The seminary experience should therefore be rooting our young women to Toras Eretz Yisrael in all its dimensions

IT’S

seminary acceptance season. Twelfth-grade girls are navigating the process, with many bound for Eretz Yisrael. Simultaneously, their parents experience both eagerness for an idyllic experience and dread at the price tag. At many a Shabbos table, the debate about seminary in Eretz Yisrael centers on whether this post–high school year constitutes an essential spiritual investment or an excessive and unnecessary financial expense that has somehow become nonnegotiable.

The unique kedushah of Eretz Yisrael is central to the Jewish experience, and Yerushalayim in particular stands alone. The Vilna Gaon, who longed for Eretz Yisrael, teaches that the miracle of Purim was greater than the miracle of Chanukah. Why? Because the miracle of Chanukah occurred in Eretz Yisrael, and therefore “eino chiddush kol kach”; it was not such a great novelty. Where Heaven touches earth, miracles are almost mundane.

This is the environment we send our daughters to. At its core, the seminary experience should therefore be rooting our young women to Toras Eretz Yisrael in all its dimensions, not as a ger (stranger) but as a toshav (resident).

Consider what it means for our young adults, during this formative stage for their identities, to spend ten months living in Yerushalayim shel Maalah’s manifestation on earth. Foremost, it is connecting to and learning from the panorama of Torah personalities and communities that have transformed our ancestral homeland into the nexus of Jewish living today. It is learning Navi where the Neviim prophesied, studying Jewish history where it has unfolded and where it continues to unfold.

Imagine learning Sefer Shmuel and then hiking in Ein Gedi where Dovid Hamelech actually hid from Shaul Hamelech. When I was learning in Mercaz HaTorah in Yerushalayim, the yeshivah spent a Shabbos in Tzfas, where we learned sugyas related to semichah, then heard lectures about the Mahari Beirav’s attempt to reinstate classical semichah, centered in that very city. Such pedagogical possibilities are prolific.

(One criticism I have heard from several female family members: Their seminary experience was “13th Grade” — i.e., just another year of high school. An innovative curriculum that weaves text and terrain is vital in maximizing seminary’s value.)

And it is also found in what anywhere else would be mundane. It is riding her buses and shopping in her stores, not as bucket list destinations, but within the rhythm of daily life. Davening at the Kosel every other Tuesday. Buying groceries in Geula or Machaneh Yehudah, depending on the seminary.

Building Connections

If that sounds like lofty rhetoric, look at the results. The “flipping out” phenomenon that some fear is well documented. And even for those seminary graduates who don’t radically change, many, if not most, return with a deepened commitment to Yiddishkeit and higher levels of conscientious observance. That is compelling evidence that there is a significant ruchniyus value in inhabiting Torah life in its natural habitat.

Yes, the intensity will likely mellow over time. But a wise educator once shared with me an observation both humorous and profound: In high school, kids are less frum than their parents. In Eretz Yisrael, they become frummer than their parents. Then, ten years later, they become their parents. The seminary year doesn’t just create a temporary spike, it establishes a foundation that shapes who these young women become.

There are several quiet ironies worth noting. My better half, an alumna of a well-regarded Bais Yaakov–style seminary and native of Flatbush, is less convinced than I am of the value of seminary. Perhaps that is because our shidduch resulted from her own experience. A chance seat on the seminary flight beside my cousin from Passaic turned into a friendship that lasted throughout their year together and beyond, and ultimately produced our family.

Our story is not unique, and it showcases another major benefit to seminary; It is a cosmopolitan experience. Young women hailing from London and Los Angeles, Toronto and Toms River, meet and form friendships, gaining a broader and more nuanced understanding into the collective Jewish experience.

Most of us are not about to move to Ramat Beit Shemesh. Our lives are based in the diaspora. But if we cannot live in Eretz Yisrael permanently, can we give our daughters ten months? Ten months to learn Torah in air that makes one wiser. Without the formative years of seminary in Eretz Yisrael, the chances of building a life there as a young kollel couple or permanently drop dramatically.

Seminary does more than teach, it connects. Without those early roots, even sincere desire will likely not materialize into one day living al admas hakodesh.

Financial Reality

Yet this formative year comes at a steep price. At roughly $35,000 per seminarian, the cost for sizable families can be crushing. If paying for seminary would burden you with crippling debt, don’t. If you’re 48 years old with next to nothing saved for retirement, your IRA takes precedence. And if your daughter simply doesn’t want to go, or would flourish better elsewhere, that’s legitimate too.

As with all significant outlays, planning well in advance, and saving small amounts in tax-advantaged accounts like 529s, adds up. Additionally, shorter six-month programs like Lahav Bais Yaakov should be promoted.

But consider the calculus carefully. The standard alternative is a local seminary, averaging $18,000, usually coupled with two weeks in Eretz Yisrael for another $3,500. Crucially, whether it be Sara Schenirer, Touro, or Stern College, most seminaries offer programs akin to a “freshman year abroad,” where students earn valuable credits toward post-secondary education that they otherwise would not earn. No doubt the net cost differential remains, but it’s a fraction of the $35,000 sticker-shock-inducing figure.

A Personal Note

Perhaps I was raised a little differently than my contemporaries. My father a”h, a child Holocaust survivor, raised me on an old song of longing, “Me’al Pisgat Har Hatzofim, Shalom Lach Yerushalayim.” In 1946, only my grandfather’s sickness prevented my paternal family’s planned move to Eretz Yisrael with the Brichah.

I was raised with the assumption that all we have built here, while beautiful, is temporary. So while our Devorah is only four, and no doubt I will wince when the bill comes, I am saving a small amount for seminary now, and looking forward to her building her own connection to the Land. A Land that the first Rashi in Chumash teaches has been calling our people from the very beginning.

Shmuel Winiarz is a real estate attorney and amateur Jewish historian. He lives in Passaic, New Jersey, with his family.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1100)