On June 15, Teaneck will witness a passing of the torch, of sorts, as Yeshiva Heichal HaTorah celebrates its recent purchase of the Jewish Center of Teaneck building, at the yeshiva’s third annual dinner.
Heichal will be honoring Corey and Sarah Tarzik of Bergenfield as their Guests of Honor; Dr. Benjamin and Suri Fogelman of Monsey as Parents of the Year; Isaac and Nechama Student, president of the Jewish Center of Teaneck (and parents of Jewish Link columnist Rabbi Gil Student), with their Dor L’Dor Award; and the Heichal Building Committee, composed of Moshe Insel, Jackie Feigenbaum, Rabbi Simcha Katz, Rabbi Mark Karasick, Yitzy Karasick, and Gail Stechler.
“For me, the most appealing part of this partnership is that we have two groups that seemingly come from different spaces, different perspectives within the Orthodox Jewish world, yet we fit together,” said Moshe Insel, chairman of the Heichal Building Committee. “On several occasions, I brought my family to the Jewish Center on Shabbos and found the shul to be a group of terrific people that I felt very comfortable davening with and that I could connect with. I appreciate the environment they created.”
The Jewish Center of Teaneck began as a congregation in 1932 and moved to its current location several years later. At that time, anti-Semitism was so pervasive that no one would sell property to a Jewish group, so a non-Jewish friend of the congregation was called upon to make the purchase and then transfer the property to the Jewish Center members.
Yehuda Jacoby, president of Heichal, wonders if community members know the story behind the building or of the Teaneck Jewish community. “I’m not sure people appreciate the history of the Jewish Center,” he says. “It was the first Jewish building in the area. It was the congregation that spawned all the other congregations.”
“Rabbi Washer, who was rabbi of the Jewish Center many years ago, was instrumental in getting the land for the Teaneck mikvah. He knew whom to go to, whom to talk to, which politicians needed to give the OK. When it came time for the closing, he walked into the room and was wearing a tuxedo! No one asked him why until many years later. It turned out it was the day of his daughter’s wedding, but he insisted on coming personally and making sure the deal closed. That’s the kind of dedication we hope to instill in our talmidim.”
The yeshiva will enter its fourth year this coming fall with 85 students, 30 of whom will be incoming freshmen, selected from nearly 100 applicants.
“From the outset, we’ve always had the vision of a small yeshiva feel,” explains Rabbi Aryeh Stechler, Heichal’s rosh yeshiva. “One of the reasons our talmidim have done so well is that everyone has a personal relationship with their rebbeim and with each other. The community is starting to see a unique ‘Heichal talmid’ emerging. Our challenge will be to maintain that warmth and ‘small town’ feel as the yeshiva grows.”
This viewpoint is one of the elements that attracted Ben and Suri Fogelman to Heichal when they were searching for a high school for their son, Moshe. “One of the parents in our neighborhood sent a child there and highly recommended it for us,” says Dr. Fogelman. “We were looking for a warm environment that stressed excellence in both Jewish and secular education. Heichal is unique for the Monsey crowd. It’s the sort of yeshiva we don’t have access to in our area.”
“The yeshiva has surpassed our expectations,” adds Mrs. Fogelman. “Moshe has grown both academically and socially. We’re happy and our son is happy—and that makes us even more happy.”
“The yeshiva will continue to grow, be’ezras Hashem, and this building will provide for us a home,” Jacoby says. “But the real responsibility, the real task ahead, is to build on what the JCT has been doing, and work with the entire community to expand programming for youth, adults and seniors—some of which has already come to fruition: the new Sinai high school, for example.”
Isaac Student, who, together with his wife, Nechama, is being presented with Heichal’s Dor L’Dor Award, is president of the Jewish Center. When Rabbi Stechler and Moshe Insel initially approached him with the idea of buying the building rather than renewing their lease, there was skepticism—and also competition. Two other suitors emerged: Holy Name Hospital, a neighbor just across the street, wanted to buy the building; and Chabad put in a bid as well.
“After much discussion,” Student admits, “the vote was very close. I thought that Heichal was a much better fit for our congregation in the sense that we would be able to continue in the building as a separate congregation and to continue to develop our shul. We are happy with the agreement.”
“Isaac is a wonderful man who is completely dedicated to seeing the success and growth of the Jewish Center congregation, as well as expanding the role of the building’s usefulness for the community,” Jacoby explains. “The shul’s members are all wonderful, dedicated people, concerned with how the building can fit in and benefit the entire community. The JCT is a key institution and it’s a great responsibility and an honor for Heichal to continue the legacy.”
“Isaac is a master diplomat,” says Insel. “He was able to bring the more skeptical people onboard and at the same time work out an agreement with us, looking at it from both sides, understanding what was fair and made sense for everyone. The result is a mutually beneficial partnership. Everyone wins.”
“This was a very competitive process. Heichal didn’t even exist three years ago. We’re a startup yeshiva and we had to convince this group to entrust their 85-year legacy to us. That was a formidable bridge to cross. It went from an impossibility to a dream to a longshot to a reality in just a few months. I can’t stress enough what an enormous honor it is to have them trust us with that legacy.”
Corey Tarzik, who along with his wife, Sarah, will be this year’s Guests of Honor, has been involved in Heichal since its inception. An attorney with Blank Rome llp specializing in real estate law, Tarzik was initially charged with reviewing the yeshiva’s lease of the Jewish Center. When the idea of buying the building was raised, his responsibilities increased dramatically.
“Corey really stepped up,” says Insel. “He stayed up nights working on drafting the final contract.”
“As an attorney,” Tarzik says, “I was impressed with how the negotiations were treated with tremendous good faith and respect, from both sides. This was a mutually beneficial transaction.”
Insel agrees. “The more time we spent with the leadership of the Jewish Center the more we discovered that we shared a common goal of preserving the Center as a hub of life within the Jewish community, and the importance of that commitment—both in terms of honoring the mesiras nefesh of the founding members of the Center, and also in terms of the importance of advancing a space that can be called home by everyone in the community.”
To that end, the yeshiva has hired an executive director, Avrumy Jordan, to handle all aspects of the building—which, in addition to the sanctuary and the yeshiva’s beit medrash, contains 20 classrooms, a weight and fitness room, a basketball gym, and a swimming pool, not to mention the grand ballroom. It will be Jordan’s task to manage events in the building, from leasing space for various educational and fitness programs to helping arrange simchas in the ballroom. “We are committed to enhancing the experience of those making simchas here,” says Rabbi Stechler. “It’s very important for Teaneck to have another affordable, yet elegant, choice of large simcha halls in the community.”
But the main focus is the beis medrash, Rabbi Stechler points out. “The boys feel it’s their home, their beis medrash, that they grew up in Heichal. I view the future of Heichal as a beis medrash for the entire community. People can come and learn at all hours of the day and night.”
“I’m extremely appreciative of all the volunteers we are honoring at the dinner,” Rabbi Stechler added, “and of all the people who came through in a very short period for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to contribute the funds we needed to make the purchase a reality. People came forward to dedicate a stained-glass window, a mezuzah, a classroom, the Aron Kodesh.”
Yeshiva Heichal HaTorah’s annual dinner will be this Wednesday, June 15, starting at 7:30 p.m., at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, 70 Sterling Place, Teaneck, NJ. Reservations and dedications can be made at www.HeichalHaTorah.org/dinner.
