For nearly three decades, seminary in Eretz Yisrael has been the de facto route for thousands of graduating seniors from across the United States. But as families grow larger and money gets tighter, is the trend beginning to change?
Rabbi Tuvia Vinitsky was a realist: there was no way he could afford to send his daughter to Eretz Yisrael. But the Chicago web developer and middle-class father of five also knew the pressure would be immense.
“So we made a pact,” he says in a phone interview. “Nine other fathers and I — we all didn’t have the means, at least without neglecting day school obligations, so we agreed to stick to our guns and reinforce each other.”
Come registration time, however, Rabbi Vinitsky was left in the cold. Only one other father kept his word.
“One father shook his head in defeat and told me, ‘my daughter threw a fit like you never saw,’” recalls Rabbi Vinitsky.
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