The highly regarded Nachlas Beis Yaakov seminary is asking students accepted to Binas and Kesser Chaya (seminaries belonging to Elimelech Meisels) to apply to Nachlas. They guarantee admission on a first come, first served basis, but only if they get enough applicants to make the program viable. They are saying they need 40 applicants within 24 hours to commit to opening the new adjacent building for the expansion.
It is a bit of a buy-now shtick especially with the upfront requirement of a deposit of half of tuition ($10,900). I suspect they will take applicants after 24 hours. But the sales pitch might work because many parents are panicked about the possibility of not having an alternative to their acceptance by the Meisels seminaries. Just as the Meisels seminaries invoke the Israeli beis din of Rav Mendel Shafran, Nachlas invokes the Chicago beis din when they write, “We are informed that the Chicago Beis Din stands by its letter… Many parents, principals, Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva have turned to… Nachlas Bais Yaakov to fashion a creative solution.”
This move increases pressure on Meisels and the Israeli beis din to come up with a solution acceptable to Chicago. If they dawdle too long there may be no Meisels business to save.
I expect to see other seminaries making similar moves to secure the roughly the 200+ incoming students as well as going for the smaller number of 2nd year students. Right now the seminary business is growing. Of course that might change because of this scandal.
TEXT OF NACHLAS BAIS YAAKOV OFFER
The administration of Nachlas Bais Yaakov is aware that numerous parents currently find themselves in a very difficult predicament.
We are informed that the Chicago Beis Din stands by its letter of July 12th [actually was July 10 – Yerachmiel Lopin]. As such, many parents, principals, Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva have turned to us Nachlas Bais Yaakov to fashion a creative solution for those families who need an alternative quality solution.
In order to accommodate these girls, the administration of Nachlas Bais Yaakov has put into place the major components necessary to open a new seminary, including the option to secure a building adjacent to Nachlas, in the heart of Yerushalayim. We need to have iron-clad commitments from the parents that they will send their daughters so as to know whether we can proceed with this plan.
All students who were accepted to Binas and Kesser Chaya will be eligible to attend this seminary. However, space is limited and these girls will be accepted strictly on a first come first served basis.
Our vision is to provide the same level of Ruchniyos and educational standards within a context of proper nurturing that Nachlas is known for. Tuition for Nachlas for the 5775 school year was set a year ago at $21,400. Therefore, tuition for the new seminary would be the same – with $10,900 payable by credit card immediately to secure a place. The balance will be charged with 10 consecutive monthly payments of $1,050.
There is yet so much that needs to be done and accomplished in order to be fully prepared for the girls’ arrival on September 17th. This requires a tremendous investment of time, resources, and finances. However, given our years of experience in Chinuch Habanos at the highest level, we are confident, given your cooperation, we can do what needs to be done.
We therefore need parents to fill out the accompanying binding Registration Form and return it to us within 24 hours. Once we have a minimum of 40 girls registered, you will be notified via email and will receive a complete registration packet.
Zvi Bloom
President
American Friends of Nachlas Bais Yaakov
nachlasby@gmail.com
Student’s Name: _____________________________________________
High School Attended:_________________________________________
Seminaries Originally Applied To:_________________________________
Seminary Accepted To: ________________________________________
Parents’ Names:_____________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Home Phone: _____________________________________________
Mother’s Cell:___________________ Mother’s Work #:________________
Father’s Cell:___________________ Father’s Work #:________________
Mother’s Email:_______________________________________________
Father’s Email:________________________________________________
AUTHORIZATION
We hereby commit to send our daughter to the newly formed seminary from September 17, 2014 until June 8, 2015.
I hereby authorize Nachlas Bais Yaakov to charge the indicated credit card for the initial deposit of $10,900 and a monthly charge of $1,050 for the next ten months. I guarantee and warrant that I am the legal card holder for this credit card and that I am legally authorized to enter into this recurring credit card billing agreement with Nachlas Bais Yaakov.
