י״ד אלול ה׳תשפ״ו | August 27, 2026
The Job Everyone Thinks They Know How to Do
“My friend who is a plumber doesn’t have others telling him how to his job. Even my friends who are Chabad House Rabbis will not allow their congregants to dictate how they run their Chabad House. But the good Mechanech will need to take abuse and face derision for doing what they are most qualified to do.”
By Meir Wagner – Toronto, Canada
People who are in Chinuch say that being an educator is a very difficult task. Balei-Batim often wonder why. They too work hard and face obstacles.
In fact, sometimes it seems – from a superficial view – that educators have a stable salary and a stable calendar, versus some business owners who can have great financial challenges and sometimes need to put in long and hard days and months without a break!
One possible perspective on the unique challenge Mechanchim face is that people tell them how to perform their shlichus.
My friend who is a plumber doesn’t have others telling him how to do his job. In fact, if someone – even if it is his customer – tells him what to do, he will apply his best knowledge to the task and do it the way he deems proper. Even if the customer claims that he himself is an expert plumber, the one doing the work may take the advice under consideration, but ultimately he will do the job the way he understands to be best.
Even my friends who are Chabad House Rabbis will not allow their congregants to dictate how they run their Chabad House. In fact, of all the Chabad Houses I am familiar with, there is none that haven’t – subtly or not so subtly – had a congregant leave because the congregant was being too loud or opinionated.
The good Mechanech, not only will not tell someone to leave for being opinionated, but will need to take abuse and face derision for doing what they are most qualified to do. And this is what got me thinking about Korach.
Korach was a great Talmid Chochom. He had a shlichus of his own: As a Kehasi, he was tasked with a unique and important shlichus in the Mishkan. In fact, one can imagine that being independently wealthy as he was, he likely built a stately Chabad House to perform his shlichus in relative comfort and luxury.
But he wasn’t satisfied with that.
He “knew best” about how the chinuch of Klal Yisroel should be performed. He made it his place to instruct the Mechanech – Moshe Rabbeinu – how he understood Moshe should be going about Moshe’s shlichus. Furthermore, because of his awareness of his own greatness and successes, he did it in a manner of publicity and with derision.
And he still wasn’t satisfied.
He strove to pull as many people into his “cause” as he could. He dragged hundreds into the fray with him through slander and defamation. He was very convincing, until Hashem Himself intervened and showed otherwise.
This frustration, aggravation, and provocation is unique to the genre of Mechanchim. We often use the phrase to describe our state as a “Dor yosom.” If so, the educators of the generation can be likened to almanos (r”l).
We need to guard ourselves very carefully when interacting with Mechanchim and when advocating for our children – which is indeed our sacred duty as parents – not to do it in a manner that causes anguish to the Mechanchim. The Torah already cautioned us: Do not be like Korach.
COMMENTS
There are Mechanchim who have devoted themselves for years to moisdos and have lots of experience but are failing in instilling the proper values in their students (hence the rampant tzniyus issues in our moisdos and the smartphone pandemic).
There are well known schools in Lubavitch that have many dedicated mechanchim but yet they fail to instill in their students the proper Yiras Shomayim
If a plumber is not good at his job then you get a new one. If for an extended period the peiros of a mosad aren’t vi es darf tzu zain then you need to make moves to fix up the miosad (to quote a recent oped on this site “If a CEO sees that for years running his business has been losing money, he understands the failure isn’t a small part of his job. He’s paid to make the business profitable. And if he can’t, he must resign and recommend finding a replacement who can lead the business to profitability”).
Many schools in Lubavitch are scared to shape up their moisdos and make moves that might result in the removal of mechanchim that have been failing – although they are dedicated and have years of experience – to educate their students properly.
Everyone should have much hatzlachah in doing the right thing. kesiva vachasimah toiva.
I can just imagine those in Adas Korach muttering about how Moshe Rabbeinu was failing to instill the proper values, and how Korach’s rebellion was a necessary one. In fact, I don’t have to work hard to imagine it – even after Korach was swallowed up, there were those who protested – atem hamisen.
