Yeshivah of Flatbush

Infobox School
name = Yeshivah of Flatbush
native_name = ישיבה דפלטבוש

motto = אם אין קמח אין תורה "
Im ein kemach ein Torah"
Without work (literally: flour) there is no Torah.
established = 1927
type = Private elementary and secondary
head_label = Rosh Yeshivah
head = Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari
founder = Dr. Joel Braverman
principal = Rabbi Ronald Levy
grades = PreK–12
students = 2,100
city = Brooklyn
state = New York
country = USA
address = 919 East 10th Street (elementary)
1609 Avenue J (secondary)
colors = Maroon and gold
yearbook = "Summit"
newspaper = "The Phoenix"
website = [http://www.flatbush.org www.flatbush.org] The Yeshivah of Flatbush is a Modern Orthodox private Jewish day school located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. It includes both an elementary school and a secondary school.

History and mission

The Yeshivah of Flatbush was founded in 1927 by Dr. Joel Braverman, among others. At first, the school consisted only of an elementary school, located on East 10th Street in Flatbush. The high school was founded in 1950 to complement the elementary school. The high school was originally in a building adjoining the elementary school. After 1962, a new high school building was built on Avenue J, and the elementary school expanded into what was formerly the high school building.

The institution, which celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2007, aspires to provide a Torah education combined with a secular education for both boys and girls. The school's philosophy is a synthesis of Judaic studies (Bible, Talmud, Jewish Thought) and the liberal arts. Its array of extracurricular activities, and its encouragement of participation in them, offers many opportunities for student involvement and places great emphasis on character development. [ [http://www.flatbush.org/YOF/InsideYof.asp?yoflinkname=mission Yeshivah of Flatbush Mission Statement] , accessed July 27, 2006] The school has been described as enjoying an unparalleled reputation as one of the most selective and demanding schools of its kind in North America. [ [http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100795 Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) ] ]

The school has two mottos: "The Standard of Excellence" and "Im ein kemach ein Torah"," which roughly translates to: "Without work (literally: flour) there is no Torah."

Teaching philosophy

One of the Yeshivah of Flatbush's fundamental tenets is its "Ivrit b'Ivrit" (literally, "Hebrew in Hebrew") philosophy of teaching Judaics. This means that every such class is conducted completely in Hebrew, regardless of the level or ability of students. [ [http://www.lookstein.org/articles/ivrit.htm Ivrit B’Ivrit: A Discussion in Ten Da’at] , "Ten Da’at", Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 1990.] With this technique, the Yeshivah aims to enable its students to achieve fluency in the Hebrew language. [ [http://www.flatbush.org/YOF/InsideYof.asp?yoflinkname=mission Message from the President, Jack Rahmey] , accessed February 25, 2007.]

tudent demographics

The Yeshivah of Flatbush comprises Jewish students and teachers from a variety of backgrounds. In the past, more than half of the students were Ashkenazi Jews whose families originated from communities in Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe and Russia. In recent years, the majority has shifted to students of Sephardic descent, mainly those whose families originated in Middle Eastern countries. The overwhelming number of Sephardic students can be attributed to the growth of the Syrian community in Flatbush, and the decline in Ashkenazi enrollment can be attributed to the movement of Modern Orthodox communities to Long Island and New Jersey, with a concomitant increase in the number and quality of Jewish day schools and yeshivot in those areas. Some Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews have also been enrolled.

Post-High school

Many graduates participate in year-long programs at yeshivot, seminaries and volunteer organizations in Israel for a year. Afterwards, some continue their studies in similar institutions, enroll in university or enlist in the Israel Defense Forces for another year or more. However, most come back to the United States for university. Graduates of the Yeshivah of Flatbush have studied at universities and colleges across the country, from Tulane to the University of Maryland to Yale. Some of the most popular universities among Flatbush's alumni, including Yeshiva University and the City University of New York, grant as much as a year's worth of credit to students who study in Israel for a year, allowing them to apply these credits to their undergraduate degree.

A large number of students graduate with college credit due to the many Advanced Placement Program (AP) courses offered in the Junior, Senior, and more recently Sophomore years of high school.

