Tzedakah Watch: No Longer Guaranteed

The newest advertisement from Hidabroot reads "How to Almost GUARANTEE Yourself a Good Year". Is someone reading my posts (see the guarantee for good children for only $12 per month)? I will consider this an improvement. Much more, uh, Jewish, but a lot less enticing. If only I could buy those good children guaranteed. . . . .my work-in-progress children seem far more costly and there seem to be no guarantees.

Bad Financial Advice: Just Default

I believe I once started a feature on "Bad Financial Advice." I don't know if this is a revival, but a thread on imamother about getting out of credit card debt bring me back to the theme. A poster advises someone seeking advice on her credit card debt to default on the payments. She claims it isn't so bad and, in this economic environment, you can even get credit again. Yippee. In this case, the mother looking for advise has $4000 of credit card debt, perfectly surmountable.

Ruining your credit isn't just a matter of getting credit and the dollars and cents of interest rates. Bad credit hurt those seeking employment opportunities. It can cost you a security clearance. It can even cost you your current job. (link)

Bottom line: employers use credit history as an indicator regarding responsibility, character, and trust. Bad credit is a risk factor, especially if you are dealing with money. Best to deal with the $4000 than seek an "easy" way out. That easy way out may cost you much more in the unforeseen future.

Inviting Ridicule, Deservedly So!

On Lag B'Omer of this year was host to the a most terrible evil: the attempted murder of the Rottenberg family in their home while they slept. With Hashem's great kindness, the family was saved, although Mr. Rottenberg was left with terrible burns all over his body.

There have been other terrible events of recent memory, especially the murder of little Leiby, but I call this one the most terrible because the reporting was followed up by defense of the perpetrator. While little should surprise me anymore, defending someone who throws douses a family deck with gas at 4AM ranks is something I never expected anyone to defend, even in a defend-a-yid-no-matter-the-act-world. Blog commentators on VIN, Matzav, and other sites actually defended this bochur and vilified the family, someone who perpetuated what every single Jew and non-Jew I associate with would call by its proper name: EVIL.

Worse yet, an event that I would consider pivitol, was virtually ignored in frum print media, although the silence was later broken by a piece in of "journalism" in AMI Magazine extolling the greatness of the kehilla and its Rebbe. The hard hitting questions. . . . frum print media seems unable to deal with such, much less the social commentary. A near murder in the name of defending the Rebbe's honor, and the response is silence followed by more hagiography when the the interviewing editor got goosebumps upon meeting the Rebbe?

Well, as we seem to continually see, things seem to go from bad to even worse. (Hat Tip: VIN) What could be even worse that a near murder of 6 sleeping people followed by a whitewashed piece of journalism? How about a letter going out months after the crime to New Square followers and friends calling the boy's heineous act some Lag B'Omer teenage "mischief". The letter states: "the most important thing we have learned is that the teenage boy never intended to harm anyone."

This letter, for which the letters writers do not even have the humanity to name the victim, Mr. Chaim Aron Rottenberg, by name and calls the event an "accident", nearly handing the blame for the explosion on Mr. Rottenberg himself. After all, the device was "too primitive to do any real damage." As the teenagers might say, puhleeze!!! Entire blocks of homes have been burned and sections of large cities evacuated when an unthinking driver has thrown a single lit cigarette out of a car window.

What's the letter really about. . . . . . well, you be the judge:

But just as a man has been unjustly harmed, so too has the Skevere community. It is not right to belittle a community of thousands of sincere pious Jews. It is not right to disgrace in terrible terms the honor of a Tzadik and holy leader.

Ridicule is invited with such a letter. The letter drips with arrogance. There is no contrition nor introspection. There is no responsibility taken. But blame is easy to hand out.

So, why is this event and the letter which followed months later begging English speakers not to punish the community for the act of one mischievous teenager who didn't really mean any harm important to non-Skever, of any importance to Orthodox Jews outside of the most immediate community? Here are some reasons:

1. Well, for one, money talks. For a while now, we've continued to see a cult of Rabbi/Rebbe worship developing. We've seen the formula of Tanach of teshuvah-tefillah-tzedakah turned on it's head as quick fixes are bandied about in advertisements that not only bring us segulot in a smorgasbord form to sample! We can buy prayers for whatever we need salvation from/for. We can drink segula wine and wear a silver segula ring that has been dunked 3 times in the mikvah, some of the most egregious. And, for only $12 a month , good children GUARANTEED. . . and if we are lucky, we will win some dollar bills or a room in the penthouse suite too. When we spend our money, we send messages.

