In order to attract new families from Teaneck and other areas to its school, Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (YRSRH) in Washington Heights will host two preschool open school days on December 24th and 25th from 10-11:45 a.m. Free parking will be available at the public school across the street at 186th Street and Broadway.
Although there is no lack of local options for day schools, an increasing number of Teaneck parents choose to send their children over the bridge to YRSRH, more commonly referred to as Breuers. In fact, the individuals honored the past two years as Breuers’ Parents of the Year are well-known Teaneck families, Dr. Mark and Hennie Eisen and Rabbi Dr. Daniel and Chana Hakimi.
When Teaneck parents were asked why they chose Breuers, they mentioned an abundance of reasons, including the Mesora and Daas Torah with which Breuers is guided, the outstanding yeshiva education conveyed in a caring environment, the superlative teaching staff, and the values with which the students–and graduates–of YRSRH stand prepared to face today’s world as Torah-true Jews. A number of Teaneck parents also attended Breuers themselves and want that same type of education for their children.
Rabbi Zvi and Efrat Sobolofsky noted that their children who have graduated YRSRH still cherish the connections they forged with their rebbeim, and the Breuers values. In fact, Mrs. Sobolofsky said that her oldest daughter, currently a BJJ seminary student, recently emailed her former 3rd-grade Morah, a Breuers teacher who just happens to have the youngest Sobolofsky as a current student.
Rivka Finkof Teaneck, who describes herself as a “very happy parent in the school,” is a mother of three current YRSRH students and three graduates. She also treasures the close relationships her children have developed with their teachers, bonds which often continue long past graduation.
Rabbi Aharon and Rachel Ciment, whose oldest daughter is a 7th-grader in the middle school, said one of the reasons they are delighted with Breuers is because of the extraordinary amount of knowledge their daughter has learned and internalized. The Ciments noted, however, that it is not just the more academic subjects with which they are so impressed. They value the fact that a Breuers education includes such classes as Biur Tefilla and Yahadus, and a continual focus on Midos Tovos, character development and refinement.
The Rebbeim and Morahs of YRSRH are, to quote various Teaneck parents, “incomparable, with a love of Yiddishkeit bar none,” and “nothing less than spectacular.” One parent described the preschool and its staff as “exceptionally loving; warm and nurturing.” Another parent of current middle-school students and several graduates said that the Tznius and refinement of the Morahs is something particularly meaningful to her.
Rabbi Ciment concluded that the best a parent can offer a child is the arsenal of tools that he or she will need in order to be a committed, Torah true member of Klal Yisroel in today’s world. The Ciments feel that, as parents, they have found the answer to be a YRSRH education for their children.
Breuers is a school steeped in Mesora. Founded on these shores in 1944 by Rav Joseph Breuer, zt”l, who viewed education as the first priority of the nascent Kehilla he was building, Breuers is actually the continuation of the yeshiva which Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (Rav Breuer’s grandfather) established almost a century prior in Frankfurt, Germany, under the banner of Torah Im Derech Eretz. From its inception in Washington Heights, however, Breuers has attracted a much broader student body than only the members of the local community.
Today, Breuers is led by Shani Plotzker, early childhood director; Rabbi Yehuda Moller, menahel of the boys’ and girls’ elementary departments; Hena Gottesman, principal of the Bais Yaakov middle school; Rabbi Shraga Soloveitchik, rosh mesivta of the Mesivta junior and senior high school; and Dianne Lanzkron and Susan Koss, the Yeshiva’s General Studies principals.
RSVP for Breuers’ preschool open school days, at [email protected] or for more information, call 212-568-6200, ext. 127.
By Rochel Alpert