To be honest I think “Another perspective” has a solid point – which you failed to address. When it’s clear that certain mechanchim are failing at their job, they should be replaced. And if the response of that mechanech is to shout a slogan that is devoid of sechel and say that he is Moshe and whoever disagrees with him is Korach – I want to keep this arrogance far from my children. Such a mechanech/es can never learn to improve; since when does Moshe need to improve! Maybe this is why they are failing to educate the students of our generation, they feel they are perfect and have no need to improve although on the ground we see that they fail to educate properly.
When mechanchim are raising their students in kedusha then there are doing the ratzon of Moshe; and if ch”v for an extended period of time we see a spiraling yeridah in the kedushah of a school then they should be replaced.
The reason that you missed the point entirely nobody said that the schools are doing a good job but fighting the school is one of the biggest reasons for them failing. If you think you can do a better job go no one in the world will stop you from going into chinuch, even though they might lose their job they’ll be happy with that but to just say their doing a bad job and therefore close the schools that’s adas Korach just to go back to Korach I don’t think Moshe would have a problem if Korach tried to start a new kehila Korach tried to take down Moshe
Reading through these comments I noticed that all the comments which where on the side of the mechanchim didn’t feel the need to hide their names and some including the writer and the first commenter put their names but those which are fighting or writing against wouldn’t write their names maybe there scared that it will take away from the negativity their trying to spread
So 1st and for most, I understand where this guy is coming from about that teachers have to but ur forgetting the most crucial aspect of chinuch- the home. (As they say, monkey-see, monkey-do…)
U can’t expect for a school to bring results of chassidishkiet if from to begun with the students are in a household that doesn’t live by the standards that the school is trying to instill, (you can fill in the blanks for what they are..)
If a family does, and a girl wasn’t surrounded by girls that dont, there would be very different results in schools, for those girls in the class that dont, affect others in the class, what the solution is for schools, i dont know, maybe only accept the type of students that you want, maybe even have standards for the parents, i dont know.
But the point is, i would say practically for parents, teachers/any human beings, dont like being micromanage/harassed by people that who can’t atleast appreciate all the work they do/did for you and know absolutely nothing about chinuch
And 2- show them an extra sence of appreciation, they genuinely actually care about ur child, and honestly, why should they, its not there kid, but they do, and they are the only other person besides for there family that cares about how ur kid does . Everyone should have much hatzlacha in doing what the rebbe would takeh want from us, to be menchin, kesiva vachasimah toiva.
Start telling people to go into chinuch instead of telling people to leave chinuch
Best comment!
I think this is actually the exact point of the this article, and the next article puts it into perspective. The phenomenon of people feeling they know how to “fix” chinuch isn’t new — it was already happening in the early days of Tomchei Tmimim.
That doesn’t mean mechanchim are above criticism or that a mosad shouldn’t make changes when something isn’t working. But there’s a big difference between recognizing a problem and assuming you know how to do the job better than the people who have devoted their lives to it.
Maybe the reason the this article is so hard for people to accept is precisely because almost everyone considers themselves qualified to be the expert on chinuch.
https://anash.org/tomchei-tmimim-doesnt-need-to-be-reinvented/
Calling the smartphone issue a pandemic and saying that the mechanchos are not doing enough in this regard is in a way true, however since Covid the kids have become more reliant on their smartphones and having all their teachers principals constantly saying how bad it is and being all like you shouldn’t have a phone and what not isn’t helping because the are not interested in hearing that, they will not listen. What needs to happen is a new way of accepting this struggle and learning to work with it because working against it clearly isn’t working and won’t work because it is just annoying the teens and the they don’t want to listen to anything the mechanchos are telling them because they aren’t relating to the kids anymore and the kids know that. So we need to find a new way so to work with it so that the kids will listen and start respecting the mechanchos again!
https://anash.org/what-do-we-want-lubavitch-to-be/
The Moshol is so silly and maybe is coming from someone who never did a home renovation.