2. Two, cult and cultish behavior is alive an well. We need to learn to recognize it and deal with it. And where we see signs of things gone awry, we need to seek normalization.

3. Many shtetle life isn't so romantic afterall. Just the mere fact that this letter could be released with the express goal of quelling some of the criticism and ridicule, and keeping friends and followers, demonstrates the problem of living in a bubble.

GOOD CHILDREN for only $12 a month

This. . . an email received from the Onlysimchas/Hidabroot (yes, my former policy of hints on this type of post is up. From now on, when I note a troubling trend in tzedakah and bring an example, I will just print). For only $12 a month you can buy good children GUARANTEED, by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky himself. And, if you give your tzedakah/raffle/gambling dollars to this cause, you might be lucky enough to land $20K in cash and a Jerusalem penthouse to boot. Woot woot.

Text follows in its exact form. This is so outrageous. How can we return to the normative of teshuva, tefillah, tzedakah?

NEW!

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Here’s why he made this kind of outrageous promise:.

Imagine it was a mitzvah to watch TV.

What was unimaginable only a few years ago is a living fact today: Inside the sea of filth and sheer idiocy there’s an island of honest-to-
goodness Yiddishkeit on television in Israel. What’s more, it’s available 24 hours a day.

How that happened is a story in itself.:

A little while ago, with the proliferation of cable channels, an obscure law was passed that obliged cable companies to designate a small percentage of air time to “community-oriented material.” That was the “crack in the dam” we needed.

After some difficult negotiations Hidabroot was let in. Of course we were severely warned against “proselytizing” secular Israelis to Yiddishkeit, “heaven forbid” … The mandate was limited to “show interesting stuff” about Judaism without ever trying to “convert” - or else!

Ah, but there was something they forgot!

They forgot that Yiddishe neshomas and Torah are one entity. Jews, secular or otherwise, are still Jews. The hidden spark inside the Jewish soul is so
powerful that Israelis needed no prompting to search further for their roots. All we needed to do was give them good, interesting programming about Judaism,
wrapped in modern terms. That’s all.

And so we gave it to them: Lectures
about gilgouley neshamos (incarnations) … how Kabbalah and science see the first days of בראשית… proof of life after death … the mysteries of
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action,explain by a university professor of mathematics … plus lots more.

“It’s the highest- quality programming on television by far,” says Dvora Harel, a prominent graphologist (with “leftist leanings,” as she puts it).

“I could never imagine myself looking at programs about Judaism before, but the Hidabroot programs are really something else. They're fantastic.”

And so they called...

Every program of Hidabroot has a running “tickertape” on the bottom of the screen with our phone numbers for questions and further information. That is all the thirsty viewer needed.

Over twelve thousand people call for more information about Judaism every month … 7,500 questions of halachah are answered by Rabbonim every month … 9,000 packets of mail with books and discs on various subjects are mailed out – free of charge - every month …

Soon after we opened a web site to house past programs, and the rush was on: Over thirty thousand surfers visit the site every single day!

Next, we created a full schedule of live lectures with attendance of over 85,000 people who, as Rav Elyashiv Shlit"a said, “never heard of קריאת שמעbefore” filling the meeting halls.…

After a short while, a full-color magazine was published. – Within months it had over 12,000 subscribers.…

When 264,000 people demand more of a good thing

Viewership of the Hidabroot channel swelled to 264,000 people a day and they wanted more. A lot more.

In response to the growing demand, Hidabroot’s broadcast schedule grew to 24 hours a day of quality programming.

To the initial programming were added shows by popular Torah personalities such as Rav Zamir Cohen and Rav Uri Zohar, among others and those are quickly becoming a staple in growing number of Israeli homes.

Then the High Court stepped in and made us VITAL!

Christian missionaries had a cable TV show, but were taken off the air for proselytizing (which is against the Israeli law). Wouldn't you know it, the Israeli High Court put them right on air again. You see, “It isn’t democratic.”. Indeed…

So now there are Christian missionaries with unlimited funding behind them fishing for Jewish souls for 24 hours day!

