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Yeshiva Week - HELP!
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Do you like "Yeshiva Week"?
Love It  
 25%  [ 9 ]
I manage  
 22%  [ 8 ]
It's awful  
 33%  [ 12 ]
My kids have off between x-mas and New Year's  
 19%  [ 7 ]
Total Votes : 36



lcraighten




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 2:40 pm
Ummmm...who decided that giving off a random week in January is a good idea???

I'm working and so is my husband, what am I supposed to do with my kids! Ideas anyone? How do you deal?

Why don't they have off between x-mas and New Year's just like the rest of the world? Universities are off, work is usually off (at least the day of).
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self-actualization




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 2:55 pm
You'll learn to love it too.

Many yeshivas include the Monday of Martin Luther King day. So if you can take 1 day off (Tues), you can do a really nice 3 day/2 night trip to the Poconos - Great Wolf Lodge/Camelback/Fernwood Treetop etc.

Once you move along in life you will want to take off more days and go somewhere farther ... you can get pretty inexpensive tickets to Florida or to visit family. You just need to plan in advance. It's nice to build memories with your kids.
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loveit




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 3:33 pm
I think it’s great, the kids need a small break. I get that it’s hard for working parents however, school is not daycare. There are so many advantages to Yeshiva week over the Xmas/NY break. My kids get the Xmas/ny break and I think it’s terrible. While I’m happy for my kids to get a break it’s such a hard time to do anything with them: the whole word is on vacation so EVERYWHERE is crowded, everything is more expensive (flights, attractions, hotels) and there is awful Xmas decorations, music etc all over.

Yeshiva break is much more desirable because it’s off season so anything you want to do with your kids will be empty and cheaper!! I wish my kids school would move to the standard yeshiva break calendar. With no break in January, it’s a looong stretch from January 2nd to pesach.
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SixOfWands




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 3:54 pm
loveit wrote:
I think it’s great, the kids need a small break. I get that it’s hard for working parents however, school is not daycare. There are so many advantages to Yeshiva week over the Xmas/NY break. My kids get the Xmas/ny break and I think it’s terrible. While I’m happy for my kids to get a break it’s such a hard time to do anything with them: the whole word is on vacation so EVERYWHERE is crowded, everything is more expensive (flights, attractions, hotels) and there is awful Xmas decorations, music etc all over.

Yeshiva break is much more desirable because it’s off season so anything you want to do with your kids will be empty and cheaper!! I wish my kids school would move to the standard yeshiva break calendar. With no break in January, it’s a looong stretch from January 2nd to pesach.


You have to laugh at the stereotypical Jewish "but its cheaper Yeshiva week."

Virtually every city offers vacation programs for working parents during public school holidays. Your kid can learn robotics, gymnastics, hang at the museum or zoo, or just spend the day at the local Y.

Yeshiva Week. Nothing.

It also moves the vacation from a time of year when many businesses are slow to tax season for accountants.

Its wonderful for rich folks who have more vacation than most working people, and who have only one working parent.

For everyone else, its awful.
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chanatron1000




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 4:01 pm
Schools should make their own optional vacation program, sort of like a day camp.

Last edited by chanatron1000 on Wed, Nov 06 2019, 4:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
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yidishmamma




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 4:33 pm
We don’t have Yeshiva week ( chasidish mosdos) the winters I go on vacation it’s just dh and myself Very Happy
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SixOfWands




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 4:44 pm
chanatron1000 wrote:
Schools could make their own optional vacation program, sort of like a day camp.


They could, but they don't.

But even if they did, can they compete with Ninja and Parkour Camp? Gymnastics Camp? Robot and Science Camp? Lego Robotics Camp?

Just to name a few things kids can do in NYC during December break.
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jkl




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 5:10 pm
self-actualization wrote:
You'll learn to love it too.

Many yeshivas include the Monday of Martin Luther King day. So if you can take 1 day off (Tues), you can do a really nice 3 day/2 night trip to the Poconos - Great Wolf Lodge/Camelback/Fernwood Treetop etc.

Once you move along in life you will want to take off more days and go somewhere farther ... you can get pretty inexpensive tickets to Florida or to visit family. You just need to plan in advance. It's nice to build memories with your kids.


