Carteret Yeshiva
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| Yeshiva Gedola of Carteret | |
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| Established: | 2006 |
| Type: | Yeshiva (Orthodox) |
| Location: | Carteret, NJ, USA |
| Campus: | Urban |
The Carteret Yeshiva (Yeshiva Tiferes Yehuda Aryeh of Carteret) is the latest addition to the growing cluster of yeshivos (Rabbinic training schools) in the suburban towns of Central New Jersey. The Yeshiva, located in the Middlesex borough of Carteret, gives Talmudic students at the post-high school level the opportunity to continue their religious studies in an isolated setting, away from the busy – and potentially distracting – hustle of much larger cities. Opened by Rabbi Azriel Brown and Rabbi Yaakov Mayer in 2006, the Yeshiva is already a rapidly growing force, attracting students from cities across the United States, Canada, and Central America. Like many other yeshiva heads in the area, Rabbis Mayer and Brown chose Central New Jersey largely because of its proximity to mainstream Jewish population centers in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland.
[edit] Opening the Yeshiva
Rabbis Mayer and Brown, both originally from Far Rockaway, Queens, were attending the Kollel (graduate program for married students) at the prestigious Yeshivas Ner Yisroel (Ner Israel Rabbinical College) in Baltimore, when the decision was reached to open their own academy of higher learning in mid-2006. One challenge the founders faced was the issue of location. The building they ultimately selected in Carteret was the site of the local Jewish Community Center (JCC), relic of a once vibrant Jewish community of the fifties and sixties that had succumbed over the years to the waves of emigration that swept away all but a small handful of Jewish residents. The JCC building had lay dormant for close to a decade, and was in need of repairs that were both costly and extensive. An even greater difficulty faced by the pioneering young rabbis was the imperative question of building a student body. In the extremely competitive environment of the Yeshiva world, where only the best students are accepted to the most prestigious schools, it is a most formidable task to attract promising youth to a fledgling institution.
The opening of the Yeshiva last year heralded a revitalization of the venerable community, receiving a hearty round of applause from local citizens, and a deep, emotional glow of pride from the few remaining Jewish residents old enough to remember the community in its heyday, and who perhaps attended community functions, prayed, and were bar mitzvahed at the Carteret Jewish Community Center.
