google ad on imamother for American Hebrew Academy

amother

Wed, Jul 16 2008, 8:02 am

Dear amothers,
I just want to warn you...I saw a google ad on my imamother this morning for the American Hebrew Academy, a "pluralistic Jewish boarding school" in North Carolina. DO NOT send you kids there, even if you are desperate! I used to work there and there are major kashrut problems (they tell you that there is O-U hashgacha, but there is NO official hashgasha and the "o-u trained mashgiach' DRIVES on Shabbat and yontif. Also, there were many times when I was there that there was NO mashgiach at all!)
They will tell you that there is an "Orthodox" rabbi on campus, but he is a phony, his family isn't shomer shobbos and his smichah is shady.
There is a very nice Chabad rabbi from Chapel Hill that tries to come once a week to give shiurim. but the administration of this so called pluralistic school is so anti-Orthodox that they make it very difficult for him to come or for kids to go to the chabad house for shabbatons.

You may be thinking, why would anyone frum send their kids there, but let me tell you, there are some Orthodox kids who are sent there (I guess out of desperation from parents who do not want their kids in public school) and while I was there I also saw plenty of frum parents (mother in a sheitel) taking tours.

I would NEVER send my own child there, especially after working there and seeing what goes on

amother

Wed, Jul 16 2008, 8:09 am

OP here-
Sorry, I just know that they are desperate to fill numbers and therefore they lie to parents of potential students.

You would think the word "pluralistic" would be enough to keep frum people away, but it's not....

Tamiri

Wed, Jul 16 2008, 8:35 am

Dear OP: I think you may be a very gentle soul who has been brought up in a sheltered environment. The fact that this school exists probably says that there is a need for it. And if any observant family considers sending their child there, it's probably because they need the child to be in a "different' kind of environment. Who is to say what type of child the woman wearing a sheital is dealing with? Perhaps it's an off-the-derech kid who needs a Jewish place but not too Jewish, if you get what I mean.
Think: who would send their child to a pluralistic boarding school in North Caroline (for goodness sakes!!!!) in the first place?
Sometimes, turning a blind eye to things that are done "wrong" in such places, is the best policy.

Starhavah

Sun, Jul 20 2008, 1:01 pm

Thank you for posting this. They have very flashy ads in the Jewish newspapers here in Chicago. Thank God, I will not need to send my daughter away for school. But I would not have known from their ads about these problems.

Tamari there are many reasons to sned your child to a pluralistic school. My daughter goes to pluralistic Orthodox school. B"H they are truly Orthodox, but many of the children who attend are not. We are one of the frummer families there, but there are far frummer families then u s attending. One of my daughter's best friends is from an Agudah family (all of her sister go to Beis Yaakov), another of her friend's is less frum then we are, but they daven by Rav Twerski. And she has classmates that come from non-frum homes. To those children she is an example of good middos and frumkiet. We like that she is exposed to a range of Jewishness but still is in a kosher enviroment. So don't judge labels.

Star Havah