By a disappointed bochur

There is a disappointing phenomenon in our yeshiva system that I have been observing over the past few years, and I would like to write about it.

As anyone knowledgeable in the Lubavitcher yeshiva system knows, after two years of zal, the majority of bochurim move on to shiur daled in what I call “transition yeshivos,” in order to move on from there and get sent on shlichus to a yeshiva anywhere, etc.

For many, this year of transition is greatly beneficial and enjoyable.

But there is something that goes on with a lot of bochurim who find themselves in such a yeshiva, which is very disappointing, and I would like to call attention to it.

To preface what exactly is disappointing, you have to understand what a yeshiva is supposed to be (at least potentially): a settled place where bochurim simply sit and are involved in learning in a serious way.

What disappoints me is that a transition yeshiva does not, and in my opinion cannot, meet the above criteria in the very way it functions.

Being that a transition yeshiva is a one-year program with multitudes of bochurim from yeshivos of various spectrums, this automatically results by default in lower expectation levels in learning and chassidishkeit.

In addition, many feel unsettled and unattended to as one of many, which is only increased by their lack of knowledge of their yeshiva future.

In addition to this problem about transition yeshivos, there is another significant issue with the actual yeshiva shlichus itself.

As is known, Lubavitch is growing at a rapid pace, b”H. At the same time, yeshivos do not open at the same pace. The way the system works now is that every bochur is (hopefully) sent somewhere, but due to the lack of yeshivos, the term talmidim hashluchim is replaced with the plain term shluchim, and many of them are being sent to be askanim in communities.

Not to mention that there are often a whole bunch of bochurim who are not eligible for shlichus (which many times has to do with their difficulty managing in a transition yeshiva) who are left to figure things out on their own.

What happens as a result of this is that a large majority of the yeshiva system is shut down (around the age when in fact the original Tomchei Temimim first started…), and only a minority make it back into a yeshiva system (which of course leads to the shidduch crisis).

So what would be practical ways of rectifying the situation so that 1) bochurim should not feel the peer pressure and urge to go to a transition yeshiva where they won’t be able to properly grow and succeed, and 2) that there shouldn’t be gap years from preschool to the chuppah where a bachur doesn’t have a healthy, structured place to be in?

I think it could be rectified as follows:

Way 1) Yeshivos, instead of shutting down after two years, will continue for another regular year. At the conclusion of that year, the yeshiva will send a group of bochurim who are deserving to be shluchim in whichever yeshiva it may be (to exclude all these other places where they are sending bachurim due to lack of yeshivos).

The yeshiva continues for another two or three years after that (obviously by keeping some good, solid bachurim to continue the yeshiva), and each year a different group is dispatched and the previous group comes back. This way you have a win-win: you have a proper yeshiva throughout the system and also a proper shlichus system (that lives up to its name, talmidim hashluchim).

Way 2) If for whatever reason existing yeshivos can’t continue, then new yeshivos should be made in the above-mentioned way (as a proper yeshiva, not as a mass transition one).

As a bachur witnessing (and experiencing the above), and with the advice of mashpiim, I wrote the above to encourage all those who have the power to bring the above into action to please, please do so, thereby restoring Tomchei Temimim to what it should really be.