Rechnitz speech brought something ignored to the surface

shoshanim999

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:48 pm

amother wrote:

Not only that, but this was done at an event which was supposed to be honoring the founder and supporter of 7 prominent schools in Lakewood .
Talk about knowing ones place and middos... He totally was mivazeh the administrations of all of these schools at an event that was supposedd to be michazeik them!

All I hear from ppl that attended, my dh included, is how they feel angered at what happened! They went out in treterous and dangerous driving conditions to show hakaras ha tov to someone who set up schools that are educating our children and instead they went to see these same mosdis be slammed, at their own event!! It takes nerve and selfishness to do this. Everything has a time and place... But this was way out of line!!!

Maybe they deserved to be called out? Maybe they need to be told that their behavior is shameful? Maybe they need to have someone put them in their place and not get up there and talk about how everything is great when its not.

amother

Chocolate

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:52 pm

[quote="solo"]I can't speak for the school leaders in Lakewood...I don't follow politics closely... but this sure got my attention. The seeming hypocrisy between the content of his speech, and the manner in which it was presented, started me thinking... And I wondered if if anyone else found it ironic[/quote]

what exactly was the problem how he presented his speach. now you are probably one of those founders. so you have no problem of where to send your kids. you are probably the one causing all this pain to others!

amother

Azure

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:56 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

Perhaps your dh and everyone in his circle never learned
A big yesod in life
You take money from someone , how much more so. If its enormous sums of $
YOU ARE THEY'RE ....IT RHYMES WITH RICH...
Take it like a man...

Trust me , if I could afford it I would put up that money and send him and his condescending attitude back to where he came from .

tigerwife

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:56 pm

sky wrote:

I was thinking it would be nice instead of giving 1.5 million to the existing schools - use that money to open a community school that doesn't turn anyone away, no matter what. And follow with a high school.

I thought the same. Maybe even more than one.

I can't really comment on the speech, since I haven't yet found the time to listen to it, but my friends who did and have school-aged kids thought it was right on target and long in coming.

You can call chutzpah all you want but at the end of the day it does not answer the issues he raised.

solo

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:56 pm

Sourstix my husband wasn't upset. He was busy with other things. Which is why I came looking for conversation on imamother:)
But I never said he was upset. I think u missed my original post, or confused me with someone else. So I copied what I wrote 10 posts up, and pasted it for u here. It seemed so obvious to me, I wondered why with all the chatter no one else had said this.

solo wrote:

So mr rechnitz made a speech and addressed a huge problem occurring in Lakewood. and the problem is occurring because of a new set of Ani ma'amin aka middos.
Are there any middos that dictate decency in conflict resolution? Before publicly criticizing an entire community would it not be common decency to address these issues privately? Perhaps a few goal oriented meetings, or a focus group dedicated to this mater could bring about some change.
Instead he publicly called everyone out, and left them with no concrete plans for resolving the issues.
To me airing your grievances in public with out providing any direction or initiative seems misguided at best.

naturalmom5

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:59 pm

Forget about what he said. It's hard to have everything you say come out perfect. Here is what I like about him.

1. He cares. It is clear from his speech that he cares about people. He says (I paraphrase) he will take every single call, every kid is important and he won't stop helping.

2. He is not scared to say it in front of the RY of Lakewood. It takes a considerable chutzpah to bash Lakewood in front of the RY's of Lakewood. Right, wrong, other, he has the guts to do it.

3. Leadership. He feels responsible for people. He doesn't say Shalom alay nafshi, like almost everyone else. He doesn't say, the problem is so big nebach, he stands up, deals with it, has guts, says it berabim befnei am vaedeh. This my friends is a leader. I wish a RY would have made this speech not SYR, but this man is a leader, and those who haven't made this speech, either don't believe it is a problem, or don't have the leadership qualities he does.

4. He did it in a bakovodik way. He spoke politely. He spoke well. He didn't scream at anyone. He made his point sprinkled with maamarei chazal. He did it with tact. He prepared well for the speech, and he also spoke well.

5. He cares for the poor/neglected. Unlike others, he shows interest in helping the weakest in our community. Not the name brands, the no frills.
This is obviously a man with good intentions. It's real easy to stick up for the rich and powerful, and dance with the happy people at weddings. How about the poor, the hurting, the ones who are crying on their pillow ?? Who is there for them ???? Well I know who it's not !!!!!!! It's not those who never spoke up for them for fear of insulting the egos of the rich !!!!!!! Now I know SYR at least wants to be there for them.

