My yeshiva life was NOT this much fun

(From Gruntig)

I applaud a few of the things I see here, although it seems to be a Purim shpiel video, but the footage is real and not from Purim:: I like the fact that Rebbis here "loz zich arop" to the talmidim, and even play a little table tennis and air hockey with them. The bochur sees that there's hope for him even if he likes sports, a Rayeh from his Rebbi who once obviously liked sports and today became a shtikkel talmid chochom. The fact that kids are allowed to go totally bonkers every night also may work in their favor; they seem to thrive on that, and don't seem to need other diversions. I hope I'm not sounding naive here; it's been a while since my Yeshiva days.

Update 4/3/08 12:40 am

I may have said this before, but it bears repeating. I see how many in the American yeshiva world have taken to educating their children, and I'm impressed. Israel is another matter altogether; they don't seem to be this advanced there, and much of the good qualities of American chinuch get lost on the kids when they travel to learn in the "yeshivos kedoshos" of Israel. These kids seem to be all-around happy kids, enjoying learning because they know that they could also have fun. It's sort of like there's this approach of "have as much fun as you'd like, as long as you learn well." These kids seem to be well-versed in popular culture, and are proud to display their knowledge to the world. In most chassidishe yeshivos this ends justify the means approach is a no-no; most boys are ongeshtrenkt all the time, presumably from the pressure that's put on them to follow the very strict lifestyle that's demanded of them. I doubt you'd see a video like this, even for purim.