If I saw a plumber making mistakes, causing leaks, leading to mold growth in my house of course I would ask questions.
Its my house and Im going to have to deal with the consequences of his mistakes.
I don’t need to be a veteran Mechanech to ask questions and advocate for my child.
In fact I would suggest staying far away from a plumber who just says mix out cuz im the plumber when you ask him questions.
I say this with full respect to Mechanchim. A good Mechanech or any good professional welcomes questions and the opportunity to educate. He or She doesn’t hate his customers and works with his “customers.”
Of course it’s your house. If you see a leak, you absolutely ask the plumber questions. You point out the problem, ask him to explain what he’s doing, get a second professional opinion if necessary, and if you’ve genuinely lost confidence in him, you can even hire a different plumber.
But being the homeowner doesn’t suddenly make you the plumber.
You don’t gather a committee of homeowners, decide amongst yourselves that the plumber’s standards are unnecessarily strict, insist that he change the way he does the plumbing, and then, when he refuses to compromise what he believes are proper professional standards, characterize that as proof that he “doesn’t listen.”
The same is true in chinuch. Parents absolutely have the right—and responsibility—to ask questions, raise concerns and advocate for their children. A good mechanech should listen carefully. But listening to parents is not the same thing as surrendering professional chinuch decisions to whichever parents feel most strongly about them.
In fact, the article itself explicitly calls advocating for our children our “sacred duty as parents.” Its point is that this responsibility does not make us the mechanchim or give us license to dictate how they perform their shlichus.
He also gets paid so if you don’t like his work you can find someone else unlike the mechanech does not get paid so there’s no one else. If you have a problem so then become a mechanech. Try it out for a year and see maybe you’ll change your perspective.
I agree with this article. The school has to support the teachers. Not enough respect or gratitude for our Rebbiem and teachers that have the hardest job. They need larger salaries, retirement plans, free tuition for their children and more support from the community.
From my father’s guiding instructions: Keep away – to the ultimate degree – from a campaign of attack. Not because we lack the means of prevailing or because of timorousness, but because we must consecrate all our strength exclusively to strengthening our own structure, the edifice of Torah and mitzvot performed in holiness and purity. To this we must devote ourselves utterly, with actual mesirat nefesh,1 not merely with potential mesirat nefesh.
Growing up I witnessed the firing of dozens of experniced Mechanchim including relatives for the most craziest reasons if not any reason at all
Mechanhim are viewed among us as the “poor beggers of society” when they quietly dedicate themselves to their students every single day
People sitting at desks smoking cigars come in and want “change” because a few parents don’t like …etc the Mechnahce gets told goodbye and have a nice day with no respect and dignity people dont care about Mechanhim like they should be it’s a sad reality but Mechanhim got to accept it until actual change happens in this Chinuch system when they are respected and valued by society like they should be
All we need is more stories like these and good luck finding Mechanchim teaching in our schools!
I’ve met many who would be great educators, conduits of yiras HaShem and ahavas Hashem, yet they refuse to step anywhere near a classroom for this exact reason!
Who wants to start their life over from scratch at 35-40 years old cause the new board decided you’re not what they’re looking for?
Therefore lots of the great yungerleit who would be fantastic educators, say no thanks.
Yasher Koach on writing this article and for giving a voice to so many Mechanchim and Mechanchos.
I personally entered the world of Chinuch after having worked in secular educational settings. Sadly, there were certain realities I was not prepared for.
Disrespect toward teachers does not always come in obvious forms. Sometimes, it is found in the everyday, nuanced conversations and gossip around town; in Shul, at Farbrengens, and while visiting friends and family on Shabbos afternoons. It seems as though everyone knows how things could or should be done better, often without ever having stepped into a classroom themselves.
