This past year, over 200 yeshivah bachurim turned to Pele Yoetz’s Yeshivah Placement Department, under the leadership of Hagaon Harav Dovid Levy shlit”a for help selecting and facilitating acceptance into a yeshivah that is the right fit for them. Of these, close to one hundred bachurim were aided by Pele Yoetz this past month alone.
The Yeshivah Placement Department is managed by Rabbi Yechezkel Feldman shlit”a who campaigns energetically on behalf of every single bachur to ensure acceptance. “My position always deals me heaping portions of simchah and pain simultaneously. Every bachur that we manage to incorporate into a yeshivah is another triumph, whereas every bachur whom we don’t manage to help is devastating and deeply painful.”
He elaborates that there are many bachurim who need assistance during the application and registration process. Worse yet, every year, there are dozens of solid, intelligent bachurim who for a variety reasons that range from submitting a late application to family issues, find themselves hanging, with no yeshivah willing to accept them.
At this point, when a highly-regarded yeshivah accepts them due to their talents or excellence, then it’s mutually beneficial for both parties—with the bachur getting accepted into a first-rate yeshivah, and the yeshivah earning a fantastic, dedicated bachur.
“There are times when yeshivah placement is tantamount to dinei nefashos. Parents and educators cannot allow our good bachurim to fall between the cracks, lose their morale or, chas veshalom, start hanging out with kids who will have a negative influence on them—which is a grave risk when kids feel unwanted or lack a positive framework of study.
Rabbi Feldman also warns parents not to rely on old information regarding yeshivos or blindly insist on acceptance into a specific framework. “The yeshivah world changes every day. A father shouldn’t rely on descriptions that he heard a year or two ago regarding a specific yeshivah and then insist on sending his son there.
“Inaccurate information can become a serious obstacle for a bachur who needs a specific setting in order to thrive. If we’re not open-minded to finding him the right framework based on current information that we receive daily in our offices, we delay the acceptance process and increase our own grief.”
The department’s hope and tefillah, says Rabbi Feldman, is that “all bachurim should succeed on their own and get accepted without intervention, so our department will be superfluous. But until then, we’re going to keep helping every bachur and parent who appeals to us, as quickly, efficiently and effectively as we can.”
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