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11 Tishrei 5767 - October 3, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Growing Support for Separate Seating on Public Buses

By Rabbi N. Grossman

Every year before Rosh Hashonoh the editorial board of the Hebrew Yated Ne'eman pays a visit to Maran HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv shlita, who closely oversees and guides the newspaper throughout the year, setting aside valuable time to issue instructions, answer questions posed by the rabbonim of the Vaada Ruchanit. At this year's visit as well, the members of the editorial board sensed his concern for the paper and the importance he attaches to it as the mouthpiece of Torah-true Jewry — a shofar calling for unadulterated truth.

During the course of the conversation HaRav Eliashiv shared his concern over the present and future of the Bais Yaakov system, mentioning the Education Ministry's pressure to require a third year of studies for seminary students. During the past year Maran issued instructions to stand firm against the decree and eventually it was rescinded through chasdei Shomayim.

Still HaRav Eliashiv said the matter of continuation courses for Bais Yaakov teachers must be rectified. "It is unconscionable for future teachers of girls to take all sorts of advanced courses when there is no oversight or guidance by gedolei Yisroel over every last detail regarding what is taught and what is not taught. Without oversight and setting the study arrangements and curriculum, heretical material is liable to make its way in. How can somebody who absorbs these kinds of studies then teach bnos Yisroel?" said Maran with deep concern. He also said he does not know how this has gone on unchecked for so many years.

"The teachers' desire to receive better pay by taking courses to obtain these and other certificates does not make them permissible," said HaRav Eliashiv.

According to the Education Ministry, teachers who have passed their courses are better qualified to teach, added Maran, but we should see this in a totally different light. He said every teacher who has taken or takes advanced courses under the current circumstances is actually at a lower rank in terms of her ability to teach at Bais Yaakov and therefore school principals and parents should give preference to teachers who have not taken these courses.

"This is an issue that affects the entire Bais Yaakov system and nobody can do things without oversight and guidance just because of the Education Ministry's salary terms and directives."

Rabbonim from Vaadas HaRabbonim LeInyonei Chinuch, whose members were appointed by gedolei Yisroel, had already heard HaRav Eliashiv's views on the subject several times recently when he instructed them to bring the matter before the government authorities and various figures involved in the issue. As such Vaadas HaRabbonim recently held talks with top-ranking Education Ministry officials to discuss Maran's remarks and the decision by Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah on the issue several years ago.

HaRav Eliashiv's decision to discuss the matter with Yated Ne'eman demonstrates the need to alert the public and reveals his concerns regarding the possibility of breaches in this area. Of course his remarks carry an obligation for each and every one of us, not just the officials dealing with government authorities, who clearly informed them we will not back down from any of the instructions given by our rabbonim. The matter is resonating throughout the public, thereby compelling Bais Yaakov heads, principals and parents to stand guard against the erosion of educational independence, which could potentially lead to disaster.

As Maran said with deep regret, the matter is so commonplace that it has gained acceptance, although anyone with eyes to see realizes in such a sensitive area as the preparation of the future generation of those who will take charge of our daughters' education a foreign entity cannot hold sway. The present arrangement effectively places the curriculum and the selection criteria for course lecturers in secular hands, creating a situation in which the aspiration for a higher pay level or ranking (according to outsiders' perspective) pushes aside the essential matter: the need to employ teachers whose inner spirit is formed only through the way of the Torah handed down to us through the generations.

No new demands have been made, but merely an insistence on upholding the parameters set by the rabbonim of earlier generations. Limitations were laid down through decisions by Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and a series of stipulations made by Rabbenu Hagodol HaRav Shach zt"l. According to these stipulations, advanced course work could only be arranged if the principles of sur meiro and asei tov were upheld: totally blocking the Education Ministry's dictates regarding the courses, ensuring all of the lecturers were senior Bais Yaakov teachers, making the aim of strengthening emunoh the common thread binding the courses and including issues of chinuch at home as part of the material in order to prepare the students to become mothers.

These stipulations, based on daas Torah, articulated the demand not just that the courses be under rabbinical supervision, but also that the contents be justified and worthy from our perspective rather than basing them on the dictates of the government authorities whose approach to education is anathema to us.

Rabbenu Hagodol said the goal of advanced course work should not be merely to receive higher Education Ministry ranking with a "hechsher," but should reflect a genuine need to train women to become better mothers and educators. And if the Education Ministry agrees to recognize courses consistent with our ways lechatchiloh, fine. But achieving rank should not be a goal in and of itself.

Viewed in retrospective it remains hard to see just where the conditions set by maranan verabonon zt"l were pushed aside and disintegrated, nor is there any need to dig through the past to find someone to blame. Our task is to look toward the future. As a general rule we strive not to repeat or maintain the mistakes of the past, or as stated in the lexicon of Chazal, he who eats garlic should not go back and eat more (Brochos 51a). The fact that an undesirable practice takes root among us does not permit us to perpetuate it by virtue of inertia. As Maran HaRav Eliashiv said, if the only "heter" found was based on "ovor veshonoh" of course it cannot be allowed to continue.

The truth of the matter can be laid forth because the public awakening to seek a fundamental solution to the problem followed on the heels of the campaign against the decree to impose a third year of studies at the seminaries. During the exchanges it came to light that the issue of advanced course work and oversight has been neglected over the years, leading to the current situation in which it was wielded as a weapon against us by government officials, who tried to justified their decrees by arguing that many seminary graduates are willing to accept the dictates of the secular higher education system in order to rise up on the pay scale, so why not agree to bring these studies into the regular teaching certificate studies program?

The remedy does not lie in technical changes here and there, but a need to turn the entire system around — muchlefes hashitoh — from top to bottom. All of the advanced courses must be transformed into courses suitable for a bas Yisroel in full accordance with the guidelines and limitations established by HaRav Shach zt"l.

Every yirei Elokim knows that our rabbonim shlita, who bear the burden of the generation, are the ones who understand the needs of every period. In his book, Tzidkas Hadin, HaRav Tzodok Hacohen of Lublin, explaining the verse, "And of the children of Yissochor, men who had understanding of the times to know what Yisroel ought to do..." (Divrei Hayomim I 12:33) writes, "For the Tribe of Yissochor, whose men toil in Torah, know the will of Hashem Yisborach regarding the leadership of the world in every generation according to the times, their requirements, the public and the place."

Our rabbonim are the men of understanding of the times who know what Am Yisroel needs to do, and if they urge us strongly to stop a certain breach it is a sign this is the need of the hour. Thus if for whatever reason laxity has taken hold and we have grown complacent we must buttress the wall set up by the rabbonim of past generations and rectify the situation completely. We should feel deep concern over the gradual erosion that has brought us to the point where the Education Ministry alone decides how the teachers and mothers of the future generation advance their credentials based on the principles accepted in the secular system of higher education.

Yet even if a sense of olom keminhogo noheig and sholom olay nafshi has come about, we must always keep in mind the words found in Mesillas Yeshorim regarding matters that have become so routine and widespread people know longer pay attention to them, and we have an obligation to do what is required of us. Vehanotel eitzoh min hazekeinim eino nichshal.

 

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