Leadership

Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari is the "rosh yeshivah", or "head of school," of the high school. Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari, an alumnus of Yeshivah of Flatbush High School, received his BA in philosophy and MA in Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University, his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and his PhD in Jewish History from New York University. In addition to his leadership roles at the school, he continues to teach a course in Talmud to high school students. Rabbi Harari also serves as Rabbi of Kol Israel Synagogue in Brooklyn, NY.

Rabbi Ronald Levy is its principal, and Joel Littman and Jill Sanders serve as associate principals.

Rabbi Lawrence Schwed heads the elementary school. Within the elementary school, Leonard Zeplin and Rabbi David Hertzberg are principals of the lower school (grades Pre-K through 5) and the middle school (grades 6-8), respectively.

Debbie Levine-Greenbaum is the Director of Early Childhood, presiding over "Atideinu" (literally, "Our Future"), Nursery and Kindergarten classes.

Rabbi Dr. David Eliach is principal emeritus, following a decades-long tenure as principal of the high school.

tudent government

Each spring the student body of the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School elects four juniors to positions in the Student Government Organization (SGO). These students assume their respective positions the following fall. The SGO plans various trips and other activities for students throughout the year.

The Senior Council is similarly chosen every year. Juniors elect four of their peers to lead them into and during their last year in the high school. The Council's responsibilities include collecting senior dues and planning the wintertime Senior Ski Trip, the springtime Senior Trip, and the year-ending Senior Dinner.

Community interaction

Each year, the Yeshivah holds events that cater to the New York Jewish community. The largest ones include the annual Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance day) and Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel Independence Day) programs, which traditionally feature performances by the high school's Choir and Chamber Choir, now under the direction of Brian Gelfand.

Recognizing the religious needs of the Flatbush Sephardic community, the Yeshivah of Flatbush, in conjunction with Young Sha'are Zion, published the first Sephardic Passover Haggadah in North America as a Senior Project in the late '70s. Fact|date=February 2007

Each month, there is the Sunday Morning Learning program where students, faculty, and alumni get together for prayers, breakfast, and a faculty-prepared presentation of given texts.

ports

The Flatbush Falcons compete in a number of sports: the hockey, basketball and volleyball teams compete in the fall, while the softball, soccer and boys varsity volleyball squads play in the spring; the swim and tennis teams compete year-round. In most cases, teams are members of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League, which represents many of the Jewish day schools in the New York area.Two basketball tournaments are held every year. The Thomas Hausdorff Memorial Basketball Tournament in November brings the male junior varsity teams of three American Jewish high schools to Brooklyn for a weekend of competition and solidarity. At the Marc Sackin Memorial Basketball Tournament in December, the varsity team competes against other New York-area Jewish high schools. Hausdorff was a former principal of the school; Sackin was a student tragically killed just days before his scheduled graduation.

Academic teams

The Yeshivah of Flatbush's academic teams compete in debate, Mock Trial, Model Congress, the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations, Envirothon, chess, mathematics, College Bowl and Torah Bowl.

Publications

*"The Phoenix" - Student newspaper
*"Imrei Shefer" - A D'var Torah weekly (Hebrew)
*"Pegasus" - A literary publication
*"Speak Out" - A political journal
*"La Estrella" - A Spanish-language publication
*"Haaretz V'haam" - An Israel-affairs newspaper
*"The Plectrum" - A music journal
*"NexGen" - A technology journal
*"Sigmatron" - A science journal
*"Summit" - Senior yearbook
*"The Falcon"- Sports newspaper

Controversy

Rabbi Alan Stadtmauer resigned his position as principal of the High School in June 2005. A few months later, news spread that his decision to leave was due in part to his sexuality. He later admitted in an email to a former student, that he is a homosexual, and had decided to leave the high school, the Rabbinate, and Orthodoxy due to pressures. The Yeshivah subsequently issued a statement saying that “There have been no allegations of inappropriate behavior during his tenure at the Yeshivah.” [ [http://www.forward.com/articles/ex-yeshiva-head-outs-himself-leaves-fold/ Ex-Yeshiva Head Outs Himself, Leaves Fold] , "The Forward", September 23, 2005] [ [http://www.forward.com/articles/from-a-flatbush-boy-whose-teacher-has-told-him-goo/ From a Flatbush Boy Whose Teacher Has Told Him Goodbye] , "The Forward", October 7, 2005] [ [http://www.jewishoutlook.org.za/ExYeshivaINT25092005.htm Jewish Access Article, "Ex Yeshiva Head Outs Himself"] , accessed November 28, 2006] .