Last edited by naturalmom5 on Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:00 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Azure

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 7:59 pm

shoshanim999 wrote:

At an event where hundreds if not thousands of fathers came out to show their respect to their child(RENs) schools founder, not to kiss ----a$$...

Make your own gathering, let everyone know what you will speak about, there will be plenty of a crowd. But dont take advantage of the unsuspecting ... Really makes me mad!!!!

sourstix

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:02 pm

[quote="solo"]So mr rechnitz made a speech and addressed a huge problem occurring in Lakewood. and the problem is occurring because of a new set of Ani ma'amin aka middos.
Are there any middos that dictate decency in conflict resolution? Before publicly criticizing an entire community would it not be common decency to address these issues privately? Perhaps a few goal oriented meetings, or a focus group dedicated to this mater could bring about some change.
Instead he publicly called everyone out, and left them with no concrete plans for resolving the issues.
To me airing your grievances in public with out providing any direction or initiative seems misguided at best.[/quote]

if you listen carefully to his speach after you calm down and not so angry, you will realize that its probably not the first time he tried getting this problem resolved. I doubt this was his first attempt.

he sees he cant get anywhere so he did this publicly. thats my take on this.

and think about this before you answer. he is a community activist. he does a lot to help pp. so I am sure he has tried.

it doesnt even matter if he already tried. this problem is gotta go away! all these rabbonim and askonim and meyasdos are guilty of spilling jewish blood!

and all the pp calling into yeshivas that they will pull their kids out of school bec so and so is accepted is despicable. such a person should be in cherem. should be ashamed of themselves!

I am embarrassed to be part of a community that does this! where have we gone? who wants to take achrayus for this? you dont see the problem? you only see that he was "meorer" the klal?

and what other inittiative does he have to do? he is asking them to stop! thats all. its that simple.

I think you are too upset to see what he actually said. and by the way the supporters of the school will be supporters. who is the supporter if not him? he gives large amounts!

I am proud that someone has the galls to finally call out rabbonim on this. our rabbonim are weak pp and they know this. all of us do.

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:07 pm

amother wrote:

Much like the school leaders of Lakewood...

Please, we don't want to get this thread closed.
I don't know what's gone on behind the scenes. Apparently he's had a lot of dealings with different mosdos in the city to help kids get into schools. I'm sure he's given enough people his 2 cents worth already and can't believe this wasn't very well-thought out.

sourstix

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:10 pm

[quote="amother"]At an event where hundreds if not thousands of fathers came out to show their respect to their child(RENs) schools founder, not to kiss ----a$$...

[b]But dont take advantage of the unsuspecting[/b] ...

well this should not have been unsuspecting. they are spilling jewish blood and they didnt know this? sure they did! they should be embarrassed of themselves to even do what they are doing.

it was the best time. oh btw if he will prepare a mussar shmooz like this specifically your dh wont go and you know why? bec if he was hurt now, he wouldnt go then specifically for this.

dont even try to convince me with rationalizations. you know and everyone sitting there knows how bad they are acting.

boy am I happy that he said this speach. halevai what he said should be really understood.

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:11 pm

amother wrote:

what exactly was the problem how he presented his speach. now you are probably one of those founders. so you have no problem of where to send your kids. you are probably the one causing all this pain to others!

I think that accusing people who disagree with your views of these terrible practices was one of the things that got another thread closed. Please check this out: http://dictionary.reference.co.....minem
Try to make your points cogently, and avoid the above.

Notsobusy

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:14 pm

amother wrote:

Not only that, but this was done at an event which was supposed to be honoring the founder and supporter of 7 prominent schools in Lakewood .
Talk about knowing ones place and middos... He totally was mivazeh the administrations of all of these schools at an event that was supposedd to be michazeik them!!!

All I hear from ppl that attended, my dh included, is how they feel angered at what happened! They went out in treterous and dangerous driving conditions to show hakaras ha tov to someone who set up schools that are educating our children and instead they went to see these same mosdis be slammed, at their own event!! It takes nerve and selfishness to do this. Everything has a time and place... But this was way out of line!!!

