What really happened at Peninim Girls Seminary?

 

Rumors rumors, but what really happened?

It seems like a bunch of girls from the Peninim Seminary dressed up as Arabs and bought knives at Osher Ad Supermarket, the Israel version of Bingo, and then posted the reactions of people at the store on Tic Toc! 

Police were called and they were expelled from Seminary, and some say that they were banned from ever entering the State of Israel. 

The photo above is from the now closed Tic Toc account!

Now I admit that I really don't know for certain what really happened except that the above photo is genuine. (If anyone has more info please comment)

There were rumors that the girls got arrested, but that makes absolutely no sense, since any "genuine" Arab can walk into Osher Ad or any store for that matter and can legally buy any knife he wishes, without getting arrested. 

But what I would like to address is something totally different. 

First of all, I think that the Seminary should not have expelled these girls which could possibly ruin their entire lives. It was a prank, maybe an extreme one and a stupid one, but to expel them and ruin their future is cruel. For those who would argue that this is an extreme prank, and they deserve to be punished severely, I will get back to that later in the post. 

This brings me to another point altogether. 

These Seminaries go to the USA to recruit girls and they choose and handpick the cream of the crop, and then charge fees anywhere from $25,000.00 -$45,000.00. This doesn't include any airfare or spending money and doesn't include all the expenses that parents would have to incur to visit their children. 

To add insult to injury, the girls have to beg and schnoor to stay somewhere for Shabbos, but that's a whole other story.

So, let's take Peninim for example, they specifically chose these girls that subsequently took part in this prank, for their Seminary, so they must have been by-in-large "great" girls. They screened them, right? And if what I hear is correct, that they were expelled, then either the "screening" process is flawed, or the Seminaries are a bunch of thieves!

How so?

The Seminaries that expel the girls in mid semester for any reason, do not return the tuition! Yes, you read that right! They refuse to return the tuition. 

You could argue in their defense that, that spot was reserved for this particular student and now that the girl "broke the rules" and was expelled, the Seminary is now hard pressed to find another replacement mid semester, so they are out the $45,000.00. 

This argument is flawed on many levels. 

First of all, since the Seminary itself chose the girls, they should now share in the loss. Seminaries are a business and in business you lose some and win some.

Second of all, the parents of these girls, I'm sure are searching high and low for another seminary to accept them and this will cost them a pretty penny. The parents have no choice but place them in an alternate school, as bringing them home now would directly affect their shidduchim prospects. They would be able to explain away switching schools in mid semester but will not be able to explain having them come home. The total cost for the parents now will amount to over $80,000.00. (This is assuming they weren't expelled from the country).

I know for a fact of at least 20 girls from various different seminaries that were expelled for various different infractions, some minor, are roaming the streets either waiting for another seminary to accept them or waiting it out till Pesach when most girls go back to the states. The seminaries threw them out without giving the parents any prior notice. 

Aren't these Jewish children. no matter what infraction they may have violated?  So we now have to destroy their entire future and lives?

I'm sick and tired of these clips that have rabbis give a moment of inspiration... I say shove it! 

Where are you when Jewish blood is being spilled by Frum Rabbanim and administrators 

My humble opinion is that the seminaries should reap what they sow and never throw out a child unless she killed someone, period! I know that there are other parents in the seminaries who paid huge tuitions to get their princesses into these schools and are pressuring the administration to have girls that don't fit the mold, expelled. 

These parents are very selfish, and if it was their own daughter, they would sing an entirely different tune.  

Now let me address how a frum seminary girl brought up in a warm loving home in the USA would dress up as an Arab and buy knives to pull off a prank in a Jewish country at war. 

This wasn't one girl by herself doing this prank, I understand that there were four or more of them. So, four or more frum "tzneesdikeh" girls, Bais Yaakov graduates, hand chosen by Peninim to study in their institution, decided to dress up as Arabs to scare the daylights out of old ladies, old people, young mothers and their young children.  How in the world could this happen? What could possibly have gone wrong?

I will shock you with my logic, which I believe is 100% accurate!

This is the fault of the parents, the Bais Yaakovs they attended and the Seminaries!

 OUCH!

None of the above instill any love for the Jewish State!

For the parents, seminaries are just a conduit for a shidduch, it has nothing to do with Yiddishkeit or love for the majority of the Jewish people living in Israel. To them, just like the vicious antisemites, hating Zionists is not a crime. Some parents send them to have the "Israel Experience" but not because the Jewish State is a vital part of Judaism, to them the "experience" happens to be in Israel, they would have been just as happy if the Seminaries were Uganda.

The Bais Yaakovs do not teach, "chas ve'challila" how the Jewish State was established and do not foster any devotion or connection to Israel. This to the Bais Yaakovs, is pure apikorsas. They do not want to teach that the founders of the State though irreligious and some of them even anti-religious dedicated their lives to the cause of the Jewish people, and were able to establish a State that has more Torah learned there than any time in Jewish History going back to Yehoshua, but at the same time, they have no problem teaching them Tanach that discusses that most of the Shoiftem according to Rashi were evil and very problematic and they have no problem teaching them about the Jewish Kings, who were by-in-large ovdei avode zara, 

They do not teach on purpose that there were Gedoilie Yisrael like R' Moliver, R' Kalisher, the Netziv etc that joined Zionists to encourage Aliyah. They don't have any idea that the Gra, the Baal Shem Tov, the Chofetz Chayim were all for making Aliyah. And even those Gedoilim who were initially against the creation of a State, accepted it post facto. The Bais Yaakovs teaches about the Mayflower and about Pocahontas but doesn't G-d forbid teach the history of the Rav HaChalitz, or about Harav Avraham Yitzchok Kook z"l.  Sick!

Yes they teach about the Chazon Ish, the Steipler, the Brisker Rav and R' Chaim Kanievsky z"l but they don't emphasize that they regardless of their views they lived in Eretz Yisrael and would live nowhere else.

Now to the Seminaries who are now throwing out Jewish children like garbage. 

We are talking about Seminaries that are housed in Israel! 

They don't teach any history of Israel, none whatsoever! No hakoras hatoiv..none! G-d forbid they should teach the girls respect for the IDF that put their lives on the line for them every second of the day! To the girls the IDF is there for taking selfies with them. 

So why would anyone be surprised that girls who got a well-rounded Jewish education, cannot relate to the permanent residents of Israel. They cannot fathom, while walking in Machne Yehudah licking their ice cream cones or eating falafel, that Israelis are living in a state of war, they cannot empathize with Israelis that have shelters in their homes, to run for their lives. 

It's not their fault, they haven't been thought the most important statement in the entire Torah

ואהבת לרעך כמוך

As for the arrogant seminaries who throw out Jewish children they should be avoided at all costs, and I pray they close up! How many of these girls will no longer respect our beautiful religion, how many of these girls will be permanently damaged because of the reckless actions of these arrogant self-important administrators. Instead of taking advantage of these "teachable" moments they shun their responsibilities and actively ruin and destroy Jewish souls.

עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון

As for the other parents who put pressure on Seminaries to throw out other children, I say, "take out your own spoiled brats, bring them back to Fakewood, Shnoro-park, and the 5 clowns" Know that you have no guarantees how your children will turn out. One day your turn may very well come up

** Note: There are some seminaries that do teach Israeli history and a love for the State, but these are not the "heimishe or Litvishe"ones!The graduates of these students eventually make Aliyah!