Hebrew
Institute of
Long Island
Known
by its
initials HILI
(Pronounced
High-Lie)
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One
of the first Jewish day school in Queens
and in Long Island was founded in 1937
by Mr. Joseph Yurkowitz (and others)
under the name “the Yeshiva of the
Rockaways.”
HILI’s
first home was in the women’s section
(i.e., the balcony) of Congregation
Anshei Sfard, 208 B. 75th Street, in
Arverne.
The
founding Hebrew principal of HILI was
Rabbi Mordechai Shuchatowitz, who also
served as rabbi of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek in Edgemere. The first
principal of the secular studies
department was Lawrence Shapiro. Rabbi
Shuchatowitz was succeeded by Dr. Irving
Agus (1946-7), who was succeeded by
Rabbi Harold I. Leiman, who served as
Principal and Dean from 1948-1960 and
1971-73.
In
1939, the school moved to Far
Rockaway, where it acquired the
building of a former care center for
children of ill mothers called “the
Children’s Haven” on Beach 19th
Street. The name of the school was
changed to the “Hebrew Institute of
Long Island.”
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Roche
Estate
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The
first academic year in the new building
under the new name was 1939-40. In
1952-3, HILI acquired the neighboring
Roche estate, and in September 1953
classes convened for the first time in
the C, D, and E buildings (B being
reserved for the administration
building) on Seagirt Boulevard.
HILI's
high school was founded in 1951-2 (its
first academic year) and was housed on
the top floor of the old Congregation
Shaarey Tefilla building on Central
Avenue in Far Rockaway. It would
later move into the E building on the
new campus.
Due largely
to demographic changes in Far
Rockaway, HILI merged with the Hillel
School in Lawrence in 1978 forming a
new school called the Hebrew Academy
of the Five Towns and Rockaway
(HAFTR).
The four
white buildings at the left,
and the extensive grounds
behind them, form the Edward
Roche estate.
These
four white buildings became
the B (administration), C
(elementary school), D
(middle school), and E (high
school) buildings of HILI.
In the mornings (for high
school level Torah study),
boys classes convened in the
D building and girls classes
convened in the E building.
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Yeshiva
Iyyun
Ha-Talmud
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The
Commercial Cable Company building
was constructed in 1912 on Beach
17th Street near New Haven Avenue.
It processed telegrams to and from
Europe.
In the 1960’s it was transformed
into an advanced talmudical
institute when it was acquired by
Yeshiva Iyyun Ha-Talmud, under the
leadership of Rabbi Abba
Berman, formerly maggid shi’ur at
the Mirrer Yeshiva in New York.
The Yeshiva ultimately made its way
to Jerusalem, and in 1985 the
building was torn down.
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Jewish
Center School
of
Congregation
Shaaray Tefila
of Far
Rockaway
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In 1930,
Rabbi Irving Miller, a leading American
Zionist, founder the Jewish Center
School of Congregation Shaaray Tefila,
on of the first schools in the United
States to integrate general and Jewish
studies into a single educational
experience. Rabbi Miller's school
began with only a kindergarten and first
grade. Additional grades were
added until a complete elementary school
of eight grades was established in
1935. The school received
provisional charter in 1936. The
school moved to Woodmere in 1945 and was
renamed the Brandeis
School. In 1965, the school became
a member of the Solomon Schechter Day
School movement, the educational arm of
the Conservative movement.
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Rockaway
Hebrew Schools (past and present)
- Chaim
Berlin High School
- Mesivta
Chaim Shlomo
- Bais
Yaakov Ateres Miriam
- Beth
El Day School
- Bnois
Bais Yaacov
- Hebrew
Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway
(HAFTR)
- Ohab
Zedek School
- Tichon
Meir Moshe
- Sh'or
Yoshuv Institute of Jewish Studies
- Siach
Yitzchok Elementary School for Boys
- Torah
Academy for Girls
- Yeshiva
Darchei Torah
- Yeshiva
of Far Rockaway
- The
Hebrew Institute of Long Island
- West
End Temple - Sinai Congregation
- Yeshiva
Bnei Torah
- Yeshiva Iyyun Ha-Talmud
Far Rockaway High School
Far Rockaway
High School was a public
high school in New York City, at
8-21 Bay 25 Street in Far Rockaway.
The school was founded in 1897, with Sanford
J. Ellsworth as principal
for over 40 years.
Its alumni included three Nobel Prize
laureates, the most Nobel laureates per New
York City High Schools with the exception of
the specialized Bronx Science. The
school stopped accepting students in 2008 as
part of a planned closure because of
declining grades.
The doors closed on June 27, 2011.
The school's building was completed in
1929.
Notable
Graduates from Far Rockaway High School
- Richard
Bey, radio and television talk show host.
- Baruch
Samuel Blumberg, winner of the 1976 Nobel
Prize in Medicine.
- Joyce
Brothers, psychologist and advice columnist;
graduated in 1943.
- Richard
Cohen, columnist for The Washington Post,
class of 1958
- Richard
Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in
Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum
electrodynamics.
- Joan
Feynman, astrophysicist
and NASA
Exceptional Achievement Medal
recipient in 2002
- Carl
Icahn, financier and billionaire.
- Nancy
Lieberman, basketball pioneer.
- Bernard
Madoff , convicted of large-scale fraud,
founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment
Securities LLC.
- Burton
Richter, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in
Physics.
Thanks to the Leiman
Library for use of the postcards
shown.
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