Rabbi Kanarek is known as the one school head who accepts people in his schools, even if they don't belong there. I know more than one girl who is in Bais Shaindel who really doesn't belong there. Not because Rabbi Kanarek doesn't think they're good enough, and not because the parents were holding out for a better school, but because Bais Shaindel is a very yeshivish school and these are just not very yeshivish people. Good people, but not very yeshivish. They did not get into other schools, and even though they didn't apply there, and they really don't belong there, he accepted them.

This goes on in all of his schools. I think this exactly why Rechnitz made this speech at a dinner honoring Rabbi Kanarek. Because he was not talking about Rabbi Kanarek. And no, I do not have children in any of his schools. But I do have the utmost respect for him, more than for the heads of the schools I send to, unfortunately.

Last edited by Notsobusy on Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:15 pm; edited 1 time in total

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:14 pm

wrote:

5. He cares for the poor/neglected. Unlike others, he shows interest in helping the weakest in our community. Not the .

I cannot tell you how much I feel your genuine pain. But if you name names like this the thread will get locked. I hope the moderators opt to clean up the thread vs. locking it.

Last edited by PinkFridge on Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:16 pm

amother wrote:

Isnt that what the cheder and bais faiga started off as? They dont necassarily except every one now

Cheder and Bais Faiga were someof the the only schools and I believe they primarily served the yeshiva crowd at the time (it was very small).

Betzalel was co-ed and for members of sons of Israel and for famililes who wouldn't otherwise send to Jewish school (Rabbi Levovitz was a tzaddik and got many to send, and didn't charge).

Back in the day for the boys there was Satmar (primarily for chassidish), YTT and the Cheder. One class for each. My DH said you knew everyone in every school at that time.

I think there was only one other girl's school other than bais faiga, but I could be wrong.

They didn't have too many applicants to turn around when they started (how many kids were actually in Lakewood) and if you would see pictures of the classrooms my DH learned in (like unfinished basements with exposed pipes and wires) I can't imagine too many people would want to send.

Bais Faiga has 11 parallel classes I don't think they are looking to add more classes now. They are mainly taking siblings and some alumni and not too much else. There isn't even a chance to be disqualified based on anything. If you don't fit the 2 first buckets you have a slim chance of getting in.

Notsobusy

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:27 pm

solo wrote:

So mr rechnitz has been discussing these issues privately, with members of the yeshivos and community, for years, and only cared to publicly share criticism and frustration, and none of the small improvements that have occurred? In all those years were none of the community members, gedolei hayeshiva, or this great business man able to come up with any concrete ideas for moving forward to improve the situation. If that is the case it might be time for him to use his resources to bring in outside help.
I can't know what goes on behind closed doors. But I do know what he shared publicly. And the content of his speech included criticizing an entire community and it yeshivos, without any indication of even small advancements. To me that does not speak of a man with great people skills aka middos of bein Adam l' chavero

Do you see small improvements, I don't. What are those small improvements you're referring to?

As far as criticizing an entire community, I don't feel criticized. Because I don't try to get into the most elite schools, I don't call schools to ask that other families be ostracized, and I have called schools to try to help people get their kids into school. If anyone feels criticized, maybe it's because they deserve it.

Instead of seeing a man with no Bein Adam L'Chavero, I see a man who cares so much about other people that he got up and said this speech. He is so pained that he felt he had no choice. And honestly, nobody is listening to the little guys, they will only listen to someone like him. So thank you to R' Rechnitz for giving a voice to all the "little guys" in this town.

Last edited by Notsobusy on Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:30 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Plum

Wed, Jan 27 2016, 8:28 pm

amother wrote:

Not only that, but this was done at an event which was supposed to be honoring the founder and supporter of 7 prominent schools in Lakewood .
Talk about knowing ones place and middos... He totally was mivazeh the administrations of all of these schools at an event that was supposedd to be michazeik them!!!

All I hear from ppl that attended, my dh included, is how they feel angered at what happened! They went out in treterous and dangerous driving conditions to show hakaras ha tov to someone who set up schools that are educating our children and instead they went to see these same mosdis be slammed, at their own event!! It takes nerve and selfishness to do this. Everything has a time and place... But this was way out of line!!!

Since you show so much anger and rage over his speech it just shows he was talking to people like you.The truth hurts.