Ohr HaTorah Day School was an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

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 ...

, located in the River Heights neighbourhood of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

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. It existed between 1998 - 2011, when it closed due to declining enrollment. The school was founded in 1998 by a group of parents who were interested in a combination of high-level studies in both

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

and general subjects. They did not think such studies were available at other schools in Winnipeg.

History

Rabbi Yaacov Benamou was the first principal of Ohr HaTorah. He was also serving as Senior Rabbi at the Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun Synagogue, which hosted the school. The school combined Judaic,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and general studies, emphasizing

values and

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

. Ohr HaTorah was funded by parents' tuition, the

Education Ministry, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, and

Torah Umesorah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the sa ...

, a national Jewish organization in the United States that had developed Jewish schools in North America since 1944. Ohr HaTorah Day School also operated a full-day day care and a nursery school. Most of the nursery school students continued at Ohr HaTorah, while a minority moved on to other Jewish or public schools. Ohr HaTorah started the 2008–09 academic year with about 60 students, ranging in age from 2 years to grade 4, after a 100% growth between 2003 and 2007, at a time of a drop in enrollment in other Jewish schools in Winnipeg. But in 2009 the administration closed the grade school, leaving only the pre-school and Kindergarten classes, numbering about 40 students. In June 2011 the school was completely shut down, due to financial difficulty and lack of enrollment. The last principal of Ohr HaTorah was Rabbi Uriel Malka, who moved to Winnipeg with his family from

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, in 2008; he and his family were originally from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Rabbi Malka served as Principal until 2009. He later died in the

2010 Mount Carmel forest fire The Mount Carmel Forest Fire (Hebrew: אסון הכרמל ''Ason HaKarmel'', "The Carmel Disaster") was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 De ...

. He and his wife were emissaries of the

Jewish Agency The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...

. He had replaced Rabbi David Weksler. Weksler moved to Israel, where he serves as the principal of the

Givat Shmuel Giv'at Shmuel ( he, גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל, , Samuel's Hill) is a city in the Center District of Israel. It is located in the eastern part of the Gush Dan Metropolitan Area and bordered by Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak to the West, Kiryat ...

elementary school in the Center District. Rabbi Weksler had succeeded Rabbi Amihai Bannett, who was the first emissary of the Jewish Agency at Ohr HaTorah school. Bannett serves in the head office of the Jewish Agency'
School Twinning Network

List of Principals of Ohr HaTorah

References

External links

Ohr HaTorah Day School
Jewish Federation of Winnipeg website Jewish schools in Manitoba Educational institutions established in 1998 Educational institutions disestablished in 2011 Elementary schools in Winnipeg {{Jewish-org-stub 1998 establishments in Manitoba Jews and Judaism in Winnipeg Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools Modern Orthodox Judaism in Canada River Heights, Winnipeg