What comes first -- the expenses or the lifestyle? And to further add oil to the fire, what is the quality of that education which costs a minimum of 40K? I mean, if you're paying that kind of serious cash, aren't you entitled to expect some kind of value in return?
Binyomin | 04.17.05 - 12:02 am | #

Oy Binyamin
In the Jewish world, NOTHING is extremely expensive. The question to put to the schools is this. "Are you providing a Jewish education, or are you in the "school business"? The second is "Do you want these kids or not?" If the school is "nonprofit", check www.guidestar.org to see if they are being on the up and up about funding, assets and expenses. Their tax forms are legally public.
rebeljew | Homepage | 04.17.05 - 10:36 am | #

A real estate lawyer in Brooklyn tells me that he is constantly amazed at the sophisticated, but illegal, schemes his charedi clients want him to arrange for them -- virtually all through government "programs". He does not want to be disbarred, so he refuses. No problem, they just go to someone else. He tells me that in certain chareidi circles, if you actually hold down a legitimate 9 to 5 job, you're considered a nebech, a loser. There is so much to be earned via the "programs", if you just know how to go about it. He says, if the government ever decided to crack down on these abuses, there wouldn't be a jail big enough to house the perpetrators.
Binyomin | 04.17.05 - 7:13 pm | #

Binyamin

If you only knew where you were going with your inquiry it would sicken you. Suffice it to say that Hillary Clinton carried New Square almost unanimously and coincidentally 4 New Square fundraisers were pardoned in pardongate, Jan '01. That is how business was done in the shtetls.
rebeljew | Homepage | 04.17.05 - 8:43 pm | #

The chareidi "system" of discouraging secular education is psychologically dysfunctional and economically unsound; it creates a welfare program society not unlike those of other visible minorities such as inner-city Latinos, Blacks, and Native American Indians with all the associated sociological and crime-related problems. We think we're somehow different and immune. We're not.

Because this is at its root a "values" problem, it will only be seriously addressed when people with courage and authority change the current chareidi value system from within. This will effectively democratize the decision-making process, thereby threatening the existing power structure. But it is essential. If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.
Binyomin | 04.18.05 - 10:54 am | #

Oh my G-sh, Binyomin

The heresy! The Chutzpah! The unabashed common sense!
rebeljew | 04.18.05 - 10:47 pm | #