Rebbe’s Opinion About School Admission – Part Two

Welcome to our weekly Motzei Shabbos program.

This program is a continuation — b'hemshech — of last week's program. Last week's program was about school tuition, and this week I want to focus on the school's administration, specifically the financial administration, the Hanhala Gashmis. But before I do that, I promised you last week that I would share with you a story, and I think it's a shocking story.

Rabbi Mindel, when he was with the Rebbe taking dictation — as you know, and as I've mentioned many times, he took dictation — the Rebbe opened every single letter. Most of the time the Rebbe never shared with him the question that people asked, but sometimes the Rebbe did share with him. And this is a letter that the Rebbe shared with him. The Rebbe opened the letter and showed it to him, I think, or read it to him.

An 11-year-old boy wrote to the Rebbe, and I think it was written with tears in his eyes, because later on Rabbi Mindel happened to meet the father, and the father said that his son wrote it with tears. He was sent out — he writes to the Rebbe that he was sent out of the yeshiva. They told him to go home. I don't know whether it was the principal or the Hanhala Gashmis, because the father could not afford to pay tuition. So they told him to go home until the father would pay tuition. So he's sitting and writing to the Rebbe. He's home now and he can't learn, and he's asking the Rebbe that they should be able to take him back to yeshiva. And he signed his name.

Now, you can imagine — I'm saying this, you can imagine — how the Rebbe felt. I personally think the agmas nefesh that such a letter gave the Rebbe exceeds all the [unclear] that the Rebbe had over the 50 years, from different things, whether it's from news reports or whatever it is — I don't know exactly — but in my opinion, nothing compares to this shocking letter that this boy wrote.

So the Rebbe called in Rabbi Hodakov right away, and immediately told him, "Call the school" — I'm not saying where or what the school is — "call the yeshiva, find out who [is responsible], find out, or speak to the principal," or whoever it was — I don't know exactly. And he did, and within an hour the boy was back in yeshiva. I will not share with you now what the Rebbe said, but at the end of this program I will share with you, in Yiddish, what the Rebbe said. I want to read this at the end of the program.

So this is the point: no child can be sent out of school, day school, or yeshiva if they cannot pay tuition. This is a very important point also.

It's very painful, and it's clear that many of our boys' and girls' schools are using guidelines — some of which are contrary to our teachings — now relatively new rules which we did not have in the past. Who made these secular-minded rules, and how did these guidelines come about?

I know that years ago, the traditional, proper way — the way of bringing a child to school — was that the parent came with the child to school and met with the menahel, who would talk with the child, get to know the child, and extend a warm welcome. This is how the registration went.

Now, as far as tuition, the parent would then go to the financial office and discuss with them what he's able to pay, if he's able to pay, and work it out with them — but this had nothing to do with the child, with him being [accepted]. This would in turn be conveyed to the Hanhala, so they would know what happened as far as the tuition. This is how it was. Now, this was strictly confidential. No one knew about it, and no one was embarrassed in the process.

But this is no longer the case today. Where did we go wrong?

Today, first and foremost, the parent who comes to register a child is told to speak with the Hanhala Gashmis, the financial committee, and it is they who decide if and whom to admit. How did this happen? Is this the obligation and task of the Hanhala Gashmis? Who are they to make such a decision? Is this the field of their expertise? The Hanhala Gashmis's obligation is financial administration.

Their task, and only task, is to bring in funds from the outside — not through tuition — for the school to cover expenses. That is it. The Hanhala Gashmis has nothing to do with the teachers, and has nothing to do with tuition.

Now, the expenses of the school — first and foremost are the teachers. They have to know that the teachers are number one. They have to get paid their salary, and after that all other expenses such as secretaries, janitors, desks, doors, utilities, and building maintenance.

Now, sadly, we often see the order reversed, where the luxuries come before the primary necessities.