Yeshivah of Flatbush held a 10-year reunion in late December for members of the class of 1997. While most alumni were invited to bring guests, a few were explicitly forbidden to bring same-sex significant others:

“As previously stated to you, we welcome your attendance and look forward to your participation,” read the letter, which appeared on the blog [http://jvoices.com/2008/01/16/jvoices-helps-break-yeshivah-story-wide-open/ JVoices] [JVoices Helps Break Yeshivah Story Wide Open [http://jvoices.com/2008/01/16/jvoices-helps-break-yeshivah-story-wide-open/] ] . “However, your partner cannot attend.” [Gay Alumni of Brooklyn Yeshiva Fight for Right To Bring Partners to Reunion [http://www.forward.com/articles/12498/] ]

Some alumni circulated a petition and created a Facebook group calling for reunions at which “everyone… [is] entitled to bring a guest.” They also called for an end to what they said was censorship on the part of the administration, which selectively edited alumni biographies compiled at the reunion to weed out information they found undesirable. The petition received 150 signatures -including one from Nobel laureate Eric Kandel - and the Facebook group had 370 members.Brostoff, Marissa. [http://www.forward.com/articles/12498/ "Gay Alumni of Brooklyn Yeshiva Fight for Right To Bring Partners to Reunion"] , "The Forward", January 16, 2008. Accessed February 17, 2008.]

“I think it is an affront to decency. Jews of all people — we’re supposed to be so tolerant! Judaism is a living tradition. We now realize that homosexuality is not bad behavior. It’s a style of life that is probably in large part biologically determined.”

Dennis Eisenberg, the school’s executive vice president, said in a prepared statement:

“There are standards of Halacha that guide the Orthodox community. All of our graduates are welcome to attend our reunion but only those involved in recognized halachic relationships may register as a couple.”

