The Frisch School, also known as Yeshivat Frisch , is a
coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
al,
Modern Orthodox
Modern may refer to:
History
*Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Philosoph ...
,
yeshiva high 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 ...
Bergen County
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.U.S. state of New Jersey. It was founded in 1972 by Rabbi Menachem Meier and Alfred Frisch. The school primarily serves the Jewish communities of northern New Jersey, and New York.
Frisch School is located at 120 West Century Road in Paramus. The campus has 41 classrooms, a learning center, six science laboratories, gymnasium, library, music and art studios, a Beit Midrash, a makerspace (fab lab), and a publications room. Outdoors, the campus has a softball field, tennis courts, a basketball-hockey, and a soccer field encircled by a running track. The campus is named in honor of
Henry Swieca
Henry Alexander Swieca (born 1957) is the co-founder and former Chief Investment Officer of Highbridge Capital Management and the founder of Talpion Fund Management.
Early life
Swieca grew up in a Jewish family in Washington Heights, Manhattan, ...
, who donated the campus.
History
Founded in 1972 by Rabbi Menachem Meier and Alfred Frisch, the school had been located at E. 243 Frisch Court in Paramus, on a plot of land.
For the 2007–08 school year, Frisch moved to 120 West Century Road in Paramus. Frisch purchased this site, of land and an office building, and renovated what had been an office building, constructing an addition. The campus is named in honor of
Henry Swieca
Henry Alexander Swieca (born 1957) is the co-founder and former Chief Investment Officer of Highbridge Capital Management and the founder of Talpion Fund Management.
Early life
Swieca grew up in a Jewish family in Washington Heights, Manhattan, ...
, who donated the campus. The former Frisch building was sold in 2015 to the school Ben Porat Yosef.
Academics
Frisch offers a dual curriculum of Judaic and secular studies. Incoming students choose between seven specialty tracks: Art, Beit Midrash, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Music, Sports Management and Business Analysis, World Languages, and Writing. Each track provides specialized academic/vocational training.
Student population
Most of the students are from the Jewish communities of Teaneck, Englewood, Fair Lawn, and Monsey, with some commuting from New York City and Central New Jersey.
As of the 2019–20 school year, the school had an enrollment of 860 students and 92.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a
student–teacher ratio
Student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio is the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that there are 10 students ...
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
. Accessed March 10, 2022.
Co-curricular programs and activities
The school claims to have over 100 student clubs, in areas including the arts, languages, sciences, leadership and other interests.
Sports
There are 25 athletic teams and seven athletic clubs in total. More than 70 percent of students participate on one or more of the sports teams and clubs. There are four basketball teams, one baseball team, two boys floor hockey teams, one girls floor hockey team, and one boys wrestling team, which consecutively won five Wittenberg wrestling titles. There are three volleyball teams – the girls volleyball teams have won the most championship games of any yeshiva volleyball team - three soccer teams, two swimming teams, three softball teams, one bowling team, and two track teams, among others. Frisch also has the first-ever yeshiva ice hockey team, which, in its first year of existence, qualified for the NJ state tournament. Frisch competes in ice hockey under the supervision of the
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.
State championsh ...
New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.
State championsh ...
. Accessed October 20, 2020. In 2016, half of Frisch's Yeshiva League sports teams qualified for the championships, and six teams won the championships.
The baseball team won three consecutive
Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League The Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League (MYHSAL), or Yeshiva League, is a high school athletic league consisting of 36 Modern/Centrist Orthodox and two pluralist Yeshivas in the New York Metropolitan Area. It includes the sports of ba ...
titles (2014, 2015, 2016), and won the Columbus Baseball Invitational yeshiva high school tournament, dubbed the "Jewish World Series", in each of 2016 and 2017.
In 2015, Frisch won the Red Sarachek Tournament hosted by Yeshiva University for the first time. After losing in the championship game in 2013 and 2014, they defeated the
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway
The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) is a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school on the South Shore of Long Island in New York, United States, serving male and female students in preschool through twelfth grade. It is a private ...
by a score of 75–73 in triple-overtime to claim the title. In 2017, Frisch came back and won the Sarachek Tournament, defeating the Shalhevet Firehawks (of Los Angeles) by a score of 49–47 in the tournament final.
In 2016, Frisch began hosting the Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament, after Yeshiva University announced that it would no longer host the annual event.
The ice hockey team won the McMullen Cup and Monsignor Kelly Cup in 2018. The team won the McMullen Cup in 2021 after defeating Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School by a score of 2-1 in the tournament final.
Chesed
A Chesed Society coordinates community projects throughout the year. Frisch students run a winter camp for children with special needs who have off from public school during the winter break week.
Notable alumni
*
Eitan Bernath
Eitan Bernath (born April 25, 2002) is an American celebrity chef, entertainer, author, social media influencer, TV personality, and entrepreneur. As of January 2023, Bernath has eight million followers across his social media accounts. He is t ...
, class of 2020, social media personality,
chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
Jeremy Dauber
Jeremy A. Dauber is the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture in the Department of Germanic Languages at Columbia University, specializing in Yiddish and Jewish literature, American Jewish culture, and American studies.
Sin ...