Credit Card Name:___________________________________________
Credit Card Number:__________________________________________
Expiration Date:____________________ Security Code:______________
Signature____________________________________ Date:___________
FRUM FOLLIES by Yerachmiel Lopin 
I THINK 20000 COULD BE BETTER SPENT WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE KEDUSHA OF YOUR DAUGHTERS AND SEND ING THEM HEFKER TO ERETZ YISROEL
I am against the cost and other aspects of seminary, but many if not most girls get “college credit” for seminary. They’d have to pay tuition elsewhere for those credits. Yes, seminary costs more than community college and doesn’t cover academic subjects, but many girls are just looking for a quick BA so they can apply to a dumbed-down graduate program in special education or speech therapy. (Bear in mind that yeshivas are the primary employers of girls who attend lower quality masters’ degree programs).
Many frum girls do attend stronger speech and OT programs, but their undergraduate schools may still accept seminary credits for humanities electives.
wow, and this before parents know if they will get their deposits back from the sleazeball. well, whether or not, if they have the money, and feel that their daughter’s entire shidduch future is at stake, they will bite Very enterprising…..
What about a year doing Jewish hitnadvut in US. e.g. working for Uri L’tsedek????? is it too late for some of these volunteer programs. one of mine did a summer at uri l’tsedek. They use space at Drisha in NYC, but are independent what about Drisha.
oh, i forgot, there is an unwritten law, that to be marriageable, one must have done a year in semen….. in Israel. What a messed up community with distorted sense of values..
is it too late to get into any colllege with high level Judaic studies program. are these all super charedim or stam orthos, trying to keep up with the Jones’s??? apologies, not meant to be sarcastic, i am not part of that world, my questions come from lack of understanding re the seminary year, my one BT daughter, studied one month, in summer at some seminary in israel don’t even know which. She is a proud graduate of Brandeis U. and has done a month at Uri L’tsedek, one kayitz, and a month at Drisha, a different kayitz. she is a mensch with wonderful midot. , a BT, i don’t care and i am sure she does not, what the “yichus” of a potential shidduch will be. Hevel Havelim..
Does anyone know how much a parent had to put down as a deposit at Meisels owned seminaries for the coming year? Is there any indication that any of that deposit would be refundable?
Maybe parents can put together a class action suit against the Meisels owned seminaries to get back their deposits, due to the scandal. Unfortunately, in a suit like that the lawyers get half the funds, but it still may be worthwhile if people lost a lot of money.
Of course a Beis Din will need to be the first course of legal action, in order to secure shidduchim for these girls. But Beis Din has no power of enforcement. And those parents who go to secular court may win back some money, but not without jeopardizing their daughters’ shidduch prospects, because SOMEONE will make it into a shidduch issue, which it shouldn’t be, but which it can easily snowball into.
THAT was the purpose of the Israeli Bais Din. By saying that the sems were “safe”, they were indicating that parents would lose their deposits. I am unaware of any other conditions that parents could claim a valid reason to get their money back, but the Israeli Bais Din created a situation where parents could not complain that the sems were unsafe, and demand their money back on that basis. Of course, circumstances might change, but it’s certainly going to be a contentious issue going forward.
Wow what a chessed.
first of no other seminaries will do this bec the Israeli b’d said its assurto take the girlsand all the rest besides tzvi bloom listen to them and meisels is in process of finalizing a sale chicago agrees to
To be determined.
Binas sent me a letter stating that a Mr Y Yarmish has bought the place and its a finalized deal. Rabbi Fuerst told me that the sale to this person is not acceptable.
There are other seminary’s willing to take and willing to work with the parents on the cost i.e. what may or may not be reimbursed. I know if i don’t get back the monies i cannot afford to continue. Most of the tuition is usually covered thru Fafsa Map and Masa and other scholarships. only have 4 or 5k out of pocket.