Hidabroot is no longer just an option (if it ever was…). It’s a must!

Rav Shteinman shlit”a said, “Obviously Hidabroot is an absolute must!”

The Belzer Rebbe shlit”a said, “(We) have been waiting for 50 years for such a great thing. What others can accomplish only after a long time, (Hidabroot) can accomplish in a single day.”
“(Hidabroot) are doing incredible things,” said HaRav Ovadia Yossef shlit”a. “You (Hidabroot) are our messengers,.” said the Novominsker Rebbeshlit”a,
“Whatever you need, we will be by your side.”

The Catch

The only catch to the wonderful mandate Hidabroot got from the cable channels is … no commercials allowed. That means that there’s no way for Hidabroot to make any money and support itself.

This is why we come to you today: The costs of keeping Hidbroot running is 13 million dollars a year, and we have no way of making it without serious help from you.

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Simply Don't Understand the Response

Earlier this year I posted a PSA for the West Orange Cooperative Yeshiva (WOCY) which was slated to open this coming September. The WOCY had rented a facility, hired staff, and enrolled students.

Recently, the Cooperative announced that some enrolled students flew the coop and the school would no longer open. Clearly, such is a risk in any small school.

What I can't understand is after renting a facility, hiring staff, and enrolling students, only to see the project collapse, how this can be the press release:

The West Orange Cooperative Yeshiva achieved an incredible goal of enticing the local yeshivot to match and even beat our tuition rates for many West Orange students this year. This is a wonderful accomplishment and really why we began this endeavor.

Based on this information which came from some of our student body as well as other prospective families, it became clear that there was minimal need for us to continue. More and more families that were interested in our school started signing at wonderfully reduced tuition rates that they were not offered in the past. In lieu of this, we will not be opening this year and fully expect the tuition assistance to continue in the future.

We are very thankful to our local yeshivot for recognizing the tuition crisis and reacting in a way that helps the community at large

.

While is is quite nice for the parents who wanted to only pay $XXXX, that they are now able to pay $XXXX (for school year 2011-2012) in the school of their choice, such cannot be why a school is organized. And what of minimal need? These are kindergarten students; students with 12 more years of schooling ahead of them. Are the established schools going to continue to offer reduced tuition for many years to come when there is no competition, and no real threat of competition because they can now call the parents' bluff?

And, where is the yashrut? There were staff that committed themselves to the school. And surely not every parent flew the coop. What of those parents who didn't intend to be looking for another arrangement in the 11th hour? What of sincere parents down the road who might like to form a co-op but will not be taken seriously should they try?

I simply don't see the silver lining here. But, perhaps someone will explain it to me.

Why Does it Cost So Much to Educate a Jewish Child?

Hat Tip goes to the first read who pointed this out in the comments of the previous post. Thank you R. Mordechai Scher. There were many more who emailed me privately. Thank you to all. Clearly this article is making the rounds.

So, "Why Does it Cost So Much to Educate a Jewish Child?" Rabbi Teitz offers an eye-opening analysis, and an analysis that leaves me to conclude that cost cutting simply isn't going to come from above.

First, the "kitzur" of the article about what costs drive school budgets, and then some of my own thoughts (and your comments):

Staffing and Salaries are the majority of the budget. Educators make a school. Salaries are set by the market and schools compete with each other for top staff, staff driving costs upwards. Cost cutting in this area will drive great educators from the field. Talented educators will choose other fields. If key staff is not maintained, parents to take their dollars elsewhere. Even where population fluctuates, staffing needs maintained for the most part to offer a consistent product. Cutting class size will impact instruction. How significant the impact would be depends on the teacher and students. Cut class size and parents might leave. Where genders are separated, the population might not be big enough to increase class size anyways. Very few school run at capacity as it is. There is a point where annual increases aren't reasonable. Limudei kodesh teachers are reaching that level. There are some unrealistic expectations of remuneration when it comes to administrative salaries.

Special Education Special education basically didn't exist 40 years ago. Now we educate children with special needs and it costs a lot of money. JEC spends nearly $1.5 million, 12% of the budget, on "resource room" alone.

