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April 18, 2003
Yeshivah opens this fall
New school for boys will host out-of-town students.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
Many parents who have had to consider sending their children out
of town for a yeshivah-style education will be able to keep their
families together as of this fall.
Two young rabbis from Yeshivah Chofetz Chaim in Queens, N.Y., are
going to be directing a similar institute for boys in Vancouver,
in order to serve the Jewish communities of the Pacific Northwest.
Rabbis Noam Abramchik and Dovid Davidowitz have spent a lot of time
in Vancouver over the past few months preparing to move their families
here while also preparing for the opening of the Pacific Torah Institute
(PTI). Created based on the teachings and philosophies of Chofetz
Chaim, whose leaders have branched out to open 10 other yeshivot
around North America, PTI will provide combine a talmudic and Judaic
education with a high-level secular education for male Jewish high
school students. The key to a yeshivah environment, the rabbis explained,
is the focus on talmudic study and lifestyle philosophies.
"Hashem has given us the Torah as a gift and it is everyone's
responsibility to not just be satisfied with their own level of
Judaism, but to teach anybody who is interested in learning such
a subject," said Abramchik.
"[The yeshivah influence] trains the students in a way that
is not normally found in regular secular education," added
Davidowitz. "It's about discipline and it is really a methodical
and analytical approach to studying. It is a question of processing
[the knowledge], taking it apart, putting it back together and working
with it."
Abramchik made it clear that the goal of PTI's yeshivah education
will be to prepare the students for success, no matter which direction
in life they choose to go after high school.
"Ultimately, the students will be well-rounded boys who will
be focusing on their secular subjects, as well as their Judaic subjects,
who will be playing sports and be active in community involvement,"
he said. "If they're not able to choose any arena that they
want [after graduation] then that's a failure on our part."
PTI's arrival in Vancouver came almost by accident. Responding to
a call from parents in Seattle, Wash., who wanted Chofetz Chaim
to open a yeshivah there, the institution sent one of its leading
rabbis to assess that community's needs.
When Dr. David Freedman, vice-president of Vancouver Hebrew Academy
(VHA), heard this, he contacted the yeshivah and asked if they would
also visit Vancouver to talk to local families about the potential
opportunity in Seattle.
However, after visiting both cities, it became clear that Vancouver
was the better location to open the school.
"[The rabbis] felt that Seattle wasn't ready to embrace the
yeshivah as a community but they felt Vancouver was," explained
Davidowitz, who came with Abramchik in February to visit Vancouver
themselves. "We did not hear one negative word about a yeshivah
starting in this town. Even people who said that it wouldn't necessarily
service them still felt that in order for the Vancouver Jewish community
to take the next step, this is what was needed."
Currently the closest yeshivot are in Los Angeles and Toronto.
Chofetz Chaim in New York serves hundreds of high schools and post-high
school students. Many of its students become educators themselves
or end up directing new yeshivot around North America. Yeshivah
heads, like Abramchik and Davidowitz, have to have spent at least
nine years studying at Chofetz Chaim before they can lead the development
of a new school program. Before making plans to move to Vancouver,
Davidowitz had been teaching at the Chofetz Chaim in Queens while
Abramchik was very involved in the local National Congress of Synagogue
Youth (NCSY) organization. Both rabbis, aged 30, have been studying
at Chofetz Chaim for more than 17 years.
Freedman's wife, Ellen, who has played a significant role in helping
to set up PTI, has already sent her oldest son, Yaakov, 17, to Toronto
to study at a yeshivah there. However, she is glad that her other
son, Andrew, 15, will be able to receive a similar education without
having to leave home.
Freedman, Abramchik and Davidowitz estimate that 15 to 20 students
will be enrolled in PTI before it opens in the fall. In all likelihood,
around half of those students will not be from Vancouver. Parents
from Seattle, Portland, Edmonton, Calgary and San Francisco have
expressed plans to send their children to the new school. In the
first year, Freedman and other local volunteer families will host
the students in their homes. A goal for the future would be to create
living facilities for out-of-town students.
PTI will also initiate a new beit midrash program, where school
students would study at the yeshivah and serve as role models for
the younger students. PTI plans to work closely with Vancouver Hebrew
Academy (VHA), sharing resources. VHA will also provide high school-level
classes for girls who want a more traditional Orthodox education,
without the talmudic study.
The announcement of PTI comes as Vancouver Talmud Torah high school
(TTHS) is preparing to build a new high school facility of its own
on the grounds of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
Eyal Daniel, head of both Talmud Torah high school and elementary
school, said he is not concerned about losing students to PTI, only
sharing limited community resources.
"I don't think that the yeshivah will take any of our students
because the ones that would join them wouldn't have chosen the high
school as their option anyway," he said. "I'm just hoping
that we're not going to be dividing the same money among more and
more organizations that duplicate their services."
He added that he believes that TTHS can provide an effective Judaic
and secular education for Orthodox students, but he respects that
people have their own view of how that should be done.
"I wouldn't say that we are not able to support those students,
but everyone has their own opinion," he said. "If you
are talking about providing a separate education for girls and boys,
then no, we can't do that."
Freedman insisted that there will be absolutely no competition between
Talmud Torah and the Pacific Torah Institute because they fill very
different needs.
"This community absolutely needs a community Jewish high school,"
she explained. "It fills a tremendous need in this community,
but it doesn't fill all the needs of this community.
"A yeshivah of this stature is for those boys who are ready
to make a very serious commitment to their Judaic learning, as well
as their general studies," she continued. "We see it as
an enhancement for Jewish education for high school students in
the community."
PTI will open this fall, offering classes for students in grades
8, 9 and 10, with a fully accredited secular program. PTI will add
a Grade 11 program next year and a Grade 12 program in 2005.
The specific location for PTI has not yet been confirmed as they
are awaiting a decision to be made on the availability of a location
they have in mind. For more information about PTI, call 604-742-1961
or e-mail [email protected].
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