Pninim/Peninim 2024

Ilene1777

Thu, May 23 2024, 1:52 pm

I just want to give my experience, and my daughter's experience, with this seminary, since for me it was hard to find.

M daughter switched to pninim this year after being at another sem that wound up being nothing like it it had billed itself. I really did not want to send to Pninim after hearing so many negative/scary things about it – like "It's a rehab" and that girls are messed up etc, and I was concerned my daughter would be negatively impacted. However it was either come home or go there, and she went and met Rabbi Simon and she loved him, and we spoke to him and also really like him, so we decided to give it a chance.

She switched before Chanuka and she absolutely LOVES it. And she's a girl who hated high school and had really begun to resent the whole yeshiva system. I can't say she had "major" issues but was definitely struggling hashgafically, tho still basically toeing the line.

Never once in her high school years did she come home inspired, or talk about anything the teachers said. Now she tells me all the time about the classes, the teachers, the trips, she is so turned on I feel like she's litererally a different person – though really the teachers/staff were just able to access what was there all along, and give over the beauty of yiddishkeit in a way that resonates with her. It is INCREDIBLY loving, warm, accepting etc. They have rules but they are smart about how they enforce them. (at her other sem the house mother would chase the girls around who weren't wearing stockings in the dorm and yell at them). I literally can't say enough good about it. There is definitly a mix of girls who have been through things, but as my daughter always tells me, it's a very growth oriented place, and the girls who aren't trying to grow are the minority.

If anyone wants to talk to me please send private message and I'm happy to answer questions. FYI, in every sem/yeshiva there are malcontents, and it's so important to be careful of loshon hara, to not judge by what one person's experience is or by even a few girls acting out (even when someone loves something doesn't mean it's right for everyone). We all have our own lens through which we see the world! I'm so glad I didn't listen to the negativity about Pninim. I'm hoping she goes back to shana bet.