Social Workers Forty years ago there were no social workers, today the author's school has 3 plus other guidance staff. Can this be cut? No. There are too many culture influences kids are being bombarded with. ("And this is why public school simply can not be an option.")

Extras The challenge every school has it determining what is a need and what is nice to have. The philosophy is that we want each student to feel good about coming to school. We could save money on sports, music, and art. But the budget wouldn't be cut significantly and it would make a lot of students miserable. Perhaps these students will act out. Excursions could be dropped, but students look back at those fondly.

Technology Listed as needs are computers in every classroom. They don't need to be the latest, but they do need to be up-to-date. Parents see the increased technology as a need at this point, and parental expectation drives costs.

Competition Schools need to offer what other schools do or they will lose students. Reducing student population means increased tuition for the remaining families. You can't win this one. Some might argue that creating a nurturing environment should be the purview of shuls, not schools. This would only transfer costs.

Administration The author won't say that some layers of administration aren't necessary, but argues there is more need than people will admit. His argument is that if a principal of a 400 student school were to give each student 5 minutes of time a week, this would consist of 33 hrs and 20 min, or nearly a full time job, hence the greater need for administration.

Kodesh For schools that only teach limudei kodesh in the morning, the challenge becomes how to offer a full-time job if the teacher cannot cross the divide into chol, and most cannot. The same challenge is not shared on the limudei chol side as public school teachers and administrators (!) look to supplement their income. To attract quality teachers for a half-day work, "full-time jobs must be created for them. And from that necessity was born the coordinator. Not an administrator, but something beyond just the classroom instructor; more pay, but not at an admiration's level. And hiring one person to do the myriad of tasks of the coordinators won't really be that much less expensive, plus it would not address the attraction and retention issue." The Rabbi does leave open a possibility of cost cutting here, as he states that when budgets are tight, mid-level jobs have to be redistributed and positions eliminated.

My thoughts (excuse me as I reminisce out loud while offering some thoughts):

The Rabbi's article was not a brainstorm about how to cut costs, but rather what schools are spending on ("why it costs so much"), and how competition plays a large part in determining what money is spent on. Reading in between the lines, the brainstorm is depressing. A demanding parent body in an out-of-pocket education system transforms us into our own worst enemies. Rationality, as Rabbi Scher point out in the article's comments, is not at play here. (With all the ills of a bloated public education system, it seems there is more promise there to control costs). Add that to the admission that jobs were "created" and I'm not sure we can actually lower costs much. We all know that it is far easier to hire than fire, and that once an expense is deemed necessary, cutting back is near impossible.

What the article really is, to me, is a study in how education has changed. I'm not convinced the product is better for all the changes.

I wish I knew what Jewish education looked like before social workers and resource rooms. I'm guessing it looked a lot like my elementary school. There we had 1 principal, a gentle, but firm man named Mr. G. . . . . As I recall, there was a secretary in the administrative area (maybe 2), as well as the school nurse. Come to think about it, in the 3 years I was at that school, I probably only visited the administrative area 5-6 times, mostly to see the school nurse. My recollection of education back in the day was that administration pushed papers and reviewed staff. I recall the principal spending a morning in my classroom each year. I don't believe that principals were expected to interact with each students, certainly not 5 minutes a week, nor were they expected to be hooked up to their blackberries texting with parents! On the contrary, being called into the principals office was scary, and you simply didn't see the principal much.

I recall being called into the principal's office in the 1st grade. Boy, was I scared. The call followed a lunchroom altercation. I was shaking in my fake Keds when I arrived. The visit was short and sweet. Mr. G said to me, "You aren't in trouble. So don't be scared." He then let me know that R was sent home for the day, this wouldn't happen again, and that the nurse would help me wash and dry my shirt so I could wear clean clothing. Thank G-d for fast drying polyester blends. I was back in my panda bear sweatshirt with purple sleeves in no time.

We didn't have social workers in every school to deal with R's problems. There were school psychologists, shared across the district, but none dedicated to any one school. What we did have was p'ed off parents (excuse my language), i.e. parents whose schedules were disruptive to deal with their unruly child, or take a child home midday. I don't want to glorify what was, because there was plenty of bad behavior to go around. But I do think there is a break down in authority and I also believe few kids today get knots in their stomach thinking of what will happen if Dad finds out.

