With the end of the summer zman fast approaching, and bein hazemanim right around the bend, yeshivos around the country are all inundated with applications, bechinos and registration. With only two months to go before the start of the new year’s Elul zman, Pele Yoetz’s Yeshivah Placement Department is working overtime to ensure that every bachur has a place in the Yeshiva that’s right for him.
“Even if actual bechinos aren’t scheduled to begin for another two weeks or so,” says Rabbi Yechezkel Feldman from the Yeshivah Placement Department, “fresh bar mitzvah boys applying to yeshivah ketanah, as well as shiur gimmel boys applying to yeshivah gedolah are already feeling immense pressure from the imminent ‘Yom Hadin’ that is so vital to their futures, and many are frantically spending every minute of the day preparing for their tests.”
Working behind the scenes to navigate hundreds of bachurim to the right yeshivos is Pele Yoetz’s Yeshivah Placement Department which offers free guidance, counseling and support to bachurim and parents who are uncertain about which yeshivah is the best match for their child’s academic, emotional and spiritual development.
This is why “We continually stress that parents should avoid waiting for the last minute and realize that the earlier they approach this monumental task of selecting the right yeshivah for their son, the better off they will be. Now is the ideal time to apply and register for specific yeshivos, and parents have the enormous responsibility of choosing the yeshivah that best fits their child’s specific needs. The more thought and energy invested into this process, the better off their son will be.
“It may come as a surprise to some parents, but it’s not too early even for parents of seventh graders to start making inquiries about various yeshivos and investigating which will be the right choice for their son when the time comes. Choosing the right yeshivah means accounting for a staff with the means and resources to meet your son’s emotional and spiritual needs, as well as an academic level that matches your son’s skills and abilities.”
Pele Yoetz’s Yeshiva Placement Department seeks to draw parents’ attention to the following critical point:
“There are parents who insist on sending their child to a specific yeshivah, even when their child’s abilities, talents and needs make it clear that he would succeed better elsewhere. In such situations, it’s vital to act with understanding and sympathy to the child’s needs and to honestly evaluate if a different yeshivah would be a better match for him. We also have to bear in mind that applying to yeshivos doesn’t automatically equal acceptance. Even if we have high aspirations, we have to be honest with ourselves and deal with what there is. And most of all, we have to remember to daven and daven and daven.”
Another point that volunteers for the Yeshiva Placement Department emphasize “A particularly painful phenomenon that applies often to seventh graders who are only a year away from applying to yeshivos. Today, there are far too many talmidim manifesting learning challenges that are not severe enough to be defined as a mental or learning deficiency.
This lack of ‘diagnosis,’ says Rabbi Feldman, shouldn’t in any way stop us from seeking the source of the challenge, identifying it, and nipping it in the bud, which spares the bachur—and his family—endless agmas nefesh later in life. Sometimes, the problem can be as minor as a visual focusing disorder or lack of confidence, and sometimes it can be more significant like an attention disorder. There are times when all it takes it is a tutor to encourage the boy along, but no matter where the problem lies, the earlier we take care of it and grant our child strength, tools and confidence to surmount it, the more relief—and hatzlachah—it will bring to both the talmid and his parents.”
In conclusion, volunteers for the Yeshiva Placement Department note that “Parents must remember that as wonderful as the yeshivah world is, it still doesn’t serve as a complete fortress against outside influences, and parents’ roles in their child’s chinuch are as vital and impactful as ever. It’s the parents’ responsibility to follow their son’s progress, even behind the scenes, and to remain in regular, unremitting contact with their son’s yeshivah faculty throughout the year. It’s important to emphasize that “good bachurim”—those who excel and succeed in their yeshivos—also require a close relationship with their parents, which is the only way that we can guarantee the ideal physical and spiritual conditions conducive to our children’s success in yeshivah.
“ויהי רצון שיהיו כל מעשינו להצלחת צאצאינו, ללמוד וללמד לשמור ולעשות ולקיים”
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