I already love it. I always was so worried that during the dead of the winter there are no extra expenses necessitated. We have pesach expenses in Spring, camp & day camp expenses in the summer, YT expenses in the Fall. But there's not much in the winter where we need to throw money at. True, we have Chanukah & Purim expenses, but those don't amount to thousands. So a call out to Yeshiva week for ensuring that extra expenses are not pushed aside in the winter.

Additionally, our kids are desperate for a break. Especially the younger ones from about age 3 to 12. They are overworked, stressed out and are in desperate need of airing out. Think about it, what kind of breaks do they have during the year? 3 weeks of Sukkos, 4 days of Chanukah, another 4 days for Purim, 3 weeks for Pesach, and 10 weeks during the summer is not enough to suffice. They really need this one extra week to be able to properly function.
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Chloe22




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 5:52 pm
Yeshiva Week is rough if you work and don't get much vacation. I had to send my kids to my parents' house for the week just so I could go to work.
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animeme




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 06 2019, 6:04 pm
Most workplaces are open during the holiday week as well- just not on those two days. So you would need to take off the rest of the week anyway. For lots of people, it's actually easier to get yeshiva week off, because everyone wants off the last week of December. If you stay for that, they will usually give you the third week of January. Of course, this year, you're up a creek, because any Chanukah break is over the holiday week.
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lcraighten




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 9:04 am
I'm not sure if some of the people answering actually work! I don't get so many days off a year, and almost all of it goes towards Yom Tov. I don't have the extra 4 days to take off!! Including the Friday that they get off for Channukah and the half days for fast days and the Isru Chag days....

I understand if you have older kids then they can be on their own, but my little ones (think pre 1st grade) LOVE school and most certainly don't need a "break." Besides, it's not like I can do anything with them!! It means paying a lot of money for a nanny to come and watch them so I can go to work and my husband can go to work/school as well.
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sky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 9:45 am
self-actualization wrote:
You'll learn to love it too.

Many yeshivas include the Monday of Martin Luther King day. So if you can take 1 day off (Tues), you can do a really nice 3 day/2 night trip to the Poconos - Great Wolf Lodge/Camelback/Fernwood Treetop etc.

Once you move along in life you will want to take off more days and go somewhere farther ... you can get pretty inexpensive tickets to Florida or to visit family. You just need to plan in advance. It's nice to build memories with your kids.


Do most places other then govt give off mlk day? I’ve never had that given as a vacation day.

I honestly don’t know how ppl do it. My kids are off just 3 days and it’s a scramble with work.

Do ppl really take their entire family to Florida? I know they do - but with tuition and everything I find it amazing.
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nicole81




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 9:49 am
self-actualization wrote:
You'll learn to love it too.

Many yeshivas include the Monday of Martin Luther King day. So if you can take 1 day off (Tues), you can do a really nice 3 day/2 night trip to the Poconos - Great Wolf Lodge/Camelback/Fernwood Treetop etc.

Once you move along in life you will want to take off more days and go somewhere farther ... you can get pretty inexpensive tickets to Florida or to visit family. You just need to plan in advance. It's nice to build memories with your kids.


If people have full time jobs in the secular world, they already need to take off a slew of days for chagim, plus some chol hamoed days as part of a juggling act with the other parent. Add that to the days you have to take off when you or your child is sick, there is often simply no time to take off in January. And for my specific job, yeshiva week is one of my 4 busiest weeks a year and I have to work up to 13 hours a day while my kids are bored all day and then want to stay up talking to me all night while I'm running myself ragged.

I hate yeshiva week, and I'll never learn to love it. I cannot take off and some of my kids feel like they're missing out. And don't get me started on the assignments the young ones get where they have to journal all the interesting things they do during the week off. I try to do one nice thing like have my husband take the whole family to a restaurant they want to try, but anything else is a non starter. And even worse, their different schools have different breaks so even if I could take off, it would never work out well.
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watergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 10:16 am
loveit wrote:
I think it’s great, the kids need a small break. I get that it’s hard for working parents however, school is not daycare. There are so many advantages to Yeshiva week over the Xmas/NY break. My kids get the Xmas/ny break and I think it’s terrible. While I’m happy for my kids to get a break it’s such a hard time to do anything with them: the whole word is on vacation so EVERYWHERE is crowded, everything is more expensive (flights, attractions, hotels) and there is awful Xmas decorations, music etc all over.

