Thursday, March 19, 2009

Two Talks: Guest Posters Still Needed

I would love guest posters for the following two events:
1. Teaneck: Congregation Bnei Yeshurun (Host: Torah Web)
Sunday, March 22, 2009, 8PM
Rav Mordechai Willig on "How Many Children and When?"
Rav Herschel Schachter on "Halachic Issues of the Tuition Crisis"

2. Baltimore: Congregation Shomrei Emunah (Host: Rabbinical Council of Baltimore)
Monday, March 23, 2009, 8:15PM
"Responding to the Economic Crisis: An Evening of Tefillah, Chizuk, and Practical Initiatives"
Special Address by Rav Frand

Guest Posters will be free to either give an overview of the talk(s) or focus on one particualar point or issue.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sending you a private e-mail.... I live in Baltimore....

Anonymous said...

The TorahWeb shiurim should be available online by Wednesday as previous shiurim have been posted, too.

It's surprising that Rav Willig would be asked to address this topic (unless he asked to speak about it) since he is known to be a vocal opponent of birth control.

Anonymous said...

Last night's TorahWeb shiurim can be found here: http://www.torahweb.org/audioFrameset.html#panel=recent

Anonymous said...

I encourage everyone to listen for themselves, but here's a summary of R. Schachter's session. (Note: the shiur is titled "Halachic implications of the tuition crisis," NOT "How to solve the tuition crisis.")

--Cut out luxuries. No cellphones, iPods, sleepaway camps, Pesach hotels, fancy weddings, fancy bar mitzvahs, etc. Learn to budget.
--If parents are funding trips to Israel to hotels for Pesach, the children should refuse to accept them if they are on tuition assistance and insist that money goes to the schools instead.
--People living in luxurious homes should move to a smaller house before asking for tuition assistance.
--Tzedaka needs to be local. Stop giving money to Eretz Yisrael, and give 3/4 money to local schools.
--People whose children are grown are still obligated to support local schools.
--Don't worry about maaser kesafim so much. It's not that tuition can be applied to it, but if that you need to apply tuition to hit maaser kesafim, you don't need to give maaser kesafim.
--Schools should be more open about their finances so that people realize that they aren't profligate.
--Ideally, schools should be funded by donations, not tuition. Assimilation is rampant, and our schools are the answer. We need affordable tuition.

Q&A
--(re: charter schools/after school?) Local rabbanim need to look into it. But public schools by themselves will lead inexorably to assimilation.
--Don't keep having children if you know you can't support them.
--If it's more economical to have
limudei kodesh in the afternoon (not just in the morning), then you have to do that.
--Wealthy people have to support the schools.