a new yeshiva is opening, with a new model - at least it is new for Israel.

The yeshiva is going to operate on a model that is fairly common in the USA - it will integrate both learning Torah as a yeshiva gedola, along with academics and vocational training. The academic program works through the Open University.  do not know what they do about army service - I see no mention of it on the website FAQ. Also, they are designed specifically for kids from the Haredi school system that do not have bagrut exams.

The concept is so foreign in Israel that the haredi website Bechadrei describes it as the "yeshiva university" of Israel, and, of course, the Yated decries its opening. While it is unheard of here, in the USA it is not relegated to the Modern Orthodox (the implication by comparing it to YU rather than Ner Yisroel and any of many other similar programs) or the less religious, but even many prestigious "haredi" yeshivas have such programs.

The new yeshiva is called "Darkei Chaim", aka Campus Ein Chemed, and it is founded by Rav Yisrael Cohen-Rozovski. Cohen-Rozovski has taught in the haredi educational system for many years and more recently has been involved in opening vocational training centers. The other rabbonim involved in the project are graduates of Haredi yeshivas such as Chevron Yeshiva, Tifrach, Mir, among other institutions they were involved in.

According to Bechadrei, Cohen-Rozovski came up with the solution after coming into contact with many young haredi men who had left the classic yeshivas in deference to acquiring vocational training. Coehn-Rozovski says that these boys look and act Haredi, they dress Haredi, but they do not open seforim and learn. He says it is better that they should learn a trade, as they already want to and are doing, in an institution that is torani and Haredi, with the right atmosphere, and with Torah learning. He also says this is advancing the cure to the illness. Instead of waiting to deal with young men who are tomorrow going to be considered dropouts and will already be far from Torah and already at odds with their communities, better to solve the problem early..

At a recent educational conference, he announced his program:


So, is the calling of such a program "Yeshiva University" meant to be a "swipe" at the program, as if saying it is not really for a haredi boy? Or maybe it is just ignorance of the fact that abroad such programs work even in the Ultra-Orthodox world.

The Yated Neeman attacks the program in an editorial in today's newspaper. They consider such a program to be shaatnez. Despite the fact that they also oppose academic studies on their own, independent from yeshiva, when connected to a yeshiva they consider it shaatnez and oppose it as being possibly even worse, and it shouldn't be called by the title "yeshiva", as doing so is an attempt to entrap yeshiva boys..and it is meant to "cool the bathwaters" and open things up for compromise and breach the walls of isolation of the god-fearing community.