices in life (unless the answer I gave before is the true answer that every blue shirter thinks that he himself is the frumest but happens to where a blue shirt. The next guy he where’s a blue shirt he must be a goy well guess what the next guy is thinking the same thing about you.
Why are we only discussing the boys schools when there is an issue of girls not having a school as well? A friend of mine just moved to Lakewood and has been working on trying to get his girls into schools since January with little success. Why are we allowing the schools to open when our children still aren’t placed yet?
So please explain the difference between a dean and an administrator. Why was it so important to change his title?
#25 WHICH WAY WILL THEY GO YOU ASK?
with this attitude between people in klal yisroel they are going straight down, there is no way someone -with this kind of attitude-can be successful in any of lifes work. be it business, friendship or family etc… NOW-BEFORE ROSH HASHANA-is the time for each person to change his ENTIRE attitude in life between each other & bring achdus back to klal yisroel.
18 months after Rubashkin was arrested, Rubashkin told someone who came to visit him. Maybe this is why i am here (in prison) klal yisroel has not gotten together as ONE nation, & in order for Mashiach to come Everyone needs to be one. (no matter what level of yiddishkeit each person is on) & if you know Rubashkin Personally, you can see why Hashem picked him to be the Shliach for klal yisroel. Rubashkin is a person of faith & trust in Hashem, with Boruch Hashem his Big Family & many other big issues besides the case he’s in now he is a person on a very high level of Bitachon & emunah in hashem.
To mr choccom
I guess you should go back to look in the mussar sefarim because you would see that it does make a difference in ones appearance along with his hashkafah so don’t start the “mussar ” word around
Ps I need to have internet for work I wonder if you have as much shemirah on your internet as I do on mine so hold the lip and besides if there was a school in town that wouldn’t want its parent body to have internet what so ever would I complain that I want to go to that school ? No that’s the rule of that school so I go and find a school that allows with an ishur and I’m happy do I hold it against other schools ? No there school there rule.
How come its the guy with the white shirt that is the most tolerant. Of the other ones I don’t mind if you have a school that has its own set of rules so why can’t you stand my school with my rules ?
Thanks for the explanation #24. I think everyone is missing the boat altogether. The lack of slots (is that better, Moishe of #1?) has nothing to do with shirt colors. It means simply that there are more children that need schools than there are facilities to accommodate them. We need more askanim to open up more schools. …and for those who would do away with those, step right up, roll up your sleeves and get involved yourselves instead of criticizing.
to #30 white shirt
you work! terrible! that is worse then wearing a blue shirt!
How did your friend move from NY without first making sure he has a school for his girls ? Everybody knows that there is a shortage pf school space in Lakewood even for long time Lakewooders .
“Or should I home school?”
home school is good, Do you all work
All Day,
You might feel like a Hypocrite, but for the sake of your kids put on a white shirt until they get into school. And while this article is putting a lot of focus on the color of our shirts. I know for a fact that the way the mother dresses is much more a deciding factor. The deans wife will size up the mother in 30 seconds. She will look that the shaital is tzniusdig, clothing not to tight, skirts at least 4″ below the knees, and No slinky long floor mopping skirts, probably not a good idea to where sun glasses specially not as a sheital head band. And again you don’t have to feel like a hypocrite you are doing it for the sake of your kids. And once all your munchkins are safe in school, you can go back to your old ways. (Perhaps you shouldn’t )
And I know a perfectly normal lady who’s husband learns and went to work and still gives a shiur. They had a hard time so he changed to white shirts and she borrowed sheital and clothing from a full time kollel mom. The trick worked!!!
BTW he kept the white shirt, and she did tznius up a bit, and there kids are IN the hardest boys and girls schools to get into.
I think it totally wrong and stupid but you gota do what you gotta do.
Oy, anyone who is wondering why Moshiach has not arrived yet… just read this thread.
Not accepting a child bc of shirt color is called discrimination. Yidden were discriminated against for 2000 years…6M were killed in WW2..we finally are in a Medina shel Chessed which specifically prohibits discrimination and what do we have …..I don’t blame the Yeshivos at all. I refer back to number 2 above…it’s us the parents who are to blame. I work with people who are “Modern Orthodox” and trust me…several of them will have a better chailek in Oilam Haboh than many of us white shirt people.
Want to know why we R”L have so many (moderated) on the street? BC they look at us and see a lot of Sheker! Most of us are too young to experience the teenage drama which is a major epidemic in our town…just wait and see when your kids get older…you will have a much different perspective.
what is all the confusion?
blue shirts and white shirts have nothing to do with frumkiet. no one ever said it does. its a dress code. if you go against it your making a statement . like wearing a mets cap at a yankee game.
lakewood was built on many principles , some i agree with some i do not . but as long as i liver here i accept to act as within the principles as much as possible . putting on a blue shirt in lakewood is a sign that one is revolting against what people here hold dear . by putting on a blue shirt you are screaming at the yeshiva olim that you do not agree or value with what they stand for and are different. so you are seperating yourself. not them.
no one said that if your in some farm in texas and have an urge to wear a blue shirt that anything is wrong. there is nothing wrong in lakewood either. just in lakewood it is a screaming statement.
switching from a blue shirt to a white shirt is not hipocricy at all. it means that you have enough brains in your head to accept that as long as you will live in lakewood you will not act in a way that the locals will think that you are screaming you are not part of them.
wearing a blue shirt in dallas or detroit or denver is not the same as in lakewood,
in yeshiva they would say it is a siman not a sibah.
now tzinus is something else…….
A “self-imposed’ uniform that has reached the point of being important on the level of halacha (and is used to judge others) is obscene.
Halacha mandates tzniut and ahavat Yisrael. You can be tzniut in any color, and judging others by shirt color rather than their actions shows no ahavat Yisrael.
Those who spout “when in Rome…” please recall that Rome was destroyed. Frumkeit remains. Hillel and Shamai disagreed on everything, yet respected each other and the opinions of both are studied (and followed) to this day.
Within the world of Frumkeit, being different isn’t a problem, condemning those who are different is.
To all those who agree with the “When in Rome” theory, do you dress in appropriately when going to the park, visiting a different neighborhood, etc.?
Hitler didn’t differentiate between white shirt/blue shirt, kippah srugah/black hat etc. We are all Jews. If we accepted the “blue shirts” into our circles a little more, maybe then we could avoid another churbon.
To “The Rat”-
The rat takes the cheese! Well done! Perfectly said!
Do you want to open a school? I’ll send there.
P.S. You sound sefardi, I like that! They are soooo normal!
@41
Thank you for the complement.
My wife has always threatened to open a special needs yeshiva – she’s the one with substantial educational experience and state qualifications.
Me, no, I’m not Sephardic, just MO Ashkenazic brought up in day school environments speaking modern Hebrew.
don’t judge a shirt by it’s color
Ah! How to live one’s live.
Perkai Avot, Mishei, TalmuD, Rashi.
There are many guides and paths we can take.
But it really only
comes down to blue or white.