Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin (
Hebrew: יְשִׁיבַת רַבֵּינוּ חַיִּים בֶּרלִין) is an American
HarediLithuanian-type boys' and men's
yeshiva in
Brooklyn, New York.
Chaim Berlin consists of a preschool, a yeshiva ketana (elementary school), a mesivta (high school), a college-level
beth midrash, and
Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate
kollel division.
History
The school was established in 1904 as Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim in
Brownsville, Brooklyn, by Jews who moved there from the
Lower East Side of New York City,[1] thus making it the oldest yeshiva in
Kings County.[2] At the suggestion of
Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan), it was renamed in 1914 for his brother,
Chaim Berlin, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and later Jerusalem, and who had also served in
Valozhyn, from where several of the yeshiva's founders came.[3][1]
Chaim Berlin's Mesivta (high school) was, for a while, located in Far Rockaway[4] headed by
Shlomo Freifeld.[5]
The yeshiva's Stone & Pitkin (Brownsville) seven-story building, formerly known as the Municipal Bank Building,[6] was purchased in 1940;[7]Jacob Rutstein was their major philanthropist.
[8]
Leadership
The founding
rosh yeshiva, Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, served from 1936 until his death in 1963.
Yitzchok Hutner joined the faculty during 1936-1937, and gave monthly lectures as rosh yeshiva from 1943 to 1980. In the late 1970s, a branch was opened in Jerusalem called
Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok (Fear of Isaac).[9]
After Hutner's death, the New York yeshiva was headed by his disciple
Aaron Schechter, and the Jerusalem branch was headed by his son-in-law
Yonason David.[9] When Schechter died in 2023, the leadership of the yeshiva passed to his son-in-law Shlomo Halioua.[10]
Chaim Berlin consists of a preschool, a yeshiva ketana (elementary school), a mesivta (high school), a college-level
beth midrash, and
Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate
kollel division. Total enrollment for all divisions approaches 2,000 students.[13] The mesivta acts as a feeder school for the beth midrash.[14][15]
The yeshiva maintains a summer location, Camp Morris, in
Sullivan County, New York.[16] The Yeshiva also runs a summer youth program with the name Chaim Day Camp.
Notable alumni
Notable alumni include many who served in rabbinic capacities throughout the world.
A-M
Shalom Z. Berger (born 1960), Senior Content Editor of the Koren Talmud Bavli
Shlomo Carlebach (1925–2022), former mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin[17]
Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994), rabbi, religious teacher, spiritual leader, composer, and singer[18]
^"The Kriah Clinic". Rav Shlomo Freifeld zt"l related the following story: When Rav Shlomo was Mashgiach at Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Berlin, one bochur ...
^Reb Shlomo Carlebach Biography, Shlomo Carlebach Foundation. Accessed September 19, 2023. "Shlomo also studied at the Chaim Berlin Yeshiva in Brooklyn, and in 1954, received rabbinic ordination from its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzhak Hutner."
^"Shlomo Freifeld, Rabbi, 66", The New York Times, October 8, 1990. Accessed September 19, 2023. "Rabbi Freifeld was born in Brooklyn and was a disciple of Rabbi Isaac Hutner at Yeshiva Chaim Berlin. He later became dean of men there before founding Sh'or Yoshuv in 1967."