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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
Darchei Binah seminary ?????
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amother


 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 7:15 pm
I'm concerned that the website has been blank for two weeks and that people have expressed concerns about Darchei Binah within the past year and that it is changing. Is the removal of the website on purpose? I would like any outside knowledge about the latest regarding DB.
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amother


 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 10:58 pm
I don't know anything about the website issue, or other people's complaints. All I know is I went there a while back and it was likely the worst year of my life. Obviously enough have liked it though.
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slushiemom




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 11:02 pm
I went there also, and while I had a great year, it wasn't at all due to the seminary. I made great friends and loved living in Israel. As for the seminary itself I felt that they really misrepresented themselves to the HS students when we applied in 12th grade.

about midway through the year I realized which teachers were way too extreme and stopped listening in class. I took the minimum amount of class required, I think it was only about 27 hours a week and focused on my friends, israel, trips etc.

re:the website - I have no idea, try calling them.
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 11:04 pm
I have no info about the website, although it is weird that there is nothing there when you click on darchei bina, but I found contact info for you. Perhaps you can email or call someone to find out about the seminary.
I have a few friends who went about 15 years ago and it was the best year of their lives.
For each person it will be different from the next person.

Darchei Binah
U.S. Office
Rabbi Gil Freiman
1049 E. 13th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11230
Phone: (718) 252-6017
Fax: (718) 758-0281
Email: sf@infodbi.com

Israel Office
Rabbi Shimon Kurland / Lisa Kermaier
(mailing address) P.O. Box 16432
Jerusalem 96428
22 Rechov Nezer David
Jerusalem 91164
Phone: (02) 641-0266
Fax: (02) 641-0759
Email: info1@darcheibinah.co.il
www.darcheibinah.org
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amother


 

Post Wed, Feb 06 2013, 11:53 pm
slushiemom wrote:
I went there also, and while I had a great year, it wasn't at all due to the seminary. I made great friends and loved living in Israel. As for the seminary itself I felt that they really misrepresented themselves to the HS students when we applied in 12th grade.

about midway through the year I realized which teachers were way too extreme and stopped listening in class. I took the minimum amount of class required, I think it was only about 27 hours a week and focused on my friends, israel, trips etc.

re:the website - I have no idea, try calling them.


I am the first amother who replied. Slushie - yes I also felt they very much misrepresented themselves and painted a false picture. I couldnt stand the administration. Thank G-d I had a small group of friends there. I found 2 teachers I liked and pretty much ignored the rest and tried to be away from the sem as much as possible.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 12:38 am
I went there also about 10 years ago. I enjoyed my year as well, but mostly due to my friends and being in Israel.
I did enjoy some of the classes, but not all. There are some really great teachers there. No school is perfect.Though there was nothing that I really hated, I enjoyed my shana bet at a different school much more.
Some of my sisters that went there though LOVED everything about it.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 12:48 am
My neice went there.
They turned out to be much more right-wing than they led her to believe.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 1:29 am
I'm posting as amother because if you know I went to DB along with other info you can glean from me on this site you'll 100% know who I am..but I'm an active poster.

I can't say I loved EVERY class in DB but I did have ones I really took from and still remember certain things even a bunch of years later. The teachers are all on the chareidi spectrum but they don't really push kollel, living in Israel, etc in shana alef. Obviously it comes up but it's not the focus at all and that's not the goal. The mix of girls is big, and everyone usually finds their friends. This year is not their best group of girls ever (they have amazing girls but also accepted girls that they wanted to give a chance to), but I think next years applicants look pretty good thus far.

The best bet is for this girl to find people who went there in the last year or two and ask them about it. It's not the same school it was 15, 10, or even 5 years ago.

I think DB is a great option, it was really the best school for me. I was coming from out of town, didn't really have solid hashkafos before I came, was looking for a serious place with good, like-minded girls, and b'H I found it. I didn't really get so close to teachers but I really loved my mechanechet and got close to her. They have a lot of layers to the staff so that girls have different people to get close too, whether it's a madricha, the eim bayis, the administration, the principle and his wife, the teachers, the machanchot, the tutors, etc.

Hatzlacha choosing!
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 1:31 am
(im the same as the amother above)
-just a note about the website, it wasn't updated anytime recently anyway, the latest pics were from like 08, 09 and the teachers weren't updated. Maybe they're just working on getting it updated.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 3:59 am
I would think that this would be the worst time to take your websiite down intentionally being it's the two weeks after acceptances have gone out and families are making decisions.

I've spoken with a person who teaches in the Israeli seminaries/yeshivot who tells me that Darchei Binah has become very cult-like. That concerns me coming from this very (anonymous) reliable source.

Michlalah is seeming like the much more solid choice. The warmth at Michlalah that is often found at smaller seminaries seems to be growing over the years. Darchei Binah and Michlalah are often compared to and girls often apply to both, however, I don't feel anymore that Darchei Binah is in the same league.