I wonder if administrator duties have changed in public schools today. Today (private Jewish), I see the principal meeting and greeting parents and students in carpool line. And I do believe the students have quite a bit of interaction with the principal (I can't quite recall ever meeting with the principal in the other elementary school I attended). In Yeshiva high schools, I know administrators also teach classes and students spend quite a bit of time with them as there is a more "open door" policy.

Other things we didn't have in elementary school: regular phys ed, art, or music (except for 5th grade band which was totally optional and I'd say about half the class didn't participate. . . I was a non-participant as my parents thought I was better off concentrating on the extracurricular I had already committed too and didn't want me pulled out of class. When band was an elective class, I was allowed to join). I recall a shared P.E. teacher visiting a few times in upper elementary. It wasn't particularly enjoyable. Instead of hitting the soccer field or jumping rope, we had to play organized volleyball. I was about 3 feet too short for that and my serve hit the net if I was lucky. We didn't get much exercise just standing there. There was a shared choir teacher who came around the holidays (I asked to be excused). There was a shared art teacher who came around from time to time. I have no particular recollection pleasant or unpleasant. For the most part, teachers enriched according to their interests. I could have done without one interest. On the other hand, one teacher taught us double-dutch during recess.

One comment (highlighted above, and quoted here in full) really stands out to me. Not for what it says, but for what it doesn't say: "And even those families who are firmly committed to Jewish education still need their children in a nurturing Jewish environment, inside and outside of school. One could argue that this should be the purview of the shuls and not the schools. True enough, but it would only transfer the cost." [Warning: about to step into seriously politically incorrect territory] The expectation is that children must be fully nurtured by the community. Hence the growing demand for social workers, programming, etc. What about transferring some of the responsibility to parents? I guess that boat has sailed. After all, when tuition bills reach into the five, and even six, figures, parents have to outsource these things and schools need to compete. And after paying tuition, there isn't much energy, time, or money left for outside enrichment.

As for the increase in special education services, this is a very touchy area. Over the years, I've read letters from parents that are accusatory in nature. I've never touched the subject here because it is like a hot potato. I feel for parents who are have children that with greater needs, but I simply don't see how private school can accommodate all needs out there with their current resources. It is quite possible too much has been bitten off as it is (see the note about 12% of the budget on resource room alone). There is something unpleasant about being told "we" aren't doing enough, when things are what they are.

In the comments, Rabbi Berger makes a very provoking comment on special education: "Next, speaking as a father who spent years paying for Bridge Classes for a number of children, as well as a child who has Downs…. There is Special Ed and Special Ed. It’s one thing to provide yeshiva education for children who are labeled things like ADD, ADHD, dyslexic… these are critical members of society who the next generation cannot function without. There is also Special Ed like my son with Downs requires. Is his daily yeshiva a communal need or a want? From a straight and admittedly brutal triage perspective, will we pay for one special child to get a basic Jewish education or take that money to pay for over a dozen mainstream or several learning-disabled children? An adult with Downs is not likely to head off the derekh just because his Jewish education is in Sunday School or an after-school program. Real cost cutting will require making those hard decisions, and our unwillingness to face them makes it impossible to make ends meet.."

I will leave my thoughts at that. Personally I'm not convinced smaller classes, more competitive pay, and more everything has created a more enviable product. But, so long as others think it has, the cycle will continue.

This is far too lengthy and I need to get to work to pay tuition :)

Two More School Closings

There is something terribly sad about schools closing so close to the upcoming school year. My heart goes out to the parents and student who must now regroup so unexpectedly.

Bat Torah Girls High School of New Jersey announced they will not be reopening their doors this fall. As per the article, the scales were tipped when a few students moved schools.

The Twin Cities Chabad boys high school that reported financial troubles, one issue being that not one student paid full tuition. The school just announced that they will not be reopening in September, but they are planning a campaign with hopes to reopen in 2012. This past school year, there was only one student paying the full fare of $19K, which includes room and board.

There isn't much economic commentary to offer that hasn't already been offered. Smaller schools are particularly vulnerable to even the loss of a few students. The institution(s) in smaller communities are particularly vulnerable as a whole to losing even a few students.