I have also attended professional development workshops given by members of our own communities and rather than thoughtful discussion, presentations arrive in a very black and white, skewed portrayal of Chinuch, with little room for the realities teachers face each day. At times, it leaves one wondering if honesty about the realities of Chinuch carries its own risks?
And yet, there is another side that deserves to be acknowledged. I have never witnessed the same depth of sincerity, devotion, and genuine love that our Mechanchim and Mechanchos have for their students outside of our Mosdos. It is something truly special.
But sadly, alongside that, I have also witnessed the cruelty that can be directed toward the very educators who give so much of themselves.
Summer break isn’t vacation – it’s recovery.
What if a “plumber” can’t fix a leak? What if most of his work ends up not helping the situation he was hired for? Should we say because he has been a plumber for many years we should still use him although he doesn’t succeed at his job?
To be fair, I wouldn’t tell him what to do – as I myself know that I am not a plumber; but one thing’s for sure that I won’t use him. No matter how long he was in the business for, if he currently has a high fail rate when it comes to succeeding at his job, just maybe he should be replaced with a different plumber.
When the proof of failure is in the putting; you do something about it and it’s fully in your rights. It’s required.
If I see the plumber is ruining my house I have full rights to confront and ask him about it. If despite the plumbers work the house is flooding, do I put it all aside and just listen to plumber who tells me it’s his expertise and nothing is really wrong? That I should trust him when I clearly see he failed?
Not every mechaneich is Moshe Rabbeinu and not every school administration or parent is Korach. Sometimes confrontation is necessary. Sometimes change – though hard and tough – is necessary. Just because someone has experience, if the level of ruchniyus is consistently dropping under the watch of a mechanech, parents and administration have full rights to intervene. It’s a must.
The mechanech may be experienced and dedicated – but if we see that the students are failing to be educated to act in the way Torah has set forth for them – the proof is in the pudding – and nothing further is necessary to justify actions towards fixing the broken system at which the mechanech stands at it’s helm.
The CEO is responsible for his company; if the company is failing – though it may be the fault of various factors – it is the responsibility and ultimately the liability of the CEO. If he can’t run the company in a way that it can achieve it’s goal, he is liable to be replaced.
A gut gebentched yor
Sticking to the plumber metaphor; Let’s say a plumber has been plumbing for 30 years and has hundreds of satisfied customers, and then one, or, to be fair, a few people accuse him of not being so good at plumbing and start ‘shouting from the rooftops’ that he should be stripped of his licence. Is it possible that the plumber grew old and developed butterfingers? Perhaps. But normal people would say that those ‘dissatisfied customers’ are arrogant bullies who should find a better medium to resolve their complaints or quietly move on to a plumber of their liking.
I think the point of the article is that Mechanchim, particularly experienced ones, deserve to be treated with respect. Not discarded like yesterday’s newspaper.
At the end of the day it is very clear that many of our schools (for whatever reason particularly the schools for bnos chabad) fail to impart basic Yiddishe values to scores of students . It’s a fact (just take a cursory glance at the most discussed topic this year on this site – there is an issue).
However people are just to scared to see the problem. They don’t have the guts to make any move of substance to fix the system. They hide behind reasons of like what your saying, their afraid, maybe they will be cancelled, maybe the “institution” will go after them.
The plumber is failing at his job and it’s time for him to be replaced. Enough is enough. Come out from under your rock and smell the coffee
Do you realize what teachers are up against? At home many of these students are watching 10 second clips of extreme hanachos haolam (to put it mildly) for hours daily. (And if one child doesn’t, all of their friends are. Imagine the interests of their social setting.)
When the child comes to school their attention span has been crippled and nothing off a screen – and certainly nothing of substantial toichen – can possibly interest them when their heads are overflowing with this junk.
Then come the parents with complaints and accusations that the teachers can’t infuse their children with yiras shomayim…
Maybe it’s because the plumber is being paid but not the teacher maybe that’s why you can tell a plumber what to do or get a new one but not someone in chinuch unless you go there yourself
In the nimshal…
1. If a school isn’t the right fit for your child, you are welcome to find another Moised you are more comfortable with, without destroying whats in place in order to ‘fix it up’ to your personal views. Just because a school is in a certain location it does not need to be a one size fits all and be right for every child in the proximity.