The disappearance of the website is concerning.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:24 am
amother wrote:

I can't say I loved EVERY class in DB but I did have ones I really took from and still remember certain things even a bunch of years later. The teachers are all on the chareidi spectrum but they don't really push kollel, living in Israel, etc in shana alef. Obviously it comes up but it's not the focus at all and that's not the goal. The mix of girls is big, and everyone usually finds their friends. This year is not their best group of girls ever (they have amazing girls but also accepted girls that they wanted to give a chance to), but I think next years applicants look pretty good thus far.

It was pushed pretty heavily when my neice went there!
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:33 am
Yea my sister and her friend were there. The friend kept a connection to some top ppl who worked there for a bit. But when they found out her husband was working, they tried to convince her out of it, and then WALKED OUT ON HER when she went to visit one time and was not able to be convinced out of it....
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gumby




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:35 am
While you are correct that Michlala is a solid place do not think that you will be getting warmth. A large group of girls from last year enjoyed their year and the school but felt it was severely lacking in the warmth aspect. Honestly there are just too many girls for it to be warm
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:36 am
amother wrote:
Yea my sister and her friend were there. The friend kept a connection to some top ppl who worked there for a bit. But when they found out her husband was working, they tried to convince her out of it, and then WALKED OUT ON HER when she went to visit one time and was not able to be convinced out of it....
when was your sister there? As I mentioned, I had a few friends go there about 15 years ago. None of them have husbands who are or ever were sitting and learning. I dont even know if it was pushed as much as you all are saying back then. It was pushed, but not as THE way, but as a good way.
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:39 am
I have a few friends who enjoyed it immensely, and some went back for shana bet. This goes back about 7-10 years. There were issues as there are in every school, but nothing more than that in their experience.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:49 am
I went to michlala, and while I LOVED it, I would in no way call it a warm place. if you need warmth, you need to find it, no one is coming over to you.
in fact, a bunch of my friends chose DB over Michlalah, bc of the warmth, the smaller classes, and more individualized attention.
I think a lot of seminaries misrepresent themselves when they visit american high schools.
your best bet is to ask people who went the year be4 you.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 5:55 am
shabbatiscoming wrote:
amother wrote:
Yea my sister and her friend were there. The friend kept a connection to some top ppl who worked there for a bit. But when they found out her husband was working, they tried to convince her out of it, and then WALKED OUT ON HER when she went to visit one time and was not able to be convinced out of it....
when was your sister there? As I mentioned, I had a few friends go there about 15 years ago. None of them have husbands who are or ever were sitting and learning. I dont even know if it was pushed as much as you all are saying back then. It was pushed, but not as THE way, but as a good way.


This was the 1st yr it was open.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 7:54 am
I went to DB for 2 years and loved it. Yes, they talked kollel/aliyah more than I was interested in hearing, but the classes were interesting and there are lots of choices in terms of who you get close to or spend time with. I really felt like I learned a lot and enjoyed doing so. I was close with the Kurlands even though I don't toe the chareidi line and was never going to. My husband doesn't learn in kollel and I don't think they'd disapprove of us. I've heard it got somewhat frummer lately but I can't say for sure, its been about 7 years. I made lifelong friendships there with more than one type of person. Like any sem, its not for everyone.


If you have specific questions, give them a call. It's annoying about the website but who knows what happened with it? Might as well try to find out.
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 7:58 am
amother wrote:
I went to DB for 2 years and loved it. Yes, they talked kollel/aliyah more than I was interested in hearing, but the classes were interesting and there are lots of choices in terms of who you get close to or spend time with. I really felt like I learned a lot and enjoyed doing so. I was close with the Kurlands even though I don't toe the chareidi line and was never going to. My husband doesn't learn in kollel and I don't think they'd disapprove of us. I've heard it got somewhat frummer lately but I can't say for sure, its been about 7 years. I made lifelong friendships there with more than one type of person. Like any sem, its not for everyone.


If you have specific questions, give them a call. It's annoying about the website but who knows what happened with it? Might as well try to find out.
Interesting that. I was interested about the website so I called information (here in israel) to get the number for darchei bina. There were two numbers. One ended up being a wrong number, it was someones house and the other one would not allow incoming calls or something weird like that.
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semandbeyond




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Feb 07 2013, 1:56 pm
I also went to Darchei Binah. I was there for 1.5 years all together and had a very positive experience. From my work with high school, seminary, and post-seminary girls over the last few years, I have found that choosing the "right" seminary really depends on the individual girl and her needs. If a girl does not need the warmth and individualized attention of a smaller seminary, Michlala might be a good choice for her as the actual classes are very similar. From my own personal experience, I found that Darchei Binah was a great at helping girls develop hashkafically and personally. While I did not connect well to all of the teachers and staff, I was able to develop relationships with a number of teachers that were more my speed and with whom I am still in contact with years later. I would be happy to answer more questions if you have any.

Last edited by semandbeyond on Fri, Feb 08 2013, 4:51 am; edited 1 time in total
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