Yeshivah of Flatbush

History

The Yeshivah of Flatbush (YOF) was founded in 1927 by Joel Braverman, among others. The school, located on East 10th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn (a neighborhood sometimes identified with nearby Flatbush), at first consisted of an early childhood program, an elementary school, and a middle school. The high school, founded in 1950 to complement the elementary school, was originally housed in an adjoining building. In 1962, the high school moved into a new building on nearby Avenue J, and the elementary school expanded into what was formerly the high school building.

Hebrew

The school incorporates Hebrew into Judaic Studies to enable its students to achieve fluency in the Hebrew language.

Student demographics

YOF comprises Jewish students and teachers from a variety of backgrounds. In the past, more than half of the students were Ashkenazi Jews whose families originated from communities in Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe, and Russia. In recent years, the majority has shifted to students of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish descent. The overwhelming number of Sephardic students can be attributed to the growth of the Syrian Jewish community in Flatbush, and the decline in Ashkenazi enrollment can be attributed to the movement of Modern Orthodox communities to Long Island and New Jersey, with a concomitant increase in the number and quality of Jewish day schools and yeshivot in those areas. In 2022, the lower school consisted of 1,400 students.

Leadership

David Eliach was the principal emeritus, following a decades-long tenure as principal of the high school. In later years, Raymond Harari, an alumnus of Yeshivah of Flatbush High School, served as the "head of school" of the high school, followed by Joseph Beyda.

The Elementary School, formerly led by Lawrence Schwed, is currently headed by Yahel Tsaidi.

Sports

Shorts teams are called the Flatbush Falcons and in most cases are members of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League.

Notable alumni

• Arlene Agus (1949-2024), feminist and activist
• Howard Apfel, rabbi and noted expert on medical halacha and ethics
• Robert J. Avrech, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter
• David Berger, academic, expert in medieval Jewish history
• David Bernstein (born 1967), Professor, George Mason University School of Law and author
• Lee Bienstock (born 1983), finalist on The Apprentice 5.
• Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925–2011), recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, identified the Hepatitis B virus
• Chaim Brovender, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat HaMivtar
• Abraham Foxman (born 1940), former director (1987–2015) of the Anti-Defamation League.
• Gideon Gartner (born 1936), founder of the Gartner Group
• Baruch Goldstein, perpetrator of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.
• Judith Hauptman (born 1943), feminist Talmudic scholar and professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
• Neal Hendel, Israeli Supreme Court Justice
• Yehuda Henkin (1945–2020), noted Israeli posek
• Meir Kahane (1932–1990) (Elementary school graduate), founder of the Jewish Defense League and former Israeli Knesset member. Head of the Kach party
• Eric Kandel (born 1929), 2000 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine
• Elihu Katz (born 1926), American sociologist and founder of Israeli television
• Ira Katznelson (born 1944), American political scientist and historian, currently Ruggles Professor at Columbia University, and previously president of the Social Science Research Council and the American Political Science Association. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Ezra Labaton (1950–2013), Modern Orthodox Rabbi, Philosopher, Educator, and Founding Rabbi of Congregation Magen David of West Deal
• Naomi Levy, member of the first class of women to enter the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, bestselling author and founder of Nashuva, The Jewish Spiritual Outreach Movement
• Isaac Mizrahi (born 1961), fashion designer
• Bertram L. Podell (1925–2005), former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York{{cite news|title = State of Israel Bonds will honor former Rep. Podell
• Dennis Prager (born 1948), public speaker and radio talk show host.
• Kenneth Prager, physician
• Samuel Schafler (1929–1991), rabbi, historian, editor and Jewish educator
• Charlie Shrem, American entrepreneur, bitcoin advocate, and convicted felon
• Daniel Sperber, professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University and winner of the Israel Prize in 1992
• Joseph Telushkin (born 1948), author and speaker on Jewish topics
• Elana Maryles Sztokman (born 1969), author, researcher and feminist activist
• Joe Tacopina (born 1966), lawyer, media personality and professional sports executive
• Bruce Wasserstein (1947–2009), investment banker, businessman, and writer
• Wendy Wasserstein (1950–2006), playwright
• Larry Weinberg (1926–2019), former president of AIPAC and former owner of the Portland Trail Blazers
• Leon Wieseltier (born 1952), writer, editor of The New Republic
• Joel B. Wolowelsky, author and former Dean of the Faculty at the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School
• Alan Zelenetz (former Principal), co-founder of Ovie Entertainment, and comic book writer for Marvel Comics
• Efraim Zuroff (born 1948), Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Israel