2. It would take a lot of well done research, inspection and narrowing down to write off a school or a mechanech as messing everybody up. You can ask 10 alumni who had a hard time and blow up a story, or you can be honest and ask 100 alumni, and get to actually know the mechanech and realize they may actually be doing some really good stuff.
3. Since when is the only place we point fingers at is mechanechim? At a time when strong winds are blowing, and parents after all have the biggest impact on a childs chinuch, it is impossible to antagonize mechanchim because of disappointed ‘results’
4. the Rebbe talks about fixing issues in Moisdos, not destroying the mechanech/ Moised because it isn’t to your liking. Most critisizm and unsound advice does not give better tools or management, it only puts down, harasses, destroys, and makes everyones job more difficult. Don’t critisize without providing a better solution and then say your helping the klal.
Would you rather your childs teacher be spending more time thinking about how to connect with your child or how to respond to their uncooperative parent?
Since you’re speaking about Korach, as I’m sure you know the famous story of a Maggid who only had one drasha and it was associated with parshas Korach. Being that the case, he would only speak on Shabbos parshas Korach. Onetime he was “caught” during a random Shabbos and he didn’t know what to say, therefore he was extremely nervous. As he took his place at the podium and looked on at the crowd awaiting the phenomenal speech, he broke out in a sweat, he took out his hankie and wiped his brow. As he placed his hankie down, it “fell” on the floor, to which he responded with a resounding “in drerd arein mit korach vchol adoso, nu if were already speaking about Korach” and with that he began his “phenomenal parshas Korach drasha”.
Korach didn’t recognize that there’s a mishaleach, and he thought being a chacham on his own, that he too was a ״מורה הוראה״, he could be the Rov too. But he didn’t realize that משה רבנו wasn’t self appointed.
That a שליח is a שליח of THE משלח and not his own entity ח״ו, is self understood, and even those completely not associated with the Rebbe clearly see and recognize that Rabbi x in China, or joberg or the end of the world like New Zealand, is a שליח of the Rebbe, and he’s not their on his own, nor does he make his own decisions etc.
if an educator (teacher) follows the Rebbes directives on chinuch, he is doing the Rebbes work ארבעט and has nothing to fear or worry about, for he’s a שליח of a משלח, he’s not an employee, he’s a representative of the Rebbe and he’s responsible to give over life the way the Rebbe dictates. Not to add and not to subtract! When there’s a “teacher” who enters a classroom and hasn’t learned that which the Rebbe demands of him or her to have learned prior to entering the holy space wherein Hashems holy children learn, namely כללי החינוך והדרכה, they don’t belong there, they’re not professionals, they’re not licensed by the Rebbe, they are self employed, “private contractors” and therefore others tell them how to run the classroom for there’s no sense of superiority.
This idea that a mechanech who does not reach every person should be removed to find a new one, is pretty harsh as someone myself in chinuch there are many factors involved and many times the parents themselves are at a loss at how to help this special child. That does not mean a healthy experienced mechanech should be removed from their position or abused as a result of not being able to reach them. Quite frankly every school you will ever go to will have some unsatisfied students and some unsatisfied parents that is because unless you are running a cult not everyone will be happy with all your policies or with every person teaching in that school. That also doesn’t mean the mechanchim don’t care for your child sometimes they care more than the parents, even though it’s not their biological child, and possibly they invested and approached and dealt very tactful which only a experienced mechanech can, and still a immature young teenager may not respond or understand the depth or appreciate the care until later in life. So when the parents are asking the kid how was school did you have fun? What fun? is that what it’s about? They should be asking how did you grow what did you contribute. Not to say it can’t be fun but when that is all it’s about the kid doesn’t understand what school is for in the first place. Fun exists much more in other places if that’s all I’m looking for. So let’s be honest very few people will line up for such positions because always people will abuse and be upset at them and less experience usually in chinuch is less not more.
