Who’s Darchai Limud Serving?

Every day between 1 and 4pm, many people pass by the Crown Condos Shul and peer inside noticing a unique looking school going on. That school is Cheder Darchai Limud, Crown Heights’ new remediation program where every child is shown a way to learn as the name of the program implies.

“Unfortunately some children struggle to thrive in the regular school setting from very early on. It could be for a variety of reasons; learning difficulties, behavioral challenges or emotional weaknesses,” Rabbi Yehuda Adelist, MA SpEd, Director of the program, says.

Cheder Darchai Limud focuses on these children while they are still in the system and give them the attention and tools they need to succeed not just now, but later down the road as well.

“Our mainstream yeshivas do not have a full fledged resource room or special staff to help children who need,” Adelist says.

“As a result they struggle, fall behind, and in some cases drop out of mainstream entirely. It’s easy to blame the schools, but in truth they do not have the manpower nor the resources to set up such a program and are struggling to raise funds in their current state. This is where Cheder Darchai Limud steps in to fill the gap.

Darchai Limud says its emphasis is on younger children.

“The time to reach out to them is not once they drop out of school R”L but to intervene from first grade before they experience years of failure,” says Rabbi Adelist.

Its professional staff provide these children with the care and attention they would not otherwise receive in their respective yeshivas, getting them up to par with their grade level and preventing years of frustration giving them the chance and confidence they deserve in the mainstream yeshivas.

In Cheder Darchai Limud, children never leave the system. The children still feel part of their regular class as they attend Darchai Limud only after 1pm. CDL will focus on a particular limitation of the child, be it reading chumash or difficulty with memorization, and continuously works to build them up until they are empowered to return to their classrooms full time. “Some students can be as early as 4 months, and some can need a few years. On average we advertise 2 to 3 years. Once the child is ready to stay mainstreamed, CDL works hard to find an appropriate tutor if necessary to ease the transition.”

But academic achievement isn’t the only part of CDL’s work. A major part is working to imbue the children with appropriate social skills and mentchlechkeit through a uniquely designed curriculum based on Torah sources.

The concept of CDL really works says Rabbi Adelist. “I saw one boy come into the program raw. After many incidents and discussions later I see a maturity that I don’t think would have happened on its own. Another boy came into the program with a phobia of learning chumash (after having experienced failure). After mastering a whole perek word for word and being able to apply all the skills learnt to new, unfamiliar words, the boy feels that he is catching up to his classmates and has expressed confidence that he will soon be able to get up to grade level.”

For the coming year, CDL is looking to expand it’s program to open a separate track for children with behavioral challenges who are academically bright and need to be challenged more than the norm.

With its success and holistic approach, Cheder Darchai Limud will ultimately bring a much needed ingredient into our chinuch system and will B’ezras Hashem change the destiny of our future, namely our children so that every child is given the chance to succeed in yeshiva and in life.

Cheder Darchai Limud is located at 580 Crown St – The Crown Condos Shul and can be reached at 347 743-6132