TORONTO — A representative of an Israeli yeshiva recently offered $1,000 to Rabbi Eli Mandel, vice-principal of Jewish studies at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, for every student who attends the yeshiva after leaving high school.
Referring to the yeshiva, which accepts North American students for a post-high school year, on Nov. 8, Rabbi Mandel wrote on Lookjed – a listserv for Jewish educators affiliated with Bar-Ilan University’s Lookstein Center for Jewish Education – “I recognize that recruitment for Israel yeshivot is a cut-throat business, but I was (perhaps naively) shocked at a recent proposal made to me by a somewhat prestigious yeshiva, to remain nameless.”
He added that it is the first time he has been approached with this type of offer in seven years of doing Israel guidance.
Rabbi Mandel declined to comment further, but Paul Shaviv, TanenbaumCHAT’s director of education, told The CJN in an e-mail that he has not come across the phenomenon before either. Others who responded to Rabbi Mandel’s posting, however, indicated that such offers are not the only inappropriate practices by Israeli yeshivot.
Todd Berman, associate director of Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi in Jerusalem, wrote that it is time to draft ethical guidelines for all institutions and recruiters. Issues that might be addressed could include publicly criticizing other institutions, pressuring students before the agreed-upon date for acceptances, stringing along candidates by offering acceptance letters and not delivering, and misleading advertising, he suggested.
Rabbi Mandel was criticized by at least one listserv member for not naming the yeshiva.
Shaviv explained: “The school decided to remain discreet regarding the identity of the institution involved. However, we have informed them that we are not sending them any students for the time being. Our responsibility is to give the best possible, objective and carefully considered advice to our students under all circumstances, which we will continue to do.
“It is self-understood that every school always has to act honestly and ethically,” he added.
