Dear Klal Yisroel, I write this because it pains me to be witness to holy Jewish mothers and fathers being insulted and denigrated. I am talking about my sweet little nephew Dovi* and his future. I am talking about all the sweet little boys and girls, who are sitting at home today and unbeknownst to them, they have been rejected. Even though pre-school or first grade has started. The way our Yiddish mamas protect their children is like none other. They have led their child to believe that they are not in school because of a virus. Indeed it is true, they are home for another virus. A virus that unlike Covid-19 that spares children entirely, this particular virus affects our precious children first and hardest. It is the virus regarding the handling of acceptance of our precious and pure children into school. These children gifted to us from Hashem, full of potential and yet nowhere to actualize it. It’s a virus that has many side effects and there are thousands of cases in our community’s right now! These children are all in quarantine and there is no end in sight. As Yidden, we are Am Hanivchar, we are fair and honest. We do chessed like no other nation, and we raise our kids to be the best servants of Hashem they can be. I have tried to think of areas, where the world on a global scale does a finer moral job then Am Yisroel. I can tell you, it’s hard to find! Where in the world is there a volunteer ambulance company that responds in 19 seconds to save a life, of course besides Hatzalah? Where are beggars afforded a dollar by half a room of 50 people at shul or a wedding? Where is there an organization that goes to all ends of the world to bring new children into the world? For free, besides Bonnie Olam. The list goes on and on. All because we live by a Torah, a living Torah that guides our morals and values. To say we are ten levels above the world’s morals, I think that would be an understatement. Except, when it comes to accepting our precious Neshamas into school. In the United States and across the world, a similar acceptance process exists to get accepted into colleges. The U.S. Department of Education has thousands of pages of case law regarding acceptance discrimination of all kinds. Besides the many initiatives that top Universities have enacted to give opportunities and acceptance to less prime candidates. Most importantly a safety net exists where tangible tests or a goal can be met for acceptance or not. A majority of our Mosdos’s acceptance system is riddled with unfairness. Yet no safety net exists, to prevent it. It’s the wild west and it happens that acceptance decisions are riddled with favoritism, politics and a lack of transparency. I am no fool and I understand the need for an application and rejection process. Let’s not kid ourselves, these rejections happen to good families and great kids. Some might not have a well-known last name. It could be an honorable family that may have less means than the average family. It may be an ehrlich family with a smaller social circle that has less “pull”, or a […]

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