Thirteen years ago, when Rabbi Yisroel Levin first assumed his position as head of the massive Machon Bais Yaakov Lemorot—or the Seminar HaYashan, as it is more commonly known—which has five branches and over 6,000 students, Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman was still alive and Rabbi Levin went to him frequently for advice. “‘Do you make the girls dance?’” Rabbi Levin recalls him asking. “I sat there dumbfounded and wasn’t sure what he meant, but he repeated his question. ‘What do you mean by dance?’ I inquired. He replied, ‘Girls have to be happy in order to learn, and they need to be in a cheerful environment. They have to dance in order to be joyful.’
“Over the years, I’ve come to see how true this statement is. If we want our lessons to resonate, we have to teach them with joy. If halachah is taught the wrong way, girls will have a fear of Shabbos and Pesach. Halachah is not about limitations; it enhances a person’s life,” he tells me emphatically.
I am sitting across from Rabbi Levin in his small apartment in Yerushalayim. A Gerrer chasid, he is dressed in traditional Gerrer garb and wearing old-fashioned plastic glasses. His jet-black peiyos and beard that has only a small streak of gray running through it belie his age and seniority in one of the most important Torah institutions in Eretz Yisrael. In light of today’s challenges in chinuch in the United States, I have come to hear his insights and perhaps get a different perspective than we are used to in America.
Rabbi Levin hails from a rabbinical family. He is a son of Rav Binem Levin, who headed the Seminar HaYashan before him. Rav Pinye, Rav Binem’s father, the Bendiner Rav, was a son-in-law of the Sfas Emes, and his brother was the famous Rav Yitzchok Meir Levin, the son-in-law of the Imrei Emes who represented Agudas Yisrael in Poland and later in Eretz Yisrael. The Imrei Emes had sent the Bendiner Rav to Eretz Yisrael to open the Bais Yaakov with the help of Rav Yitzchok Meir. Rav Pinye inherited his position, and Reb Yisroel took over after him.
Rabbi Levin learned in kollel for 18 years before assuming his current position. “I initially didn’t want to follow in my father’s footsteps, but Rav Shaul Alter insisted that it was my duty to continue the family’s mission,” he says, trying to wave away any suggestion that Rav Shaul wanted him to become menahel because of his own qualities. Rabbi Levin is also a rosh kollel and delivers shiurim to 50 yungeleit, but when I bring it up, he insists that he is primarily a menahel these days.
Rabbi Levin is passionate about the state of today’s chinuch and its unique hurdles, insisting that we are facing challenges that previous generations never thought possible. “And I’m not just talking about the Internet,” he says. When I ask him for specifics, he prefaces his words with a deep sigh.
“Materialism,” he replies. “It has unfortunately crept into all aspects of our lives, with luxurious furniture and fancy clothes. The problem is that these new ideas are everywhere. Wherever one walks on the street, from clothing stores to eateries and even groceries, it all screams materialism. Shops are not simple anymore; they are all luxurious, with fine details, marble flooring, and high-end wares. Then there are a lot of families who vacation in high-end villas or hotels, or even take trips to Europe and America. This has multiple negative effects. First, it impacts the daughters of these families because it spoils them. They don’t want to limit themselves to a smaller apartment and lower their standards. Marrying a ben Torah and living a kollel life is the highest calling and was always a source of pride. But these days, many girls are ashamed to live ‘poor.’
“Another change is the jobs that frum women have today. In the old days, a frum woman used to either be a stay-at-home mother or become some kind of teacher. Today they are out in the world, having jobs in high tech or architecture or whatever. They’re exposed to an alien lifestyle.”
Rabbi Levin acknowledges that circumstances have changed and there is good reason for frum women to have branched out. Nonetheless, he says that we mustn’t be blind to the impact it is having. “I believe that even though it has eased the financial burden and allowed many to pursue a kollel life, it certainly has its drawbacks.”
He adds that the way life in general has become more comfortable and easy of late compounds this issue.
“Ours has become the generation of chad paami. Everything is disposable. Instead of washing dishes, you just throw them out. We’ve become lazy. Our grandmothers had to go to the shochet and then salt and kasher the chicken before they could even cook it. Nowadays, many kitchens aren’t even used during the week because everything is a phone call away. Combine laziness with greater expectations and the results are disastrous. How can one possibly survive on a kollel budget if those are the standards?
