We speak often, and rightly so, about the importance of paying vendors on time. We remind ourselves that withholding payment is wrong, that it causes hardship, and that it reflects poorly on our communal values. Yet there is a painful contradiction playing out quietly in our own mosdos.
I am a mechanech in a Lakewood school. Every month, my paycheck comes late — if it comes at all. I find myself having to ask, follow up, and, frankly, beg for money that I already earned. Conversations with colleagues in other schools reveal that this is not an isolated problem. While some mosdos do manage to pay on time, many are one, two, even three months behind.
How, exactly, are we expected to live like this?
Our salaries are already modest, especially when weighed against the hours, emotional investment, and responsibility involved in educating children. We chose chinuch, and we are proud of that choice. But chinuch is still a job. Dignity in employment includes one very basic standard: being paid, in full, and on time.
We have rent or mortgages to cover, groceries to buy, utilities, tuition of our own, and families who rely on us. Late payment is not an inconvenience; it is a source of ongoing stress and humiliation. It becomes harder each day to stand in front of a classroom and give our full hearts to our precious boys while worrying about how to pay our own bills.
This is not a private problem. It is a communal failure.
To school administrations: if you cannot meet payroll reliably, something is broken and must be addressed honestly. To parents: tuition payments matter, but so does advocacy. Ask questions. Demand accountability. To askanim and other community leaders: mechanchim are not a line item to be deferred. They are the backbone of our future.
Paying teachers on time is not a luxury. It is not a favor. It is a חובה.
And one final note: during these difficult times, a word of appreciation from parents would mean more than you may realize. Respect, gratitude, and basic financial integrity should never be too much to ask.
Signed,
Anonymous
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22 Responses
It’s an issur deoraissa to pay your workers late. What incredible cognitive dissonance must a school administration have in order to teach Torah and pay late.
I know a teacher, he taught secular subjects, but a very sincere and ehrlich.
The first time this happened he gently told the principal or whoever was in charge that they signed a contract and he kept his side for the entire month. He is very particular to be puctual at all costs and he expects them to do the same. He is ready to come the minute the check arrives, and he is waiting. He cannot afford to be nice and easygoing about this. He needs the parnosso and it is the governors responsibility to see to it that he gets paid. He gently but firmly held his ground and sure enough somehow they procurred the funds within an hour or so. He immediately traveled to the school and they never were late again (his, payment. not the entire staff).
Everybody works better under clear-cut deadlines.
If the rebbes and teachers show they mean business, and that no paycheck means no teachers – the governors would make sure to pay on time, and the parent body / nadvonim would realize that paying salaries is not a bonus – it is absolutely crucial for chinuch.
QUIT!
I know you don’t want to, but you need to feed your family… And if you’re actually a good teacher I bet suddenly they’d choke up your paycheck.
I smell corruption. Put the Rosh HaYeshivas back in charge and delete all administrators
לא תלין is a issur just like eating pork. You can’t pick and choose the Torah, you accept everything that it says including this prohibition
And make no mistake – the money is there.
It is there for $1000 Moosknuckel coats, for the $10,000 Shaitels, for the $75,000 Pesach Programs, for the $5,000,000 homes VeChooolooo………….
Then let it be there for the Yeshivas as well
This applies, even more so perhaps, to those stuck in the middle-class, who do not enjoy government programs and free healthcare and 2 months vacation, and who now, on top of everything, and also living paycheck-to-paycheck, need to shell out thousands more each month for health insurance in 2026.
It does not make sense why the tuition in Lakewood is artificially low. True, not everyone in Lakewood is rolling in money, but it has become the gashmius Jewish capital of the world. If they have the money to support every materialistic mishigas in the world, why can’t they charge enough tuition to pay the Rabbeim and Moros (yes, even the ones in elementary schools) enough for a living wage?
The mosdos will tell you- and techincally they are right- that there is no issur of bal tolin on mosdos. But the first commenter’s point is still spot on: how can a ‘Torah-dike’ mosad do this? If you can’t pay, don’t hire- or don’t open.
