Bnos Chava Sem | Imamother

amother

Fri, Aug 30 2019, 1:51 pm

Hi! My dear daughter is applying to seminary in Israel this year and we are looking into bnos chava. I’d like to know a little more about it.
My daughter is more ‘high maintenance’ and we’ve been told by her mechaneches to look into bnos chava. Can I hear some more about it ie: how frum the girls are (we’re charedi but working dad, not Into the whole kolel lifestyle if you get me), how hard the lessons are (my daughter isn’t really into her academics), and how jappy the girls are.

Any other info would be greatly appreciated

amother

Aubergine

Fri, Aug 30 2019, 2:37 pm

amother [ Floralwhite ] wrote:

Sorry to sidetrack, OP can I ask you to edit your post and take out the derogatory anti-Semitic term. Maybe just rephrase it as ..and how materialistic, shallow, cliquy.... the girls are.
Thank you

IME jappy doesnt mean that. It means more high maintenance (I.e. good food, need a real bed v an air or sleeping bag, etc.)

amother

Floralwhite

Fri, Aug 30 2019, 2:43 pm

The term is an acronym for Jewish American princess and it is a racist/anti-Semitic, derogatory term. We should not be using words time that ourselves or teaching them to our children.
Define it as you wish-but please use actual descriptive words and not racial slurs.

amother

Sat, Aug 31 2019, 5:23 pm

allthingsblue wrote:

In terms of high maintenance and frum but not learning, I think it's a good fit!
Another possible option may be Meor, which is supposed to be not academic. I think bnos chava is more academic- I don't know specifics though.

Hi op here. Would you know if it’s more hashkafic based or textual based? What other sems would you compare it to? We’ve looked into meor but it’s not right for us.

allthingsblue

Sat, Aug 31 2019, 9:04 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Hi op here. Would you know if it’s more hashkafic based or textual based? What other sems would you compare it to? We’ve looked into meor but it’s not right for us.

I don't know for certain but I imagine there is a lot of text based. Your daughter's school advisor should know the answer to your question.

amother

Blue

Sat, Aug 31 2019, 9:09 pm

I was there 5 years ago before they did the whole switch-over.
Sounds like a good fit, in terms of her background.
When I was there, it was very hashkafa based, but also very academic. We had a bunch of really hard gemara reports, and we had a test every night besides for Monday. (We also had class every night besides for Monday).
Since they switched off neve campus and got a whole lot of new staff, a lot has changed. I think the level of difficulty in the academics has gone down. They are no longer only accepting A students. I don't know specifics exactly, though.

amother

Wed, Sep 11 2019, 6:52 pm

amother [ Blue ] wrote:

So sorry, been continuing my research and have spoken to a seminary consultant. She’s been asking what my daughter wants to come out of at the end of her year and all the usual pre seminary questions.

What kind of girls come out of here? Are they the same as what they went in as? I know it’s more JAPPY so are the girls more invested in their looks as oppose to growing?

Also how friendly are the girls? This is another thing my daughter is quite concerned about. She would like a seminary where the girls are friendly as oppose to keeping to themselves.

Sorry for all the questions! Just trying to do my research before having to apply and still new to all of this

amother

Aqua

Wed, Sep 11 2019, 6:55 pm

I was there a while ago but it was very academic not easy at all. Also my grade was not high maintenance and the few girls who were, were not very popular because most girls weren't interested in being around that. I don't know how it is today but based on my experience I wouldn't think it was a good fit. We were all frum, good girls, most were very friendly, I keep up with many of the friends I made there.

amother

Mistyrose

Wed, Sep 11 2019, 10:11 pm

amother [ Aqua ] wrote:

Bnos Chava is very different now than it was when Rebbetzin Tarshish was there. If you went when she taught there, you can't compare at all. It is definitely known as a seminary that attracts more materialistic girls.

amother

Aqua

Wed, Sep 11 2019, 10:16 pm

amother [ Mistyrose ] wrote:

Yeah she was still there in my days

amother

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 1:42 pm

So whose the rebetzin nowadays? Also could someone elaborate on the type of girl going there. I understand they’d be classified as more high maintenance but are they friendly? Academic/clever? Hardworking? Rebellious? Just so I get a better picture. Thanks.

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 2:26 pm

I'm not sure why, but it seems like they had a hard time getting a good group of girls this past year. My niece applied and did not go (and they offered her a significant break.) Could be just hype, not sure.

In terms of the type of girls, my DD's best friend went (two years ago) and she said very few girls' parents didn't visit them during the year; girls came with extensive amounts of suitcases and lots of stuff. It's pretty high maintenance, pretty materialistic. I know alot of girls from DD's grade who went fit this bill (but not all).

However, it might be a good fit for your DD anyway.

miami85

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 2:38 pm

I went to Bnos Chava getting closer to 20 years ago and it had that "JAP" reputation even back then. I'm far from being a JAP and many of my friends were not of that mentality either. I was friendly with most of the girls that year, it was 135 girls back then and I think there were 10-20 girls that I really had NOTHING to do with. I'm still friendly with some of my friends from then now.

amother

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 3:13 pm

amother [ Babyblue ] wrote:

Thanks so much for this. Very helpful. So would you say they are more in Israel for chilling as opposed to actually growing?
My concern is that My daughter is considered more materialistic and high maintenance by others but she’s also very kind, caring and friendly to all. She’s always introducing herself and making new friends and doesn’t just keep to herself. Yes she has snobby attributes and has BH been bought up with a lot of luxuries however I don’t want her going and feeling as though the girls are better than her and won’t speak to her since they don’t know her

GreenEyes26

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 3:18 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m curious as to why you are most concerned with feeding into your daughters materialism instead of finding a place where she can grow and learn. It almost sounds like you’re specifically looking for a program that will be a “fun chilling year” for your daughter and she’ll come back exactly the same. I mean...I guess maybe that’s exactly what you want? To me that defeats the whole purpose of a year away from home.

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Sep 12 2019, 3:35 pm

I went there after Mrs. Tarshish left but when they were still on Neve. Was definitely academic but much less than when my older sisters went. In talking with people who were there different years it seems like the matzav is very different depending on the year. Like we started off with weekly parsha tests then I think girls complained and they took it away. Girls also complained that we didn’t have what other seminaries did like snacks available all the time etc. (which to me was ridiculous like that’s not why I went to seminary.) There were girls who blew off classes and others (like me) who were extremely studious and there to learn. I was the out of town type and majority of the girls were not my type at all but I found a small group of out of towners and had a great year overall. I remember once an intowner came into my room (to see my roommate) looked into my open closet and was like “you don’t have anything in here!” I always thought it was comical how much pressure the girls felt to borrow the perfect outfit from their friend to wear for shabbos when they had a whole store of nice clothes in their closet. I ended up having a good year but probably would have had one in almost any seminary.

I guess my points are that:

The matzav is different from year to year
There’s a mixture of different types of girls
Your daughter will get out of seminary what she chooses to get out of it.

Hope you found this helpful and hatzlacha!