Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, better known by the
acronym
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Modern Orthodox
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New York City
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borough
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History
In the Middle A ...
of
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
.
Its name derives from the three schools which merged to form it, Salanter (named after Rabbi
Yisrael Salanter
Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809, Zhagory – February 2, 1883, Königsberg), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. T ...
), Akiba, and the Riverdale Academy, all Jewish day schools. The three schools merged in 1968 and adopted the current name. The school is situated on the former estate of the Italian operatic and symphonic conductor Arturo Toscanini. The land for the school was purchased in 1968. The school moved into its new building in 1974. Designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott, the building was given the Albert S. Bard Award in 1975.Fowler, Glenn "Bard Awards Honor 8 Examples of Good Urban Design," ''New York Times'' (June 12, 1975).
The school's founding principal was Rabbi Sheldon Chwat, who was followed by former Assistant Principal Rabbi Yonah Fuld, who was then succeeded by then assistant principal Rabbi Joel Cohn, all of whom subsequently moved to Israel; the principal since the 2005–06 academic year has been Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, who is helped by associate principals Alana Rifkin Gelnick, Sharon Richter, Beth Pepper, and Rebecca Ostro Nagata.
The school is closely affiliated with SAR High School, which is headed by the former assistant principal of the Academy, Rabbi Naphtali (Tully) Harcsztark. Slightly more than half of the High School's student body is made up of students from the elementary school.
SAR requires students to take a dual curriculum, taking both
General Studies
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North America
Some North American universities offer the Bachelor of General Studies degree.
England, Wales and Northern Ireland ...
courses as well as
Judaic Studies
Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (espe ...
Science
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Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
,
English
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and Social Studies. The Judaic Studies courses are Hebrew language,
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...
,
Talmud
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United States Department of Education
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, the highest award an American school can receive. The school also fostered a creative arts program that began in 1985, headed by musician and educator, Jonathan Dzik and professional stage/film producer, Jay Michaels.
Predecessor schools
Akiba Hebrew Academy was affiliated with the Hebrew Institute of University Heights, predecessor to the Hebrew University of Riverdale. Members of the congregation asked its rabbi, Simon G. Kramer, to form a day school, because the area public schools were inadequate. It started with kindergarten in 1947, in the Hebrew Institute building, and added grades annually until it had a full K-8 program. Kramer led the school until 1964, when he left to head the Hebrew Theological College in Chicago. The school dissolved three years later, merging with Salanter and Riverdale.
Salanter Yeshiva originated in Harlem around 1906 by Rabbi Shmarya Leib Hurwitz, a constituent of his Rabbi Israel Salater Synagogue and Talmud Torah. The organization was located at 114th Street and Madison Avenue. It later move dto 74 East 188th Street in the Bronx, and then to Washington Avenue. In 1970, it merged with Akiba and Riverdale.
Controversies and investigations
Systemic sexual abuse
Stanley Rosenfeld, assistant principal
Stanley Rosenfeld, a convicted sex offender, was an assistant principal and English teacher at SAR. Nearly 40 witnesses have testified that while they were students there, Rosenfeld would invite children to his home on shabbat for a sleepover, and sexually abuse them while they slept. There are also allegations of
physical abuse
Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...
. When other faculty alerted the principal, no actions were taken. Even after he was dismissed from the school, he was brought back to teach language arts, years later. In a documented report, it's noted that administrators were aware of his actions even when he was hired back.
Rabbi Sheldon Schwartz, teacher
Schwartz, formerly a Judaics teacher at SAR, was also named in reports of systemic sexual abuse at SAR. Former students reported that he assisted Rosenfeld in recruiting students for sleepovers, stayed with them overnight as well, and told students that their abuse had been a dream. He was employed until his dismissal in 2018.
Production of child pornography
Rabbi Jonathan Skolnick was the associate principal of Judaic Studies at SAR until he was arrested by the FBI on September 13, 2019, for the production of
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
, on charges of "charges of child enticement; production, receipt, and possession of child pornography; and sending extortionate communications" with the students of SAR. It was disclosed to the school in an email sent the following Monday, three days after his arrest on Friday night. Skolnick was accused of posing as several teenage girls to trick underage boys into sending nude photographs of themselves, and then threatening to publicly release the ones he had to secure the sending of more. Geoffrey Berman at the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
commented that "This arrest exemplifies law enforcement's ability to detect those attempting to use the 'anonymity' of the internet to prey on young children."
The FBI investigation revealed some evidence that Skolnick had a known pattern of such behavior prior to his appointment at SAR.
Skolnick pled guilty on April 5, 2022, to one count of child enticement and one count of possession of child pornography.
In October 2022, Skolnick was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Brian Ash
Brian Ash (born September 29, 1974 in Bronx, New York) is an American producer and screenwriter.
Brian Ash is a writer and co-executive producer of Black Dynamite: The Animated Series on Adult Swim and the author of the graphic novel, Blac ...
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, p. 41,
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, 2004
. Accessed December 31, 2008.
*
Achinoam Nini
Achinoam Nini ( he, אחינועם ניני, Aẖinóʿam Nini; born ), also known professionally as Noa (), is an Israeli singer-songwriter, percussionist, poet, composer, and human rights activist working internationally. She is accompanied by ...
, singer-songwriter
* Chaim Potok, author (graduated from Salanter)
*
Regina Spektor
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (russian: Регинa Ильинична Спектор, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian–born American singer, songwriter, and pianist.
After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in ...
, singer-songwriter
*
Jonathan Tropper
Jonathan Tropper (born February 19, 1970) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and producer. He is the internationally best-selling author of six novels that have been translated into over thirty languages. His last two novels, ''This Is Where ...