Unfortunately we don’t have the administrators from the 1960,70s,80s who lived very modest lifestyle and they worked leshem shumayim and struggled to pay our melamdem , Rebbe’s,teachers before their minimum paycheck. Today’s administrators live on a completely different lifestyle. Also parents ( not all but many) don’t pay their tuitions on time only after the school threatens to send their children home from school. This problem is deeply rooted within the Chasidishe, litvish, communities.
We need better oversight of yeshiva administrators to be held accountable by community accountants and askunim where and how the tuition dollars are being spent. As long administrative doesn’t have to answer to anyone this problem will continue until Rebbe’s and teachers will start striking and leave our kids without education.
Just be aware, if the employer legitimately doesn’t have the money, there is no issur of בל תלין. Of course, that doesn’t deligitimize all the other points that are being made.
I know a financial advisor that says tuition should be 10% of gross income
@coffee addict
I’m not sure if the intent of this statement was to help the Yeshivas (by having wealthy families pay more) or to help struggling families (by not forcing them to pay as much).
Either way- some families paying full tuition could easily be paying at least 25% of gross income.
Where’s the difference going to come from if schools are struggling as it is and those paying less than 10% probably can’t pay much more?
We need to elimitate these nepotist executive positions
It’s a shame only the yeshivos teaching flawed hashkafos and distorted versions of the torah are always the ones charging the most and paying the most, never seeming to have any financial troubles whatsoever. If anything they just keep adding security and building more space, but the Torah true always struggle
Why does the writer think they don’t pay on time, does he believe they have the money to do so and are simply lazy. If they aren’t paying on time it obviously means they don’t yet have the money and this is obviously because parents too don’t all pay on time. So its not clear what exactly he wants of them, as the reason they don’t pay on time is clearly not because they choose not to but because they can’t.
Not poshut: I don’t know if you are serious or joking. Have you never heard of the concept of responsibility? You can’t just hire someone and then say “oops, I guess we just don’t have the money!” Do you think his credit card company and the the bank that has his mortgage would be heimishe enough to say “sorry, please don’t penalize me. It’s not that I don’t want to. I just don’t have the money!”
If a mosad can not pay it’s bills consistently, it is time for those running the mosad to determine if it is time to close up shop. This is especially true in a major city such as Lakewood where someone else will pick up the slack.
If indeed no one in the city is being paid a living wage, then it is time to raise tuition big time. Close the sushi bars and the boutique clothing stores and focus on what is important
The comment of the coffee addict saying “Tuition should be 10% of income”, what does that mean? Per child? For a family? And if the cost per student is more than that, is this financial wizard willing to donate the rest?
Aside from possible misbehaviors of administrators, the systemic problem might be that not enough families work outside of the community.
If everyone is in kollel and in chinuch, then they all pay each other for teaching and it is not going to work. The only money coming in is from welfare … You need enough people doing actual well-paying jobs and then there will be money to pay for chinuch. So, maybe schools can break this vicious circle by teaching students math & english so that the school graduates can support the next generation.
It doesn’t really matter why they don’t have the money. They have to come up with it and pay the teachers.
I am nearly convinced these “mailbags” are fictional and used by YWN to gauge from time to time as to how many are reading this website. No rational person would remain on a job that does not pay. Plain and simple. And if by any chance, this is true, it is time to leave Lakewood en masse. It is a large country out there.
Far more important that BMG demand that its alumni pay their Rebbeim on time rather than cancelling wholesome Chanukah concerts.
If the Rebbe gets paid late, he probably has to borrow money to cover his bills. He shouldn’t have to do that. Wouldn’t it be nice if beis din could force the yeshiva to borrow money to pay the staff? I bet if the Yeshiva was borrowing the money, the lender would want to know what they are spending it on. I’m not claiming any particular yeshiva does anything wrong with their money, but knowing there was somebody looking reduces that likelihood across the board.