Ick. Here come the vultures. I was wondering who from the competition was going to try to take advantage of this horrible situation. Maybe i’m just cynical, but I don’t think it’s because they want to help those that might be stuck, it’s more like, hey, we can cash in on all this misery! It’s tasteless, and doesn’t speak to their midos much. What great role models all these seminaries have!
Additionally, why aren’t the other seminaries addressing how they will make sure this problem will not happen by them? Especially this seminary who is offering to take in girls from two of the seminaries. You figure that the first thing these parents would want to know is how is this seminary going to make sure it doesn’t happen again?
I did not post their letter to recommend them. I posted it to show how Meisel’s competitors are moving in on him. It is clearly high pressure salesmanship targeting panicked parents. I agree that all seminaries should adopt policies to better protect their students and better screen out predators.
“Ick. Here come the vultures. I was wondering who from the competition was going to try to take advantage of this horrible situation.”
I feel the same way but not about the seminary above. I feel like every person wo wants to bash the chareidi system, bash the seminary system and everyone who gets off on hanging “black hat rabbis” by the toenails is all over this whether they have a clue or not! Meisels needs to be locked in a cage somewhere, no question, but half of the comments on these blogs seem to be from people who are just really excited about joining this tar and feather campaign, and not people who actually looked into it, know what they are talking about, or give a darn about these girls or the next ones.
If your excitment in exposing hypocritical “frum people” doesn’t come from genuine concern and pain for what is happening to our people, than you are just a different kind of voyeur.
could someone pls explain how he could do this after Israeli bd paskend no other seminary could take in the girls and if u say chicago said he could how could they do that they lost the rights tothe case by giving it over to isreal
Hi, My daughter attended a seminary. Can anyone explain to me why it is soooooooo expensive? I think that the Israeli equivalents are half the cost. Same country, same campus – so what is going on? As for the experience —- some of the seminaries are great , some are totally disfunctional. THere is no way to know before it is too late.
Gavriela
This offer is two sided, one the hand it’s nice of them to give the girls an option instead of going to a sem whose hanaleh is either blind (to be nice) or negligent (which is nice of me to use this word) and have a year in Israel which is a great thing for most girls who go. On the other hand- kind of smells of taking advantage.
I think its a good idea for the girls to make other arrangements- even if everything is worked out, based on the reports here and other blogs, there were people in authority who knew, why should they be trusted again. And if they didn’t know that’s an even bigger question.
I am sure other seminaries would make room, pesak or no pesak. I would think that a parent could take Meisels to Beis din on mekach taus, what parent would sign their daughter up for a school with a dean. . . . . .
It could be the other sems would even write off the deposit, what does one or two more girls mean to them.
The plot thickens. This should make the potential sale of the Sem tricky. After all, with fewer incoming students, the expenses basically the same, the profit decreases or evaporates.
I think its the most bad thing that nachlas or any other seminary should use this story as a way to have more girls in there seminary as much as i know rabbi miesels is a real good man all girls in his sem. are ירא שמים &מידות טובות and if bies din in israel said its ok to send to his seminary i whould be doing so and the rabbis in the israel bies din are big תלמידי חכמים and know to learn and give a פסק אמת not less and even more then this bis din in chicago.
kol tuv
Is Blooms friend gottesman in on this profiteering scheme?
That was the first rumor. The second was that a man named Yarmush was the prospective buyer. I believe that if Shlomo Gottesman bought, the Chicago Beis Din would have refused to lift their ruling. He is close to the Tress/Meisels family and would have just been a front for them.
I’m going to assume that this commenter would have written their comment in English if they wanted to be taken seriously. Hopefully their ability to issue approval of a beis din exceeds their knowledge of basic spelling and grammar.
I don’t know Nachlas well, so those that feel that they are doing it for the right reasons, then great. But in their letter, it basically talks about money and that they want it quickly. It does not say anything about what they are doing to protect their students. Even if their heart was in the right places, it was written badly and comes off as tasteless and money grubbing.
