snowbunny3318: It’s wonderful to learn and experience life in E”Y. I am sincerely happy that you had a great experience, and i dont know your situation, which is why I’m hoping you wont take what I’m about to say the wrong way.
My husband and I are helping to support a family who is in dire straits, a family who has no idea about the value of a dollar cuz they never had one long enough to know what it meant. Its not my place to judge them, and its not my place to tell them how to spend the money we give them. But i did put my foot down when it came to sending their daughter to E”Y for seminary. They have a large family of whom half is married. When the son wanted to go learn in E”Y, and for personal reasons needed to go there, we gladly chipped in to help pay for the flight and part of tuition. After all, there is an achrayis on a parent to send their son to wherever he feels he will learn better. When the daughter wanted to go for seminary, I refused to pay a penny toward this.
Here you have a family who depends on other people for literally the food on their table, to pay for their portion of their childrens weddings, to pay for a young couple to start off, to pay for tuition for the children still in school, etc… How can you ask for such an extravagance? My husband and I are not wealthy, we both work more than one job to pay our bills and sometimes if we’re lucky we can put into savings. I would love to go on a small vacation, but we cant afford to, even with our jobs. And here a family who does not work and depends on others, wants to send their daughter to E”Y?! My husband did not feel the same way that i did, but i told him i want no part in it. Maybe, in hindsight, i was wrong. But i still would not pay for any other daughters to go to E”Y for seminary. Its not a necessity and there are good local seminaries, and some that are a drive away.
Again, I dont know your personal situation, but if you did have to take from others for shana aleph, maybe you can find a job while you are there for shana bet and pay as go? Or maybe go home and find a job and then when you have enough money, go back and experience the wonders of our holy land? I hope I’m not hurting you in any way, but i feel that if you are old enough to go to E”Y on your own, you can understand what I mean.
Hatzlacha and i really hope everything goes smoothly for you.