Last Simchat Beit HaShoeva in Mea Shearim: Drunk American Yeshiva students yelling out of a window in Mea Shearim.
All Photos Here !
B"H
"Hi, my name is Jacob, in Hebrew Yaakov, and I originally come from Boca Raton / Florida. Now I study at Ohr Sameach (a litvishe Yeshiva in Jerusalem) and this changed my life. Back in Boca Raton, I used to be a drug addict and was hanging around with really bad people. My parents sent me to Ohr Sameach and now I have discovered my Jewish heritage and that life offers so much more than drugs. I don't need any drugs anymore but have Torah !"
I heard this speech of a young guy in his early twenties a three or four years ago. Everyone hearing it was impressed. Forget about AISH and Ohr Sameach doing a bit of brainwashing but this guy getting away from drugs ... wow. What a story !
Only a few months later, a friend of mine and I saw the saw guy running and screaming around near Mea Shearim. Drugged again and this was the last time we saw him. Maybe Ohr Sameach kicked him out and Yaakov is back in Boca Raton where his parents have to deal with him again.
Drug problems are nothing new in Israeli Yeshivot and it is well - known that especially American youngsters studying in Israel either deal with drugs, use them or both. Not every student and I am not generalizing but many. Today almost every Israeli Yeshiva has a drug advisor or social worker. Especially since the deadly incident some years back where a young Anglo student studying in Telshe Stone (near Jerusalem) died of an overdose.
Unfortunately, many American, South African, Australian or British parents have the idea that by sending their looser children to Israel, they are getting rid of the problem. Kids using drugs at home will continue doing so elsewhere. The same with violent kids and those getting drunk all the time. However, plenty of parents think that a Yeshiva should deal with the child and maybe the looser child turns into a normal person being able to deal to live his life.
Those parents choose the easy way out and push all responsibility over to the Yeshiva, the Israeli police and social workers instead of dealing with the problem at home. No one is getting sober in a Yeshiva programme but only disturbing other or even trying to get others into trouble. Parents, in particular the ones with money, obviously don't see it this way and just want the kid out of the house. Even better, send the child as far away as possible.