It seems to be a theme of all these letters from the last few weeks, that all of them come off sounding wrong. How do they inspire people when they write so badly? Is there anyone in these administration’s who have any creative writing skills, to write something that is honest and sensitive? Anyone?
Yarmush bought it. Confirmed.
Does anyone know why Gottesman’s law firm is representing the girls and trying to get the case back to the Chicago bais din?
In the torah temimah/Kolko case, Gottesman fought hard to protect MArgo and though he claimed that he wanted to get rid of Kolko, he wanted desparately to do it in a quiet way so that Margo and Torah Temimah should not take a hit. Why is he acting differently in this case?
Lopin,
I think you are wrong this time about Gottesman.
He is the lead plaintiff for the girls. It does not seem like the Chicago bais din would have an issue with him.
Lopin and Truth and others,
I am curious whether anyone actually called the independent third party, Rabbi Burstyn.
What is his take?
He is a Meisels buddy who shares a penchant with him of a lot of alone time with girls in vehicles. It is common LA knowledge that bizarrely he is regularly driven around by his young women. At least Meisels did his own driving.
Actually, Meisels didn’t do his own driving. Unfortunately, I know this for a fact.
So who drove?
Its not like these girls would know their way around israel..
Logically, it is possible he navigated or there was a 3rd party chauffeur.
I have heard that he was involved in the claims with the CBD and than was involved in trying to purchase the seminaries at pennies on the dollar which would obviously put the CBD conviction into question. Now that they weren’t able to buy it it seems as if they are trying a different tactic to get a new seminary open….
YL get your facts straight gotessman is best friends with tzvi bloom and is against meisels
if yarmish did buy the sems what right does bloom hv to open this thing up
I think it is time for everyone to rethink of sending 18 year old girls to israel for the year of “aliya”
Yes, I learnt in israel. And yes, i had many family members who went to sem.
I can say one thing. Almost all of them, (fine Bais yaakov girls) ended up in some relationship with a boy when they were there, (and yes from a range of seminaries) [not that a platonic relationship is bad, but someone who comes from a family which condones it, and then gets involved with a boy, it gets dangerous- V’hamven Yavin)
(yes it takes 2 to tango and boys are also at fault)
The experience of seminary is important to get a girl to be ready for marriage: Namely: being independent, dealing with your own issues yourself etc.
However, when stories come up, WHY do you want to do it?
As for Boys going to yeshiva in israel I say the same. For each boy who “claims” that he had an unbelievable aliya, there are probably 10 who had a terrible Yerida.
Ask those in chinuch, and confirm it for yourself.
Lopin,
Burstyn was brought on by the Chicago Bais Din. Did they not know of his connection to Meisels?
There is no way Burstyn could be working in concert with the Chicago Beis Din. He is being used by Meisels to tell people to violate the psak of the Chicago Beis Din.
Gottesman dug himself a hole by the Kolko case and is now trying to play savior and just digging a bigger hole !! Learn the facts ! The reason it took so long to sell is not because meisels was holding in it was because gottesman was not allowing any buyers in order to further his cause And bloom tried to buy out meisels teachers by offering big cash to which they refused
Here’s a simple question:
Suppose the seminary is sold. Do the new owners keep the same teachers (i.e. the ones who were complicit in the cover up) or do they do a complete overhaul with a brand new staff?
If they keep the same people, then what exactly did they accomplish?
If they get rid of everyone, why even bother keeping the name of the seminary? For all intents and purposes, it’s a brand new joint.
Either way, they should simply find spots for these girls in other seminaries and let these four places die.
Agreed. And the schools need to be seriously cleaned out. Many staff member knew what was going on and worse, they continue to deny and harass the victims to keep quiet. I pity the “DIN V’ CHESHBAN” on all four schools, PIG M, and the staff.
When a business goes down, everyone is affected. Girls who were hurt by the Pig will have the pain their whole life. And now all the teaches who just stood by will get the pain they deserve for letting jewish girls be turned into tools for a sick man to use.
