About "Dark Lights" and "Black Holes"

B"H

Actually I wasn't the first one noticing the website of the KVETCHER. A friend of mine discovered the site first and highly recommended it to me. The Kvetcher obviously likes to write about certain Jerusalem Yeshivot. Basically he calls the students of the Ohr Sameach Yeshiva "Dark Lights" and the Yeshiva itself "Black Hole".

One is free to think whatever he wants but it really makes more sense when you personally know the places. When you know the students of Ohr Sameach, its sister school Neve Yerushalaim or another Yeshiva located in the Old City, the Aish HaTorah Yeshiva.

For more than a decade, I've been meeting Aish, Ohr Sameach or Neve Yerushalaim students everywhere. Especially at the Shabbatot at Rabbi Mordechai Machlise's house who lives right behind Ohr Sameach.

When I started to become religious and decided to learn more about Judaism, I was also sent to Neve Yerushalaim. I was on the famous Yeshiva shopping trip anyway and actually I was looking for something Israeli. I didn't want to be among Americans all the time. As I lived in Israel and planned on making Aliyah, I wanted to get adjusted to Israel and not to the US.

I have met many different characters going to the men's Yeshivot Aish and Ohr Sameach. Both Yeshivot mostly offer beginner programs but it is possible to continue for some years in more advanced classes. Both Yeshivot have an age limit and prefer younger students from all over the world. You shouldn't be over thirty.

Every year, many young Jews come to Jerusalem and either look for a Yeshiva on their own or already signed up for a programs at home. Aish and Ohr Sameach are popular among the young guys. Mostly American rabbis teach American, British, Australian or South African students. Sorry, I forgot mentioning the Canadians.
Teaching newcomers is a dangerous and a highly responsible task. Many times, the newly religious are getting carried away by the enthusiasm a Baal Teshuva sometimes has. Suddenly everything and everyone has to be religious and behave in a certain way. Once you are inside the Yeshiva, you easily forget about the outside world. The worst is when a student comes back to the States and suddenly has to face his reform or conservative parents. Thus, many conflicts have been coming up and upset parents called the Yeshiva afterwards complaining about what they had done to their kids.
The problem is that the Yeshiva student is too young and has no experience of how to deal with the secular outside world.

Rabbi Machlis once gave a great example:
Once a student went back to the States and started to tell his rabbi at home what to do. He said that according to the Shulchan Aruch it is so and so. The rabbi replied that the community doesn't go according to the Shulchan Aruch but rather according to the Aruch HaShulchan. The student was embarrassed.

I have faced this many times. Young Jews start Yeshiva without knowing a thing and after a week or two, they start telling you what to do. Avoiding such problems is a great task for a rabbi and sometimes it seems that neither Aish nor Ohr Sameach are very successful in this. The same with the women's Yeshiva Neve Yerushalaim.

The Kvetcher claims that Neve doesn't want the girls to become too educated. This, I can confirm although I have a friend claiming the opposite. It is well known that Neve Yerushalaim has not such a great intellectual standard and even other women's Yeshivot in the Har Nof neighbourhood make fun of Neve. Example: Shearim where young women study Gemara.

Neve sees its goal in turning secular female Jews into religious observant Jews. If possible, Shidduchim should be made between Neve girls and Ohr Sameach guys. In my eyes, everybody is free to decide and there are actually Neve girls who studied at Harvard before. Not everyone is coming brainless. If someone doesn't like the program, she is free to leave and look for something else, as I did. But what I do criticize is that many young people get rushed into religion too fast. For instance, Neve expects the girls to take over a religious life style after six weeks in the Mechinah (preparation course). This also includes adopting a frum clothing style: long skirts and long sleeves only.

I heard about a famous case where a girl was rushed into religion and only after a few months got married to a haredi guy. They went back to the States, had a child and after only two years, the woman escaped and returned to her former life style. The guy married someone else haredi.

Becoming religious takes time and it doesn’t just come after six weeks or so. It takes years and lots of patience, as it is a life process. Neve, Aish and Ohr Sameach many times forget about this and rather act too speedily. Just as if they are afraid that the student might just run away.