Notable alumni

* Robert J. Avrech - Emmy Award-winning screenwriter
* Ziva Amishai-Maisels - Professor of Art History at the Hebrew University and winner of the Israel Prize for Art History.
* Rabbi Dr. David Berger - academic, expert in medieval Jewish history
* David Bernstein (1967-), Professor, George Mason University School of Law and author
* Lee Bienstock (1983-), finalist on "The Apprentice 5". [Resnick, Elliot. [http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/18501/The_Almost_Apprentice:_An_Interview_With_Lee_Bienstock.html "The Almost Apprentice: An Interview With Lee Bienstock"] , "The Jewish Press", June 14, 2006, acecssed April 29, 2007. "The Jewish Press: What’s your background? Bienstock: I grew up in Brooklyn and went to Yeshivah of Flatbush as a kid. Then when my family moved out to Long Island, I went to HAFTR."]
* Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925-), recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, identified the Hepatitis B virus
* Rabbi Chaim Brovender - rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat HaMivtar
* Abraham Foxman (1940-), current director of the Anti-Defamation League. [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerGuest.jhtml?itemNo=688487 Rosner's Guest: Abraham H. Foxman] , Haaretz, February 28, 2006. "He arrived in America in 1950 with his parents, graduating from the Yeshiva of Flatbush, in Brooklyn, NY, and later earning degrees in political science and law. "]
* Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994), perpetrator of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. [Precker, Michael. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0ED3D460D1AEC80A&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=Q4CL4EJFMTE4NTg0NzQ0OS4yODY4NjU6MTo3OnJhLTE4ODg "Brooklyn's image as extremist hotbed disputed by some Borough defenders say ties to Israel cherished, but radical groups aren't"] , "The Dallas Morning News", March 20, 1994. Accessed August 6, 2007. "'This is not what we are teaching,' said Rabbi David Eliach, principal at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, where Dr. Goldstein attended high school."]
* Rabbi Dr. Judith Hauptman (1943-), Feminist Talmudic scholar and professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary
* Rabbi Yehuda Henkin (1945-), noted Israeli posek
* Eric Kandel (1929-), 2000 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine. [ [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2000/kandel-autobio.html Eric R. Kandel: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000] , Nobel Foundation. Accessed September 20, 2007. "My grandfather and I liked each other a great deal, and he readily convinced me that he should tutor me in Hebrew during the summer of 1939 so that I might be eligible for a scholarship at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, an excellent Hebrew parochial school that offered both secular and religious studies at a very high level. With his tutelage I entered the Yeshiva in the fall of 1939. By the time I graduated in 1944 I spoke Hebrew almost as well as English, had read through the five books of Moses, the books of Kings, the Prophets and the Judges in Hebrew, and also learned a smattering of the Talmud."]
* Elihu Katz (1926-), American sociologist and founder of Israeli television
* Isaac Mizrahi (1961-), fashion designer. [Nachman, Barbara. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0F3D889AE8C324E2&p_docnum=3&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=Q4CL4EJFMTE4NTg0NzQ0OS4yODY4NjU6MTo3OnJhLTE4ODg "Mizrahi"] , "The Journal News", November 1, 2001. Accessed August 6, 2007. "Though she encouraged his creativity, Sarah Mizrahi enrolled her reluctant son in Yeshiva Flatbush, where he spent his days honing a repertoire of rabbi impersonations."] [Gottschalk, Mary. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB52F8C532D00D5&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=Q4CL4EJFMTE4NTg0NzQ0OS4yODY4NjU6MTo3OnJhLTE4ODg "Fashion is sure to catch up with Isaac Mizrahi"] , "St. Petersburg Times". October 18, 1998. Accessed August 6, 2007. "Fashion is and always has been an integral part of Mizrahi's life. He often recounts his eight years at Yeshiva Flatbush in his native Brooklyn, where his habit of drawing fashion sketches in the Old Testament regularly got him expelled. Just as regularly, he says, his mother, Sarah, would discard her couture clothes, makeup and accessories, change into a dowdy dress and go to the school to plead for her son's reinstatement. Then the two would celebrate by going shopping."]
* Bertram L. Podell (1925-2005), former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York [cite web|title = "State of Israel Bonds will honor former Rep. Podell
publisher = "Real Estate Weekly"|date = 2000-10-25|url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3601/is_12_47/ai_66939383]
* Dennis Prager (1948-), public speaker and radio talk show host. [http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2000/April/one.htm Portrait of Joseph Telushkin] , "Hadassah Magazine", April 2000]
* Kenneth Prager, physician
* Rabbi Samuel Schafler (1928-1991), rabbi, historian, editor and Jewish educator.Fact|date=April 2008
* Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber - professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University and winner of the Israel Prize in 1992
* Stephen Straus - Former Director of the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
* Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (1948-), author and speaker on Jewish topics. [ [http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=16675 Books: 'Holy' Ethically Speaking -- Rabbi Joseph Telushkin Covers It All] , "The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles" by Sandee Brawarsky, October 27, 2006. "Telushkin cites Prager as one of his rebbes -- the people he turns to with ethical questions. The two have been close friends since their sophomore year at Brooklyn's Yeshivah of Flatbush."]
* Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006), playwright. [Bleyer, Jennifer. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=10F9713B605E7020&p_docnum=2&p_queryname=NaN&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=Q4CL4EJFMTE4NTg0NzQ0OS4yODY4NjU6MTo3OnJhLTE4ODg "The Real Lady of the Canyons"] , "The New York Times", February 5, 2006. Accessed August 6, 2007. "Perhaps it was because, at the yeshiva in Flatbush, we never studied the religious aspects of Christmas, the holiday seemed to me spectacular, truly magical."]
* Larry Weinberg - former president of AIPAC and former owner of the Portland Trail Blazers
* Leon Wieseltier (1952-), writer, editor of "The New Republic". [ [http://www.nyulawglobal.com/GrussLectureFall2005_000.htm The Annual Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Lecture: Fall 2005: "Law and Patience: Unenthusiastic Reflections on Jewish Messianism"] , New York University. Accessed November 15, 2007. "Educated at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Columbia College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard University."]
* Joel B. Wolowelsky - Noted author and current Dean of the Faculty at the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School
* Alan Zelenetz - (former Principal), Co-founder of Ovie Entertainment, and comic book writer for Marvel Comics
* Dr. Efraim Zuroff (1948-), Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Israel

References

External links

* [http://www.flatbush.org Yeshivah of Flatbush] Official website
* [http://chamberchoir.tk Yeshivah of Flatbush Chamber Choir]
* [http://flatbushchoir.tk Yeshivah of Flatbush High School Choir]
* [http://thephoenixonline.blogspot.com Yeshivah of Flatbush School Newspaper- The Phoenix]