And just to add to this, kids who are students and witness how mechanchim are treated with disrespect don’t grow up more frum or chassidish they actually see straight threw the garbage and can’t wrap their heads around how a mechanech they respected and looked up to can be treated like a garbage newspaper. That speaks much louder then any message they ever got about Yiddishkeit or chassidus and kills any values of mentchlichkeit that are the core of what chinuch should actually be about. The Rebbe actually wrote to Rabbi Dov Yehuda Shochet A”h regarding a child who was given a consequence by a yeshiva that although me and you know what teenagers are you will not share that with your child but will let the school give the proper consequences. So involving children in the mess or encouraging them against a specific teacher principal mashgiach or the like is bigger damage then ever getting a new mechanech in place that most likely will not fix the issues or definitely will create other issues.
A gut gebenched yur hatzlocho.
Thank you anash.org for removing some comments which point to specifics of one particular community’s issues. Though it is clear that the author was referring to that, allowing for such comments is what anash.org has stood against for years…
Some points to ponder:
1) The world needs great mechanchim and mechanchos. They are often (though not always) under-appreciated.
2) The world needs great Chabad House shluchim and shluchos, though they are often (though not always) under-appreciated.
3) Just because you are a rabbi in a Chabad house setting doesn’t mean you are a plumber when it comes to chinuch. And just because you are in chinuch doesn’t mean that you are not a plumber when it comes to chinuch. One can be in chinuch for years with limited results and one could be a Chabad house rabbi for years and see limited results. It’s all about what you do with the opportunity given to you.
In fact, the author who was once in chinuch may also be great at some Chabad house roles.
4) There are times that a Chabad house rabbi has to stand up to those in his community who are demanding changes… while there are times that the shliach needs to learn humility to be more in-tuned to the needs of his community and make the necessary adjustments to reach the results he was tasked with reaching. (Rabbi Yossi Goldman from Johannesburg is a perfect example of that!.)
5) Specifically in smaller communities, one must understand well the make up of the families before administering a type of chinuch for that particular community. Unlike in larger communities where there are multiple schools and style for the diversity within the community.
Shluchim whose Chabad houses have many anash members have a unique perspective as they both see the needs of those families and have a responsibility to guide the mechanchim on the best tools to be used in inspiring their constituents.
6) One could begin a life in chinuch or as a Rabbi and be wildly successful for years, but over time become less relatable to the students or attendees given the new world that emerged over time. While the rabbi and mechanech could scream that they are using the “original text” that worked 30 years ago and what brought that Chabad house or school notoriety, it is also the very cause of its downfall.
The rabbi and the mechanech are there to create peiros, to inspire a generation. If at some point the rabbis sermons or the mechanechs language isn’t doing the job, it is their duty to recognize that and put in place new people who speak the new generations language (while keeping to the same goals) putting their own self on the side. After all, this has never been about an individual, it has always been about the people we are trying to affect.
You may ask, what will become of the person who now finds himself out of a job? There is more than one type of job as a shliach and there is more than one type of job as a teacher or principal, and one isn’t more important than the other. It does however take a degree of bitul to do this…
To summarize:
Contrary to what the author writes, there is no Moshe and korach in these stories. As one commentator wrote, there is only one Moshe and it is the rebbe, who tasked everyone equally to prepare the world for the coming of moshiach. Shluchim, both those in chinuch and those in a Chabad house setting, along with parents are there to inspire the people, both Frum and not yet Frum, adults and children alike, albeit with different tactics and language.
The article was written by someone willing to put his name behind his perspective, while this detailed response – despite appearing quite familiar with the situation being discussed – was submitted anonymously.
Perhaps there is a simple explanation, but considering the questions surrounding the commenter’s possible involvement behind the scenes, a little transparency would add considerably more credibility to these observations.