Yeshiva break is much more desirable because it’s off season so anything you want to do with your kids will be empty and cheaper!! I wish my kids school would move to the standard yeshiva break calendar. With no break in January, it’s a looong stretch from January 2nd to pesach.

I’m curious. Do you work?
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loveit




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 11:03 am
watergirl wrote:
I’m curious. Do you work?


Yes, I work. Granted it’s only part time with flexible hours but I have to take off when my kids don’t have school because my husband is working. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending my kids to these non Jewish school break camps.

Very few companies are closed during the Xmas/NY break, my husband still has to work. It would be worth it for him to take a couple of days off so we could do either a stay cation or mini road trip but it’s impossible because everything is overpriced and crowded since EVERYONE is out of school and traveling for the non jewish holidays.

Also, I’m not a fan of my children associating their winter break with Xmas. Not to mention they just had a week off for thanksgiving and PTA.

Schools are there to educate our children not be babysitters while parents work. Any days off are going to be inconvenient to parents Bh this is just a stage in our lives and soon enough our children will be grown and IyH we’ll be able to step in as bubbes and watch the einiklach on their breaks if we are fortunate enough to live near them. Off tangent but I also daven for my children that they will be in a situation where one spouse has a very flexible job, or the wife doesn’t have to work at all (something we made possible by moving OOT)
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watergirl




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 12:49 pm
loveit wrote:
Yes, I work. Granted it’s only part time with flexible hours but I have to take off when my kids don’t have school because my husband is working. I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending my kids to these non Jewish school break camps.

Very few companies are closed during the Xmas/NY break, my husband still has to work. It would be worth it for him to take a couple of days off so we could do either a stay cation or mini road trip but it’s impossible because everything is overpriced and crowded since EVERYONE is out of school and traveling for the non jewish holidays.

Also, I’m not a fan of my children associating their winter break with Xmas. Not to mention they just had a week off for thanksgiving and PTA.

Schools are there to educate our children not be babysitters while parents work. Any days off are going to be inconvenient to parents Bh this is just a stage in our lives and soon enough our children will be grown and IyH we’ll be able to step in as bubbes and watch the einiklach on their breaks if we are fortunate enough to live near them. Off tangent but I also daven for my children that they will be in a situation where one spouse has a very flexible job, or the wife doesn’t have to work at all (something we made possible by moving OOT)


I'm honestly very happy for you that you have a job thats part time enough and flexible enough to allow you to take the time off. And I'm happy for you and others who have enough expendable income to spend on trips, vacations, staycations, whatever. Please realize that so so many of us dont. And while we KNOW that school is not daycare, throwing that line at someone who is venting is insensitive. Between 5 days off in October (I was lucky, my office closed for 1 day of RH and was closed on YK, not everyone has that so they missed at least 7 days in October), another at LEAST 4 days for pesach, and a day for Shavous. A few days off for Chanukah. Tons of weekday YT this year - thats already most of the PTO if not all of it for many people. If my kid gets sick? If I get sick? And a morning off for a chanukah masiba at my kid's school. And a morning off for the end of year program at my kid's school. Half a day off because of Taanis Esther, half day because of late start on Shushan Purim, half day on other random days... I would hope that you have enough empathy for people not to throw the "school is not daycare" at us. No, its not an inconvenience. Its an impossibility for many of us. And if the schools INSIST on these weeks off, they need to have some rachmanus on those of us who have our kids shuttled around to be watched and make sure the teachers dont assign those stupid vacation journals. How painful to the kids of working parents!!

I wish schools would get rid of this random extra week off. There are so many days off already. Families who need to go on vacation so badly should plan for summers. No one needs to have this week. Is it nice? Sure! Is it necessary? No way! You said in your first post on this thread that kids need a small break. No they do not. They get one every week, its called shabbos. And if you REALLY feel they need the small break, dont they have a few days during chanukah? And 2 weeks for the chaggim? This is all quite absurd. This entitlement for vacations during the school year is really something else.
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lcraighten




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 1:41 pm
Thank you @watergirl! Exactly my feeling.

Phew, could not have said it better myself.
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loveit




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 1:44 pm
Everything you write is so valid, I know I’m fortunate to be in a position with a flexible job. However, if the question is why Yeshiva break in general then I understand your frustration. But the OP was about why we can’t have to same Xmas/NY break the public schools have. I still stand behind the yeshiva break being more desirable for the reasons I mentioned above.