As they say, What goes around comes back around…
Bloom = Torah Umesorah
Torah Umesorah takes their marching orders (in large part) from Chicago.
Sounds Mafia-esque, doesn’t it?
Just hearing about this story now. Definitely looks like they’re colluding…
Agreed it is fishy that gottesman who is Torah u mesorah works with bloom and is trying very hard to shut down the seminaries has bloom open up a new one …
Anything is possible. But I have no confirmation of what you say and I find it unlikely. Some real confirmed fact would be nice.
The whole “Torah Umesorah” thing is tainted with politics and & special interests posturing, so nothing would faze me these days. But you’re right, I can’t actually confirm anything.
What is considered “confirmation ” to you. ?
Can someone offer an update with the Nachlas proposal? Did they reach their goal and move forward?
I don’t know if they met their goal. I doubt it. However, I am pretty sure they are moving forward in their attempt and are undaunted by the Shafran beit din saying others may not attempt to “steal” students from the sems owned by Meisels.
Please don’t segue from agreeing with Israeli BD to saying those who disagree are crooks. there are other reasons to disagree like holding by the Chicago BD psak that these kids should not go to the Meisels seminaries.
its a very sad situation what is going on, even if you are sure that meisels wronged, but there are tons of familys and a lot of chashuv ones who are real mechanchim and have nothing to do with these scandles you are talking about who will loose a lot if all his seminarys close down, now i understand that a parent may not want to send their child to these seminarys, but for another seminary to jump on the wagon and to try to make money from a sad situation, stinks in my opinion
This has always been a competitive business. If the seminaries cannot be cleansed and reformed they should be shut down. The livlihood of families cannot be earned at the expense of the safety of students or their sexual exploitation. Look at your logic. Carried to your extreme you would be saying that running brothels is legitimate parnassah and we shouldn’t close them because of the chashuv families that depend on them for livelihood.
Frankly, every single staff member who turned a blind eye to Meisels’ misconduct should be drummed out of Jewish education. If a mashgiach knowingly looks away at treif on the job, he can no longer be trusted. This is even more true in educational settings where their compromised ethics are bound to influence students. An educator has to be an ethical role model.
FYI, at the turn of the 20th century, Argentina had synagogues just for prostitutes and pimps. They needed them because the regular community denied them burial.
Yes, YL, and Nathan Englander wrote a novel re that situation. I believe it was “The Ministry of Special Cases”. A “good” read. fascinating, could i be wrong, could it have been re a different South American country, efshar, but I believe that this novel of Nathan Englander is re this very subject. Highly recommended. Highly. The only novel of his I have read. Otherwise, not familiar with his writing……
They had separate cemetaries, with a wall dividing the holy from the non-holy, and that is the subject of Englander’s novel. have you read it, YL???
he is a crook because he took money from my friend, money that belonged to him two years ago
You clearly have no facts of anything real,,,,especially because the Administrator at Nachlas is a woman
I am terminating this strand from further discussion. Even if the allegations are true they have no bearing on the question Meisels’ seminaries. Obviously parents considering other options should investigate them.
no teacher there knew anything is going on(again if there really was anyway) and especially keser chaya and binas where no way girls “got close to meisels”. the bis dein in israel said meisels is staying away, so there is NO danger for future students . so why destroy all the people involved ?
You write, “no teacher there knew anything is going on(again if there really was anyway).”
Your comment reminds me of, “I didn’t steal it. Besides it wasn’t his.”
If no teacher knew anything they are incompetent beyond all belief. But the fact is that a number of students from those seminaries have described telling staff about Meisels’ misconduct. IF those staff now claim otherwise they were unresponsive, negligent and are now also, blatantly dishonest.
My daughter is a recent BYLA graduate.
Rabbi Bursztyn is neki capayim uvar laivav.
Your baseless lashon harah about Rabbi Burszteyn undermines the credibility of all your allegations.
You are not offering an argument based on facts.
Experience.