The famous horaah that the Rebbe gave Rabbi Moshe Feller of MN as he embarked on this shlichus:
“Be flexible.” (The rebbe used the English word.)
This wasn’t a message to him to break Halacha (g-d forbid) or to “lower the standards” (g-d forbid), it was that he remember the goal and intention of what he was being sent to accomplish and to figure out when and how to show flexibility to accomplish those goals (without losing one’s own identity and standards).
In chinuch, this just as pertinent. The goal is inspiring the students and raising them up to be neiros lehoir. The flexibility comes in to play when the packaging needs to be in oisiyos hamekabel and not in the way it may have been packaged for you when you were in school.
The language of everyone is a plumber when it comes to chinuch and should “stay out” is the exact opposite of being flexible, it is the attitude that pits one side against the other while the intent is to work together with one common goal.
In truth a Chabad house shliach and a mechanech do the same things.
How often is it that a Chabad house attendee gets most inspired when he attends a farbrengen at the Chabad house where the mechanech was brought to farbreng.
And how often is it that bochurim or girls get most inspired by a shliach or shmucha when visiting or helping out in a Chabad house. Or it was at a farbrengen in yeshiva or at school with a Chabad house shliach brought in by the hanholo to farbreng.
While the author attempts to separate the two entirely, it is self understood and there are thousands of such stories to prove the opposite.
To summarize: The article wants to illustrate a challenge that is unique to mechanchim. He draws upon two metaphors, that of a plumber and that of a Chabad House Rabbi. (We know that a moshol – if it is not a Torah moshol – will illustrate one shared point, not match up the nimshal in all of its aspects.)
Then he goes on to parallel this to two admonitions of the Torah: A widow’s cry will always be heard and not to be like Korach.
The takeaway is: Treat mechanchim with respect.
What happens? The plumbers union calls a symposium to enact an all-out ban on Canadian imports!
Take a deep breath. Reflect on the takeaway. Now go back to thinking about if there is anyone who needs a place to eat this Shabbos.
Even if the article hit a raw nerve by you, don’t get defensive. Be seasonally appropriate, and do teshuva!
Wishing all mechanchim, shluchim, balhabatim (plumbers incl.), and talmidim a kesiva vchasima tova!
To reduce the systemic issues highlighted in these comments to “people missing the point of a mashal” is a convenient way to avoid answering the uncomfortable questions being asked.
Nobody here is taking issue with treating mechanchim with respect. Of course educators deserve honor, dignity, and proper compensation. But let’s not pretend the critical comments here are just about misunderstanding meshalim. To reduce serious, deeply felt concerns about our children’s chinuch to a joke about a “plumbers union” is intellectually lazy and emotionally tone-deaf. Nobody reading this article is confused about how metaphors work.
Accountability is not abuse. When said that a homeowner has every right to intervene when a job is going disastrously wrong, they aren’t attacking mechanchim—they are stating a basic truth about responsibility. If a mosad is consistently failing to produce peiros vi es darf tzu zain, asking hard questions and making substantial moves isn’t harassment, it’s responsibility.
The administration and parents are not Korach. Comparing concerned parents – who watch their children whom they sent to a moisad chinuch begin struggle b’ruchniyus in real-time – to Korach launching a manipulative, self-serving political rebellion is deeply offensive. Parents aren’t trying to usurp authority; they are trying to save their kids.
Chinuch is a team effort, not a monarchy. A plumber or a Chabad House shliach (albeit in a lesser extent) works on an isolated job. A mechanech works on a child who returns home every single evening to their parents. You cannot isolate chinuch from the students parents (balei batim) and then label any parent who speaks up as an “opinionated congregant who needs to be shown the door.”
It is easy to hide behind Elul rhetoric, tell everyone to take a deep breath, and preach about teshuva. But true cheshbon hanefesh goes both ways. Shielding real educational failures behind Torah pesukim and calling valid critique “getting defensive” isn’t a call for peace – it’s silencing the very people who care the most about the outcome.