“But even if girls don’t marry someone who will remain in kollel for a while, this lifestyle causes them problems in the future. Most parents cannot support their married children in the same manner that they’re used to, and their husbands aren’t making that kind of money. This causes marital strife and also hurts them economically if they don’t have the discipline to budget properly. And when they do live that way, it makes their classmates jealous, because they then aspire to live like their friends. I see this happening all the time.”
In order to fight this mindset, Rabbi Levin says that chinuch must be approached in the proper way. “If we instill the value of Torah and mitzvos correctly, and they gain a true appreciation for them, this can protect students from the allures of the outside world. You can’t tell a girl, ‘If you don’t do this mitzvah properly you’ll be doing an aveirah.’ It’s such a counterproductive approach. Of course we teach the girls about schar v’onesh, but it has to be done correctly. The objective is to instill a love of Yiddishkeit. If you just try to instill chumros, as soon as they leave seminary they will be left behind. The best way to ensure that our talmidos continue their upward trajectory is to make sure that they love Yiddishkeit.”
Rabbi Levin adds that in some respects girls have an advantage over boys. “I find that girls are naturally much more spiritual. I observe them davening with such intensity, with tears streaming down their faces, that I am inspired in my own davening to try to achieve that level of emotion. In order to make them love ruchniyus, we emphasize the beauty of a Torahdike home and being connected to Hashem. We make sure that the way they are taught about Pesach doesn’t scare them. We don’t want a girl to leave a shiur terrified of all the cooking and cleaning. We want them to understand that if these things are approached properly, it makes for uplifting and memorable experiences. Tznius is also something that has to be taught correctly. A girl should never feel that she can’t look beautiful if she is dressed modestly. If tznius is taught as something that is a burden, it can cause a girl not to keep those halachos, chalilah.
“In order to instill these positive feelings, we offer many group activities to foster camaraderie, as it helps our talmidos bond with one another. We take them to nice places and serve them healthy and nutritious food. We take them on Shabbatons, where they prepare the food together and sing together, and we also have guest speakers who reinforce our values and hashkafos. These messages resonate even more when they are on trips. Since they are in a more enjoyable environment and aren’t worrying about grades or homework, these lessons seep in on a deeper level.”
The seminary has had many prestigious rabbanim on its staff, perhaps most famously Rav Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth, author of Shmiras Shabbos K’hilchasah.
“This sefer was a product of the shiurim he gave here; now his son Rav Akiva Neuwirth teaches here. Our graduates are so well versed in Hilchos Shabbos that they often know them better than their future husbands. But to be fair, bachurim don’t really learn halachah l’maaseh,” he adds with a smile. “During the Chanukah break, some talmidos felt that they needed another shiur in Hilchos Shabbos. Over 50 girls went to Rav Neuwirth’s home during their time off to make sure that they were fully caught up. This attests to the seriousness with which our students take the learning of halachah, because they understand the value that it brings to a Jewish home.”
He adds that each teacher is carefully instructed to make sure that they understand how the girls should be taught. “We make sure that those who speak and teach about Yiddishkeit do so with enthusiasm and energy so that their love for it comes through in the teaching. The girls have to feel how much the teacher loves it and how much it means to them; otherwise, it becomes an academic exercise and the girls do not learn to love it.
“We also instruct all of our teachers, especially new ones, to look for the good traits and strengths in each girl and focus only on them. Of course, if there is something that requires them to take action they will do so, but we have found that when a girl gains confidence and her strengths are accentuated, she won’t just overcome weaknesses but outgrow them.
“We aren’t a newfangled institution that has come up with innovative ways to educate. Even our name Seminar HaYashan (the Old Seminary) reflects the fact that we have a connection to previous generations. And baruch Hashem, we’ve been successful for many years.”
In the event that a girl does step out of bounds, there are very strict guidelines for how to handle it. “It is vital that a teacher never admonishes a girl in public or screams at anyone. If someone has to be corrected, it must be done in private, away from the prying eyes of others. If a girl is publicly embarrassed or humiliated, she may never recover.”
Just a few months ago, this advice saved a teacher from making a monumental mistake.

To read more, subscribe to Ami

subscribebuttonsubscribeEMAGbig