That is why the Hanhala Gashmis ideally should be comprised of people who are able to meet this obligation — business people in various fields: commerce, finance, construction, people with connections and public relations, maybe also some people with government connections — who are able to keep expenses to a minimum as well as to bring in generous funds through their connections. This is the one and only task which they have: to bring in funds.

As the Rebbe says — and I'll read to you later in Yiddish what the Rebbe said — the Rebbe says there is plenty of money in New York, in the United States. All that needs to be done is get up from the chair and go pick up a donation. It is the great merit which they have, to ensure the wellbeing of our dear children, which should give them true gratification and pleasure. A school cannot and should not be run like a business.

The only part of the school that should be run like a business is its material expenses — use of the funds in the most efficient way possible, with minimum waste and maximum productivity. The obligation of the financial administration does not include anything else — things which are not in the field of their expertise. No tuition or admission matters, and no hiring or firing of teachers. These were never their obligation.

The bulk of the school budget is covered by the efforts of the financial administration, who do the fundraising, and these funds should be sufficient to cover regular necessities.

Now, what about tuition? Should the school rely on tuition for the basic necessities? The Rebbe says no. Whatever comes in from tuition could be used for extras — a building, nice furniture, and more — but we should not rely on tuition. Use every opportunity to fundraise. They should fundraise; there is so much out there. We merely need to make the effort. But squeezing and pressuring parents, I don't think, is what the Rebbe had in mind when he spoke about the need to fundraise.

Tuition is a separate matter and should not be in the hands of the fundraisers; it needs to reflect the values and conduct [of the school]. But there is the matter of tuition. So who should take care of tuition?

I suggest — and people have spoken about this — that there should be a tuition committee, nothing to do with the Hanhala Gashmis. Keep it small, comprised of people from all walks of life: learned and simple, wealthy and modest, teachers and parents, even members of the Hanhala Gashmis, as long as they have the right values and feelings, because these are people who understand the parents and understand those who do not have. A school needs a soul; we cannot forget this. And this tuition committee needs to consult with the rabbinical board. Schools are public servants; they serve their parents.

So they take on the holy obligation in the right spirit, that they are doing this properly. I'm encouraged by the very positive feedback from last week's program, and the encouragement from so many to continue sharing the Rebbe's words. These are suggestions which I feel will help turn things around for the better, and I'm confident that things will greatly improve, and the Rebbe will have much nachas from all of us.

Now I want to read just a few paragraphs in Yiddish, and whoever doesn't understand, they can have somebody translate. This is word for word from the Rebbe. And the Rebbe says like this:

[Rabbi Schapiro reads a passage aloud in Yiddish from the Rebbe's letter; the Yiddish itself is not transcribed in the source recording. Fragments audible in the source include references to] the director, the administration, the president, the chairman, the committee members — whether as director, or president, or chairman, or committee member — the budget, [funds] in New York, the office. [The remainder of this passage is unclear in the source.]

Now, this is also a problem: the schools put a lot of children — 25, 30 children — in one class. The melamed, the teacher, cannot handle it. They should split the classes; they need more melamdim. So let them collect more money, but they can't put so many children in one class. So who benefits here? All the children lose out, because the Hanhala Gashmis — this is how it goes — doesn't raise enough funds. They should go; there's plenty of money. The Rebbe says — then the Rebbe says here —

[Rabbi Schapiro continues reading aloud in Yiddish; the passage is not clearly transcribed in the source recording.]

So here we see — I read it in Yiddish, and you can always have it translated into English, whoever wants to know what the Rebbe says here. But we see here how the Rebbe was very concerned: number one, the Rebbe says classes should be smaller, they should take on more melamdim; the Hanhala Gashmis has to worry about this and not throw away melamdim. And, as we spoke about last time, the Hanhala Gashmis has nothing to do with melamdim, has nothing to do with teachers, nothing at all — there has to be a special [committee] for that. And no child can be sent home because of tuition. This is very, very important.

And as the Rebbe says, we should listen to the emes Hashem. Next week I will continue with a third program about tuition — a very, very important program. Thank you.