Dear Matzav Inbox,
As a recent retiree who has joined the masses and relocated to Lakewood, I have encountered many situations that amaze me. However, what I recently experienced, although not unique to this community, compels me to speak out. I am not one who usually raises issues in protest, nor do I desire to be a mekatreg before the Yomim Noraim—I have never written before. But please, help me understand!

Dear Matzav Inbox, 

Dear Matzav Inbox,
Thanks for this platform. The letters you share and the topics addressed here seem to be ones that are issues that really lie at the core of our frum community. Thank you.
It’s high time someone spoke up about something that’s been bothering me for a while. Just as we are super careful about what we eat, making sure it’s all under proper hashgacha, we’re sorely lacking when it comes to what’s coming into our minds and hearts through the screens in our homes and in our hands.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
As we make our way through the month of Elul and get ready for the Yomim Noraim, I have to ask, and forgive me please for doing so: Is it really the right way to spend our time during this holy season by going to a mixed seating concert in New York City? Is this what Elul is all about? Spending the night in MSG?
Elul is a time for serious introspection. It’s the time we should be focusing on our relationship with Hashem, reflecting on our deeds, and preparing ourselves for the yemei hakadosh. Instead, we see people choosing to spend their night at a mixed concert.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
I write today with an issue that weighs heavily on my heart—and should weigh on the heart of every parent in Klal Yisroel.
Last year, my daughter, a beloved teacher with a sterling reputation in the classroom, made the difficult decision to leave chinuch for an office job. Why? Because despite her passion, dedication, and the countless hours she invested in our children, she simply couldn’t pay her bills. She left, disillusioned and broken, not because she wanted to, but because the system left her no choice.
What is happening to us? What is happening to our chinuch system?

Dear Mother in Pain,
Please do not be ashamed that you felt it was necessary to reach out to me for help in such a difficult time in this child rearing stage. I’ve been waiting to hear from you! Hashem has been waiting to hear from you!
My dear daughter, I am looking at you and feeling your pain. I’ve been watching you and Davening for you all these years. The wonderful person you have become, growing up as part of such a beautiful community led by very special dedicated Rabbonim and Askonim. (Here we do not refer to that as a system but rather as a Kehilla). I too grew up in such an environment and treasure that zechus.

Dear Sarah Schneirer,
I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I need your help.
Sarah, I need you to look at me. I was a frum chassidishe girl who grew up in the system. I did everything right. I put my kids into a frum chassidishe system, and look at the pain I carry with me.
My daughter was all of twelve and a half years old when she was already rejected from school. I’m not going to go into detail about that—just the dry facts.
Fast forward four years, and my next child, at sixteen, was also rejected from her school. It’s one year later, and now my fifteen-year-old is without a school one week before the new year is supposed to start.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
I write this with great trepidation, as I am not one who is capable of sizing up an entire klal, yet this tzarah has been nagging at me for a while now, and I must speak out.

Dear Matzav Inbox,
As the school year approaches, families everywhere are busy readying their children for a new academic journey. Backpacks are being packed, uniforms are being pressed, and there’s a palpable excitement in the air. But as we prepare for another year of learning and growth, there’s a deep, aching pain that needs to be addressed—a pain that isn’t spoken about nearly enough.
We have a crisis on our hands. A crisis of children—precious, innocent children—who are falling through the cracks of our education system.

To All the Choshuve Readers at Matzav,
L’maan ha’emes, I just had to sit down and write this letter, hoping you’ll take it to heart. I had the zechus to be your son’s madrich this summer, and let me tell you, he’s a really geshmak kid, full of energy, and baruch Hashem, he had a blast in camp. But like all boys his age, he could sometimes get a little too lebedik, if you know what I mean. But that’s all part of the fun, and we madrichim are here to guide them through it.