What people don’t realize is yeshiva break is much shorter than the Xmas break, my kids are off for a week and half, sometimes 2 weeks not 4-5 days. They don’t give a long weekend for Chanukah because of the extended Xmas break.

If the school is having a break whether it’s an Xmas/ny or the standard yeshiva break, I still hold that yeshiva break is preferable. Most working parents still have to work at the end of December. Either way you’re going to have to pay for some sort of childcare, better to have it over a shorter time.

I also hope that we will use these experiences to better prepare our children for their futures. To teach them the importance of doing their hishtadlus to create a situation in which one parent has a flexibility , because yes things will always come up, sick days, special events etc. happens to be that our school recently switched to holding all parent special events on Sundays to better help working parents.
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keym




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 1:47 pm
watergirl wrote:
I'm honestly very happy for you that you have a job thats part time enough and flexible enough to allow you to take the time off. And I'm happy for you and others who have enough expendable income to spend on trips, vacations, staycations, whatever. Please realize that so so many of us dont. And while we KNOW that school is not daycare, throwing that line at someone who is venting is insensitive. Between 5 days off in October (I was lucky, my office closed for 1 day of RH and was closed on YK, not everyone has that so they missed at least 7 days in October), another at LEAST 4 days for pesach, and a day for Shavous. A few days off for Chanukah. Tons of weekday YT this year - thats already most of the PTO if not all of it for many people. If my kid gets sick? If I get sick? And a morning off for a chanukah masiba at my kid's school. And a morning off for the end of year program at my kid's school. Half a day off because of Taanis Esther, half day because of late start on Shushan Purim, half day on other random days... I would hope that you have enough empathy for people not to throw the "school is not daycare" at us. No, its not an inconvenience. Its an impossibility for many of us. And if the schools INSIST on these weeks off, they need to have some rachmanus on those of us who have our kids shuttled around to be watched and make sure the teachers dont assign those stupid vacation journals. How painful to the kids of working parents!!

I wish schools would get rid of this random extra week off. There are so many days off already. Families who need to go on vacation so badly should plan for summers. No one needs to have this week. Is it nice? Sure! Is it necessary? No way! You said in your first post on this thread that kids need a small break. No they do not. They get one every week, its called shabbos. And if you REALLY feel they need the small break, dont they have a few days during chanukah? And 2 weeks for the chaggim? This is all quite absurd. This entitlement for vacations during the school year is really something else.

Applause Applause Applause
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lcraighten




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 07 2019, 1:56 pm
loveit wrote:
Everything you write is so valid, I know I’m fortunate to be in a position with a flexible job. However, if the question is why Yeshiva break in general then I understand your frustration. But the OP was about why we can’t have to same Xmas/NY break the public schools have. I still stand behind the yeshiva break being more desirable for the reasons I mentioned above.

What people don’t realize is yeshiva break is much shorter than the Xmas break, my kids are off for a week and half, sometimes 2 weeks not 4-5 days. They don’t give a long weekend for Chanukah because of the extended Xmas break.

If the school is having a break whether it’s an Xmas/ny or the standard yeshiva break, I still hold that yeshiva break is preferable. Most working parents still have to work at the end of December. Either way you’re going to have to pay for some sort of childcare, better to have it over a shorter time.

I also hope that we will use these experiences to better prepare our children for their futures. To teach them the importance of doing their hishtadlus to create a situation in which one parent has a flexibility , because yes things will always come up, sick days, special events etc. happens to be that our school recently switched to holding all parent special events on Sundays to better help working parents.


You're right, I would rather have the winter break be between Xmas and NY. My kids also would not have off for 2 weeks. The non-religious schools in my area just give off for the week. I have off on Xmas (as most placed do) and off on NY's, that way my kids at least have me and my husband for 2 of their days off. To be honest, I don't need to do anything with them. Having a lazy morning with them is a treat enough!

I also do take a little bit of an issue with your view on hishtadlus. Hishtadlus does not guarantee that things will come out in your favor. Just because a couple/family tries to get into a situation where there have that flexibility, it does not mean that they will get it.

I am genuinely happy that you have achieved that, and I hope that one day "Yeshiva Week" will not be an issue for me either, but that does not negate the difficulty that families that don't have that flexibility experience.
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