The yeshiva where I studied was fifteen minutes away from another famous and large yeshiva.
Different - both in terms of its good name and in terms of size. Watching the Beit Midrash during a busy Seder hour and listening to the sounds of learning was a powerful spectacle that is not seen everywhere. But not everyone received this three-fold blessing. Every exam period we heard stories, probably only the juiciest ones, about the one who was not accepted and the one who was not accepted.
I remember one of the stories to this day. One evening we noticed an elderly man near our yeshiva sleeping in one of the classrooms. He bought food at the supermarket next to the yeshiva, and sometimes ate with us and sometimes dined alone. Over time, the man's story became clear: the Jew himself studied in his youth in the large and important yeshiva near our place of study, and today they are not willing to accept his son into the yeshiva. .
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His son was a very good boy - the father himself seemed to be a special Jew - and he passed the exam successfully. But the answer was that "there was no room." The father decided to stand every morning before the Rosh Yeshiva and beg for his life and the life of his son. In the meantime, he stayed in our Yeshiva and we entertained him. The story lasted about a week, and then the man disappeared with his son. To this day, I don't know how that sad story ended.
A devoted, respected father, but also a bit stupid.
The pain in the father's eyes who asked, why? I will not forget. I remember the harassment that surrounded him day by day, hour by hour. I also remember that at the time I called this father in my heart 'an especially devoted father.' In this respect, the definition has not changed. He is definitely a devoted father, who literally spends days and nights solely for his son's attendance. This investment makes him definitely a devoted and respected father.
But also a little stupid.
Yes, there is no shortage of very good Sephardic yeshivahs. There really is no shortage. Please don't tell me "but it doesn't fit...we've seen this one and that one." Examples are irrelevant, and a guy can excel in Torah anywhere. We wouldn't be lying if we said that in many Ashkenazi yeshivahs, the jewels in the crown are actually Sephardic guys.
If I were to meet this father today, I'm sure I would shake him violently and ask him: "Before you ask why they didn't accept the child, ask why you insist that a good guy like your son come in here? You invest so much, put in so much effort that you sit among foreign guys, shaking your head in a yeshiva. Why aren't you brave enough to say: "Yes, my son is studying in that Spanish yeshiva. He's doing well there and I'm glad he's doing well"?"
You make the meeting better.
Every year, when exam time arrives, stories are revealed that all have one thing in common: pain. Stronger, less strong. But pain. And I ask the people who managed to get their sons into those leading and coveted yeshivahs: Isn't it a shame? You and your brothers can glorify other places with your good qualities, your discipline, your gentleness and modesty.
So it's true that no one will take their children out of a place they are already in right now. It's also unnecessary. But at the very least, if you're trying to get your children into a place they don't want them to be, remember: you can send your children to any other good yeshiva.
At the end of the day, what makes a yeshiva's reputation or a seminary's prestige great is the students who attend them. Another wonderful young man and another good seminary student of yours will fill other institutions with gold, and will also create demand because without you the store is empty.
