Hebrew Institute of Boro Park

Hebrew Institute of Boro Park (HIBP, also known as Yeshivas Etz Chaim/Etz Hayim) is a defunct private school in New York City. It was the first Jewish day school in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

History

Founded in 1916,^[1] the school was the first yeshiva (Jewish day school) in Borough Park.^[2] It was located at 5000 13th Avenue.^[3]

Enrollment

During its heyday, the school had three parallel classes through grade 6, and two parallel classes for grades 7 and 8.^[4] The loss of a class was partly due to those parents who subsequently sent their sons to (public) Junior High School. It went from having approximately 600 students during the mid-1960s to an estimated 200 students by 1970.

Principals

• Rabbi Israel D. Lerner^[5]
• Rabbi Moshe I. Shulman^[6]
• Max Kufeld, 1st English Principal^[7]
• Mrs. Bella Nemiroff, (unofficial) English Principal
• Dr. Hochberg (principal after Israel Lerner)
• Rabbi Jerome Karlin (principal 1970 - 1977)
• Rabbi Akiva Wadler (1978 - final year of the school)

Other yeshivas

By the time the yeshiva closed, the area was becoming more Hasidic. However, the area still featured two other long-time non-Hasidic schools; Shulamith, a girls' school^[8] and another boys school, Toras Emes, which was seven blocks away.^[9] Both these schools later moved to Flatbush.

Shulamith was two buildings, one of them partially using the nearby Young Israel of Boro Park, the other directly across YIBP. Both of these buildings were sold to Viznitz Yeshiva.^[10]

Foundation

Etz Chaim's building was sold and the proceeds were used to establish the Yeshiva Etz Chaim Foundation to support religious education. (Retired) Judge Jerome Hornblass was an early administrator.^[11]

An alumni reunion^[12] was held in 1997 for the graduates of the school which "was located in a beautiful building on 13th Avenue between 50 and 51st Streets."^[11] That building has since been demolished; several stores and a bank are now on that block.

Notable students

• Zachary Baumel (1960-1982), American-Israeli soldier
• Martin Yarmush (1952-), American Biomedical Scientist and Engineer
• Spencer Ross (1940-) Sports broadcaster
• Alan Dershowitz (1938-) Attorney

References

1. Moses I. Shulman (11 August 2006). "The Yeshivah Etz Hayim Hebrew Institute of Boro Park" (PDF). Jewish Education.
2. "The Changing Face of Boro Park,Sorah Shapiro". Archived from the original on 2010-07-06. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
3. "erc/syn/Brooklyn". www.museumoffamilyhistory.com.
4. e.g. 47 graduates, two 8th grade classes, 1953: http://www.yibrookline.org/1953.html Archived 2005-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Paid Notice: Deaths LERNER, RABBI ISRAEL". The New York Times. 26 October 2003.
6. "Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)". rabbis.org.
7. Ilana Abramovitch; Sean Galvin. Jews of Brooklyn (which includes his picture and, on the following 2 pages, photos of the building). p. 234.
8. "Flatbush: Shulamith School For Girls Plans Purchase and Sale - Yeshiva World News". 21 May 2008.
9. Ronald Greenwald
10. Young Israel merged with another nearby Orthodox synagogue, Beth El.
11. "Yeshiva Etz Chaim of Boro Park Alumni Reunion". The Jewish Press. June 20, 1997. p. 37.
12. for a while they were held every five years; plans for the June 14, 1992 reunion was covered by The Jewish Press, p. 16, May 29, 1992.

External links

• Class of 1953, reunion
• re Pre WW II Boro Park: See "Were there any yeshivas there?"

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