References

References

1. Gergely, Julia (March 16, 2022) [https://www.jta.org/2022/03/16/ny/yeshivah-of-flatbush-students-do-talk-about-haman-in-their-purim-encanto-spoof "Yeshivah of Flatbush Students Do Talk About Haman in Their Purim 'Encanto' Spoof"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
2. [http://www.lookstein.org/articles/ivrit.htm Ivrit B’Ivrit: A Discussion in Ten Da’at] {{webarchive. link. (April 23, 2016 , ''Ten Da’at'', Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 1990.)
3. link. (August 13, 2012 , accessed February 25, 2007.)
4. Hootnick, Alexandra (July 26, 2011) [http://brooklynink.org/2011/07/26/26821-a-rising-tide-of-sephardic-jews-brings-change-to-yeshivah-of-flatbush/ "A Rising Tide of Sephardic Jews Brings Change To The Yeshivah of Flatbush"], ''The Brooklyn Ink''. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
5. (October 2021). "David Eliach, beloved educator who led Yeshivah of Flatbush for decades, dies at 99".
6. (November 8, 2021) [https://imageusa.com/yeshivah-of-flatbush-remembers-rabbi-dr-david-eliach-ztl/ "Yeshivah of Flatbush Remembers Rabbi Dr. David Eliach Zt'l"], ''Jewish Image''. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
7. (June 14, 2022) [https://imageusa.com/yeshivah-of-flatbush-commemorates-yom-hazikaron-celebrates-yom-haatzmaut-in-a-big-way/ "Yeshivah of Flatbush Commemorates Yom HaZikaron and Celebrates Yom Ha'Atzmaut In a Big Way"], ''Jewish Image''. Retrieved January 6, 2025.
8. Antler, Joyce. (2020-04-14). "Jewish Radical Feminism: Voices from the Women’s Liberation Movement". NYU Press.
9. [https://www.flatbush.org/alumni/read_our_newsletter_/archive/newsletter_archive/passover_thoughts "Passover Thoughts"], Yeshivah of Flatbush. Accessed December 24, 2023. "Rabbi Dr. Howard Apfel (HS ‘80) is a board certified pediatric cardiologist at Columbia University Medical Center."
10. [https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/to-repair-an-unhinged-heart/2004/12/01/ "To Repair An Unhinged Heart"], ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', December 1, 2004. Accessed December 24, 2023. "Karen and I have journeyed a lifetime together. I first fell in love with her when I was ten years old and we were students at Yeshivah of Flatbush."
11. Resnick, Elliot. [http://www.jewishpress.com/page.do/18501/The_Almost_Apprentice:_An_Interview_With_Lee_Bienstock.html "The Almost Apprentice: An Interview With Lee Bienstock"] {{webarchive. link. (December 13, 2006 , ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', June 14, 2006, accessed April 29, 2007. "The Jewish Press: What’s your background? Bienstock: I grew up in Brooklyn and went to Yeshivah of Flatbush as a kid. Then when my family moved out to Long Island, I went to HAFTR.")
12. SEGELKEN, H. ROGER. (6 April 2011). "Baruch Blumberg, Who Discovered and Tackled Hepatitis B, Dies at 85". The New York Times.
13. link. (February 13, 2010 , [[Haaretz]], February 28, 2006. "He arrived in America in 1950 with his parents, graduating from the Yeshiva of Flatbush, in Brooklyn, NY, and later earning degrees in political science and law. ")
14. (December 2016)
15. [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2000/kandel-autobio.html Eric R. Kandel: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2000] {{webarchive. link. (May 30, 2013 , [[Nobel Foundation]]. Accessed September 20, 2007. "My grandfather and I liked each other a great deal, and he readily convinced me that he should tutor me in Hebrew during the summer of 1939 so that I might be eligible for a scholarship at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, an excellent Hebrew parochial school that offered both secular and religious studies at a very high level. With his tutelage I entered the Yeshiva in the fall of 1939. By the time I graduated in 1944 I spoke Hebrew almost as well as English, had read through the five books of Moses, the books of Kings, the Prophets and the Judges in Hebrew, and also learned a smattering of the Talmud.")
16. "R. Ezra Labaton, a 'bright star,' dies at 63".
17. (December 2016)
18. (December 2016)
19. [https://web.archive.org/web/20030307224708/http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2000/April/one.htm Portrait of Joseph Telushkin], ''Hadassah Magazine'', April 2000
20. "Message from Head of School | Yeshivah of Flatbush".
21. link. (December 21, 2007 , ''[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]'' by Sandee Brawarsky, October 27, 2006. "Telushkin cites Prager as one of his rebbes -- the people he turns to with ethical questions. The two have been close friends since their sophomore year at Brooklyn's Yeshivah of Flatbush.")
22. Weizman, Janice. [https://www.tarb.co.il/an-abusive-system/ "An Abusive System"], ''The Tel Aviv Review of Books'', Summer 2021. Accessed December 24, 2023. "Dr. Elana Maryles Sztokman was once an Orthodox religious Jew. Growing up in Brooklyn, she attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush, where she received an education that schooled her in the requirements and practices of Orthodox women."
23. [[Mark Leibovich. Leibovich, Mark]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/magazine/a-rods-defender-knows-how-to-tap-dance.html "A-Rod’s Defender Knows How to Tap Dance"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 20, 2013. Accessed December 24, 2023. "[Q] You grew up in Sheepshead Bay, and yet you went to Yeshiva of Flatbush for elementary school. [A] My mother and father quickly determined that the best education I was going to get as a young child was at Yeshiva, instead of getting beat up at P.S. 12. I still have my yarmulke."
24. (March 29, 2010). "Bruce Wasserstein's Last Surprise".
25. link. (January 15, 2016 , ''[[The New York Times]]'', February 5, 2006. Accessed August 6, 2007. "Perhaps it was because, at the yeshiva in Flatbush, we never studied the religious aspects of Christmas, the holiday seemed to me spectacular, truly magical.")
26. [https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/obituaries/292140/former-aipac-president-larry-weinberg-92/ "Former AIPAC President Larry Weinberg, 92"], ''[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]'', January 9, 2019. Accessed December 24, 2023. "He attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush, and later went on to study chemistry at Cornell University under a special U.S. government program for gifted math and science students."
27. [http://www.nyulawglobal.com/GrussLectureFall2005_000.htm The Annual Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Lecture: Fall 2005: "Law and Patience: Unenthusiastic Reflections on Jewish Messianism"] {{webarchive. link. (July 14, 2011 , [[New York University]]. Accessed November 15, 2007. "Educated at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Columbia College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard University.")