Hebrew Institute of Boro Park (HIBP, also known as Yeshivas Etz Chaim/Etz Hayim) is a defunct private school in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was the first

Jewish day school A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full-time basis. The term "day school" is used to differentiate s ...

Borough Park, Brooklyn Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...

History

Founded in 1916, the school was the first

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

(

) in Borough Park. It was located at 5000 13th Avenue.

Enrollment

During its heyday, the school had three parallel classes through grade 6, and two parallel classes for grades 7 and 8. 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 * Rabbi Moshe I. Shulman * Max Kufeld, 1st English Principal * 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 Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

. However, the area still featured two other long-time non-Hasidic schools; Shulamith, a girls' school and another boys school, Toras Emes, which was seven blocks away. 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.

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. An alumni reunionfor a while they were held every five years; plans for the June 14, 1992 reunion was covered by

The Jewish Press ''The Jewish Press'' is an American weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York, and geared toward the Modern Orthodox Jewish community. It describes itself as "America's Largest Independent Jewish Weekly". ''The Jewish Press'' has an online v ...

, p. 16, May 29, 1992. 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." 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

References

External links

Class of 1953, reunion

re Pre WW II Boro Park: See "Were there any yeshivas there?"
{{authority control Defunct private schools in the United States Defunct schools in New York City Educational institutions established in 1916 Jewish day schools in New York (state) Orthodox yeshivas in Brooklyn Private middle schools in Brooklyn Borough Park, Brooklyn 1916 establishments in New York City