Several people have asked me what is happening with dd16’s academic plans for the coming year.  The answer is, we don’t yet know!

She has been accepted to the seminary she applied to in England (Gateshead).  However, we’ve all agreed that if we can find a suitable seminary in Israel, we’d prefer she stay closer to home.

Since Israel is filled with seminaries for Israelis and Americans, this should be a very simple thing, right?  No, not if you’re a new immigrant who moved here less than two years ago.  The reason is, dd is neither here nor there.  The American seminaries don’t want ‘Israeli’ girls and that’s how she’s classified since we’ve lived here twenty months.  Most of the Israeli seminaries that have the professional programs that she’s interested in have admittance criteria that she can’t meet since she hasn’t been here enough years – specifically, she needs to have either a bagrut (matriculation) certificate or a ‘chutzim’ (alternative to bagrut for charedi girls) certificate.  (If she went to a teaching seminary this wouldn’t be an issue.)  When we met with her school advisor, we learned that she won’t be able to get into the programs that she’s interested in since she doesn’t have either of these certificates.

This is a bit frustrating, particularly because dd is a very good student but there’s no way for her hard work to be recognized and this seems unfair.  She took two matriculation exams last year, and is doing all the twelfth grade testing for the bagrut examinations this year, in addition to simultaneously doing the eleventh grade math exams.  She’s doing them all in Hebrew without any help at all from the school (she studies with a classmate for her exams), and is doing very, very well.  One teacher recently announced to her class that dd got the second highest grade in her class on the pre-matriculation exams (madkonet) for Yahadut – this test involved seven pages of writing (in Hebrew) on complex ideas of Jewish thought and philosophy.

She’s in a class with girls who are academically motivated and study hard, and they can’t understand how she can be doing so well when these are tests that are challenging even for native Hebrew speakers.  The answer is that she is motivated and works hard.  But as hard as she’s working, she can’t make up three years of testing in one, particularly as she has to learn all the material for each test on her own in a foreign language.  By the end of this year she’ll have seventeen points toward her matriculation certificate and a full matriculation certificate is a minimum of 21 points.  So she’s close but not quite there.

This is quite an accomplishment for an English speaker who is new to the country.  But on the applications, there’s nowhere to write about how hard she works or how well she’s done, though her teachers and principal would happily sing her praises if asked.  The application forms are very black and white, and there’s nowhere to explain that there are gaps because she’s been here such a short time.  There are two Israeli seminaries we are currently considering, and I called the first to let them know about her status.  They told me to put a note on her application that she’s a new immigrant, which I did, and tonight when we got the application for the second seminary I did the same thing.

I’ll interrupt myself here to say this: if you’re considering making aliyah with a daughter in high school, pay attention!  Many girls, even those who have made aliyah at an earlier age than dd and completed all four years of high school find themselves in a difficult situation.  For many, the Hebrew is still a linguistic challenge and culturally they continue to feel more comfortable with Americans; as such an Israeli program isn’t suitable.  And most of the American programs won’t take them.  Even if they are accepted to an American seminary, the approximately $24,000 yearly price tag is extremely daunting for those living on significantly lower Israeli salaries.  Much of the financial aid available for girls living in the US that makes these programs financially feasible for them is unavailable for girls living in Israel.  Not so simple at all.  So if you’re thinking about moving here with a teenage daughter, consider yourselves warned!

Back to dd, who has gone through a lot since we moved here and keeps moving forward with a positive attitude while growing from the challenges.  She’s not letting herself get discouraged by the current seminary situation, either.  She’s looking for a seminary with a Jewish studies program that has a strong focus on personal growth and development, and has a secular studies program that will enable her to get an accreditation in a professional field of her choice.  She’s currently interested in architectural engineering, which we were told is the most difficult of the courses offered at these two seminaries.  We were warned that the Hebrew level of these classes might be too hard for her and that the classes are demanding even for native Hebrew speakers but dd and I both feel it’s doable since she’s willing to apply herself.

There’s one other Israeli seminary that was initially our first choice – Ofakim – but the professional training programs I was told they had weren’t of interest to dd (computers, special ed and early childhood ed) and we vetoed it.  Yesterday a friend told me that she’s positive that there are other tracks and we need to get more information before ruling that out.   If any readers have information or contact details for this seminary, please share it with us!

Last week she interviewed at seminary number one and came home adamant that she won’t attend that school – she said it felt cold and uncaring. She had an interviewer who was so emotionally detached that it was a big turn off, despite the interview afterward with the principal, who was very warm and was impressed with her.  Tonight she filled out the application for the next school, which is much smaller and sounds more like what she’s looking for – she’ll send it off in the morning and then we’ll wait to hear back from them regarding an interview.  I really want her to find a place where she can have a positive social/spiritual/academic experience, and hope that one of these options will be a good fit.

I’ll be sure to share with you once there’s closure on this decision!

Avivah