Wishing you a kesiva v’chasima tova as well.
Accountability and change are part of the fabric of creation. But on whose say so? A couple of “arrogant bullies” (the words of a different comment) who slander and defame from the shadows? THAT is the reality faced by a lot of Mechanchim. As another comment mentioned; they talk in shul, by kiddush and at Shabbos tables, rather than being honest partners for improvement. This is what the article is about. It is disingenuous and “tone-deaf” to pretend that it is stating that a Mechanech should have his job for life with no possibility for change.
If you want good mechanchim remember, (that just like with your kids,) highlighting every issue is not a very great way to encourage people…
1. Never criticize teachers in front of your children. It can lead to entitlement and disrespect, which spills over at home and school.
2. Appreciate the fact that today, teachers go into chinuch with Mesiras Nefesh. Unlike older shluchim, they are often dismissed as out of touch when they reach their forties or fifties. Experience is often undervalued, and as good as they are, they will often face unjustified (often sharp) criticism from parents.
3. Regularly show appreciation to your child’s teachers.
4. Collaborate with teachers to improve your child’s education. Seek their advice and work together on plans to support your child’s spiritual and emotional growth.
I see that everyone is focusing on the mashal of the plumber and analyzing it, so I would like to share what I take from the mashal.
To those who claim that the system is not producing Chassidishe adults, let us consider how a plumber handles a serious leak.
When water is gushing from a broken pipe, the plumber’s first step is to shut off the water supply. Only after stopping the flow can he properly repair the pipe. Trying to fix it while the water continues to gush is extremely difficult and may be nearly impossible.
The same applies to chinuch. A teacher may be working hard to influence his students and inspire them to develop great aspirations. But his task becomes extraordinarily difficult when those same students are constantly being bombarded with nonsense and harmful influences from home, the street, and the world around them.
Yes, being a teacher today can feel like being a plumber who is trying to repair a broken pipe while the water is still gushing, with a manager standing over him, criticizing how he is doing the job, while all the customers are shouting at him for every drop of water falling on the floor.
A. Most plumbing systems are the same. No two children are the same and what works in the mainstream won’t work with mine.
B. The plumbing in my home isn’t of an existential nature and doesn’t involve the core of my being. The same cannot be said of my precious child.
While a great inconvenience and source of stress, the life consequences of destroying my plumbing would be insignificant in the long run. To destroy my child, God forbid, would have significant consequences in this world and the next for everyone involved.
I have no dog in this fight and don’t know the author but It would seem to me that failure to distinguish between these two things should disqualify one from making any valid observations on chinuch.
https://anash.org/tomchei-tmimim-doesnt-need-to-be-reinvented/
The authors of the 2 articles were brothers and were both very talented mechanchim and understood allot that most don’t
I agree 100% with this article and that teachers are desrespected a lot and get no credit and some firings shouldn’t have happened. However the main point is that which the mechanchos of our community need to realize is that they can no longer fight against the new struggles of this next generation. The kids now are too deep rooted in their phones and even though for years mechanchos have fought against it, the cant anymore because the kids refuse to listen now, and their refusal leads to disrespect and then they go home to their parents and talk abt their teachers and principals from their mindset which is these people are old school and don’t understand. The mechanchos arent relating to the kids anymore and the kids feel that and therefore cant respect them because they aren’t feeling validated. We have to figure out a new way to accept this struggle and work through it instead of against it because being all like “phones are bad” “scrolling is bad” “the internet is bad” which Im not saying it’s not, Im saying the kids arent hearing that, what they are hearing is “ur addicted to ur phones which makes you bad” which is not what they rly want to hear. So the kids hear this and accept that what they are doing is bad and just move on and go even worse. They’ll start vaping and talking to boys/ girls, etc. because at this point Theyre just acting out because they’ve been told Theyre bad. Instead of turning the new struggles and having a negative perspective about them, even though I agree that they are negative, you have to work through it a different way.