Spinoff: Lakewood schools

Emotional

Fri, Jul 04 2014, 3:00 pm

Note: This thread may NOT become another "Lakewood is horrible, pack up and move away, or at least boycott the mikvahs!" thread!

amother wrote:

There is someone who works in placement for boys. He knows all the schools and is an expert on sizing up a boy and recommending the best place (and getting the school to agree). I don't know if there is a counterpart for girls. but DH is hoping to talk to him soon and I will try to find out.

To the amother who posted the above in the other thread, can you either PM me with the name and number of the person who deals with the boys' schools, or post it here? Plans for my son are still up in the air, we're exploring different options, but it can't hurt to have another connection. Thanks.

debsey

Fri, Jul 04 2014, 3:14 pm

[quote="Emotional"]Note: This thread may NOT become another "Lakewood is horrible, pack up and move away, or at least boycott the mikvahs!" thread!

Cute that you started with this. When I saw the thread title, I thought, OK, here we go again, another "Lakewood is horrible, let's torch the place, it's awful and so frummy and EVERYONE who lives there is narrow minded and judgmental" (with no self-reflective irony of how judgmental and narrow minded THAT statement is....)
Lakewood is a geographical location, home to a major Yeshiva and revitalization of Torah learning, full of people that are both good and bad, with some narrow minded people and some people with their minds so open their brains fell out, and everything in between.
The CONCEPT of Lakewood - of an Ihr HaTorah, a Yavneh for talmidei chachamim, which is what Rav Ahron, z"l tried to create, has largely evaporated.
The CULTURE WAR between those who wish to maintain the "Yavneh" aspects, and those who move in like they would to any Jewish community, is what creates all these school acceptance and denial tensions.
The PEOPLE, however, are just people. Some wonderful people, some petty people, some narrow minded people. Some people who study mussar and let it better them. Some people who study mussar and use it to denigrate others. That's Lakewood - a mix, like every other Jewish community in the world.
debsey

debsey

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:21 pm

I find it fascinating that this topic got 268 views and no reply. It seems like if it's not a thread bashing Lakewood and telling us how awful it is, no one has any opinions. Speak with anything like sanity and balance about Lakewood, and it totally confuses people.
debsey

Happy18

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:23 pm

debsey wrote:

Or the person pmed the OP and no one else has any advice to give because they dont know who this person is.

Notsobusy

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:28 pm

debsey wrote:

[quote="Emotional The PEOPLE, however, are just people. Some wonderful people, some petty people, some narrow minded people. Some people who study mussar and let it better them. Some people who study mussar and use it to denigrate others. That's Lakewood - a mix, like every other Jewish community in the world.
debsey

I love what you wrote, especially the last part. For all the things that bother me about Lakewood, it's just like every other Jewish community, some good, some not so good. Most people are not going to be perfectly happy any place. But there is so much good about Lakewood, which is why, even with all it's problems, we are going to be staying here.
The reason why I didn't post originally is because I don't know the answer to the OP's question, and I was hoping someone would answer her and help her out.

debsey

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:31 pm

I don't know who this person is. I know there is someone in Monsey who does this. I've been involved with school placement for quite some time and never heard of a man who does this. That being said, I mostly work with a very specific type of kid who needs a school placement - not posting with more detail because I don't want to be recognized IRL. But I never heard of a man who does this.
debs

debsey

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:36 pm

Happy18 wrote:

Or the person pmed the OP and no one else has any advice to give because they dont know who this person is.

You are right. I started a spinoff thread. However, I asked a couple of contacts and this gentleman may be mythical...... sadly.
debsey

marina

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:49 pm

debsey wrote:

I don't get what I'm supposed to say. She asked for someone to message her. What am I supposed to chime in about?

kiryat sefer

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 2:14 pm

Lakewood is a yummy place. I say its not easy to live in a community where everyone is the same cause then its not easy for outsiders to fit it.

Last edited by kiryat sefer on Sun, Jul 06 2014, 2:29 pm; edited 1 time in total

debsey

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 2:58 pm

marina wrote:

I don't get what I'm supposed to say. She asked for someone to message her. What am I supposed to chime in about?

There were two parts to the posting. She wrote about how she doesn't want this to be a classic "Lakewood bashing" thread, and I responded to that aspect of her post. I also PM'd her.
debs