, class of 1990, Rhodes Scholar and Columbia University Professor of Yiddish Literature
* Tali Farhadian, former
federal prosecutor
An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...
Alisa Flatow
The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 suicide attack on an Israeli bus carrying civilians and soldiers to Kfar Darom, an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip. The attack killed seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian. The Shaqaqi factio ...
(1974–1995), victim of the
Egged bus 36 bombing
The Kfar Darom bus attack was a 1995 suicide attack on an Israeli bus carrying civilians and soldiers to Kfar Darom, an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip. The attack killed seven Israeli soldiers and one American civilian. The Shaqaqi faction ...
*
Rabbi Daniel Fridman
Rabbi Daniel Fridman שליט"א is an Orthodox Jew who is the S'gan (Deputy) Rosh Yeshiva of TABC and the Rabbi of the Jewish Center of Teaneck.
Biography
Rabbi Daniel Fridman grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he attended Yavneh Academ ...
Jeremy Frommer
Jeremy Frommer is an American financier and entrepreneur based in New Jersey. His career includes over two decades on Wall Street, working as a hedge fund and portfolio manager, and on the sell-side of the financial industry, building and selling ...
, financier and entrepreneur
*
Ryan Karben
Ryan Scott Karben is an American attorney and former politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, Karben represented the state's 95th Assembly District from 2003 to 2006.
Education and family
Karben was born in the borough of the Bronx on S ...
(born 1974), former
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
man
*
Sharon Kleinbaum
Sharon Kleinbaum (born 1959) is an American rabbi who serves as spiritual leader of New York City's Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. She has been an active campaigner for human rights and civil marriage for gay couples.
On July 30, 2021, Presiden ...
(born 1959), Senior Rabbi of New York City's
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah ("CBST") is a synagogue located in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1973, and is the world's largest LGBT synagogue. CBST serves Jews of all sexual orientations and gender identities, their families, ...
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
*
Michael Salzhauer
Michael Salzhauer (born 1972) is an American celebrity doctor who practices plastic surgery. He is active on social media as Dr. Miami, has been on reality TV, has recorded a song, and written a children's book. He runs a plastic surgery prac ...
(born 1972), plastic surgeon and social media celebrity
*
Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz is an American film and television producer and financier based in New York, whose credits include ''The Departed'', '' Black Swan'', ''Gangs of New York'', ''Machete'', '' The Others'', and '' Lip Sync Battle''.
He has contribut ...
(born c. 1968), film producer
* Rena Sofer (born 1968), actress
* Regina Spektor (born 1980), singer and songwriter, attended the school for freshman and sophomore years
*
Gil Student
Gil Ofer Student (born August 8, 1972) is the Book Editor of the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action magazine; former Managing Editor of OU Press, and an Orthodox Jewish blogger who writes about the interface between different facets of Judaism, speci ...
(born 1972), rabbi and publisher
Controversy
In 2018, students were invited to participate in a voluntary letter writing campaign thanking President Trump if they "believe that the president's decision was correct" regarding the relocation the U.S Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They were informed of the letter-writing campaign by the school's then-director of Israel education and faculty adviser of the school's Israel advocacy club, Rabbi David Sher. However, the letter-writing campaign itself was initiated by the Israel Advocacy organization NORPAC. Instructions for participating in the campaign included a reminder to "sign your name at the bottom," while NORPAC's boiler-plate letter praised the president's "courageous leadership" for the embassy decision.Yudelson, Larr "Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?" ''Jewish Standard'', January 25, 2018. Accessed December 12, 2020. Sher's email stated twice that the campaign was voluntary.Silow-Carroll, Andre "Jared Kushner’s Jewish high school wants students to advocate for Israel. That’s a bad thing?" ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', January 19, 2018. Accessed December 12, 2020.
The email was sent to students without prior parental consent, and some parents at the school lodged complaints in private forums, stating that the move was "sycophantic" and that the school should be "apolitical" and not attempt to "normalize Trump." Journalists at Ha'aretz and Newsweek got wind of this disapproval, and published articles misleadingly implying that the school forced or strongly urged all students to write letters praising Trump.
The school principal, Rabbi Eli Ciner, noted that these private conversations were leaked to the press also without parental consent. Ciner acknowledged that parents who did not agree with Trump complained, though stressed that the campaign was "completely voluntary" and that expression of different political opinions was an expression of democracy Sommerfeldt, Chris "Jared Kushner's old New Jersey high school encouraged students to sign letter praising President Trump" ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'', January 17, 2018. Accessed December 12, 2020. In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ciner stated, “As a religious Zionist school, we encourage our students as civic minded American citizens to write to the administration when they agree or disagree with the government’s policies regarding the State of Israel. In this particular case, many of our students strongly supported the president’s decision recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
A columnist for Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote regarding the letter writing campaign press coverage that "behaviors considered typical going back decades" were "distorted by their proximity to the 45th president" in this particular case, commenting that:
Missing in much of the reporting was the fact that like much of the mainstream Jewish community, most Jewish schools see teaching about and advocating for Israel a central part of their mission and a key to instilling Jewish identity. If anything, Israel advocacy training has increased as Jewish organizations invest more resources in fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement aimed at Israel.
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...