Rockwern Academy located in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, is an independent private pre-K-8 Jewish day school that caters to all Jewish denominations and to affiliated as well as unaffiliated Jewish families. [1] The school was founded in 1952 as Yavneh Day School at a time when Jewish Americans had started to become more receptive to full-time Jewish schooling for their children.
The school is subdivided into a preschool, lower school, and middle school. It emphasizes both Jewish studies and general secular studies. In January 2008, the school changed its name in honor of Dr. S. Sunner Rockwern who donated four million dollars to its endowment.[ citation needed ]
The roots of the school's origins are intertwined with the history of the Jews in Cincinnati. Many Jewish educational institutions were created and merged, and continue to do so, and Yavneh was part of that process:
Part of the main tenets of classical Reform Judaism as espoused by the Pittsburgh Platform was to reject the ways of orthodoxy [3] and part of that was to send the children of their affiliated synagogues to secular public schools and to receive Jewish education at temple "Sunday schools" instead. The introduction of all-day Jewish schooling should be seen as significant in the midst of a city that was the birthplace of Reform Judaism.
After its founding in 1952 it faced an uphill battle to recruit students and retain its strength as a school:
Yavneh subsequently merged with Beth Am and Talmud Torah to form the Cincinnati Community Hebrew Schools (CCHS) [4] a move that reflected that the Yavneh leadership had rejected the overtures of the strictly Orthodox line of Rabbi Eliezer Silver (the accepted Dean Of Orthodox Jewy of the United States and Canada) and was moving towards and an alignment with the non-Orthodox part of the Jewish community. During the 1970s there was a short-lived merger with the Cincinnati Hebrew Day school after which the school experienced greater enrollment. [4]
As a mark of its strategic importance to the Jews of Cincinnati it has been extremely successful in recent years in its fundraising. It has won significant support from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, the AVI CHAI Foundation, and the Jewish Funders Network (an international organization of family foundations, public philanthropies, and individual funders dedicated to advancing the quality and growth of philanthropy rooted in Jewish values) [5] among many others. [6]
As of January 2008 it was announced that:
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Chazal. This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the Talmudim, Midrash, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. The terms mefareshim and parshanim (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of rabbinic glosses on Biblical and Talmudic texts.
A yeshiva is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha, while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The studying is usually done through daily shiurim as well as in study pairs called chavrusas. Chavrusa-style learning is one of the unique features of the yeshiva.
Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan, known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lithuanian Jewish rabbi, Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Orthodox Jewish life.
The SeferChafetz Chaim is a book by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, who is also called "the Chofetz Chaim" after it. The book deals with the Jewish laws of speech.
Rosh yeshiva is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and the Torah, and halakha.
In Jewish law and history, Acharonim are the leading rabbis and poskim living from roughly the 16th century to the present, and more specifically since the writing of the Shulchan Aruch in 1563 CE.
The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation is a non-profit Orthodox Jewish organization based in Monsey, New York, United States. The foundation is dedicated to spreading the teachings of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, known as the Chofetz Chaim and is based on his work of Jewish ethics of the same name. Rabbi Kagan’s work deals with the prohibitions of gossip, slander and defamation known as Lashon Hara in Jewish law (Halakha).
Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim is an Orthodox yeshiva based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, United States. It is primarily an American, non-chasidic ultra-orthodox Talmudic yeshiva. The yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) but is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim as that was the nickname of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. It has affiliate branches in Israel and North America.
Telshe Yeshiva is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College of Telshe, commonly referred to as Telz Yeshiva, or Telz in short.
Rabbi Dovid Harris is an Orthodox rabbi who along with Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt, serves as Rosh Hayeshiva (deans) at the Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen. He is a prominent figure in the yeshiva world and speaks annually at the Torah Umesorah - National Society for Hebrew Day Schools convention. He also serves on the Rabbinic advisory committee of Torah Umesorah.
Jewish education is the transmission of the tenets, principles, and religious laws of Judaism. Jews value education, and the value of education is strongly embedded in Jewish culture. Judaism places a heavy emphasis on Torah study, from the early days of studying the Tanakh.
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Gateshead Talmudical College, popularly known as Gateshead Yeshiva, is located in the Bensham area of Gateshead in North East England. It is the largest yeshiva in Europe and considered to be one of the most prestigious advanced yeshivas in the Orthodox world. The student body currently numbers approx. 350. Although students are mainly British, there are European, American, Canadians as well as some from South America, Australia and South Africa.
Mesivta is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva secondary school for boys. The term is commonly used in the United States to describe a yeshiva that emphasizes Talmudic studies for boys in grades 9 through 11 or 12; alternately, it refers to the religious studies track in a yeshiva high school that offers both religious and secular studies.
Chona Menachem Mendel (Mendel) Weinbach was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, educator, author, and speaker. As the co-founder and dean of Ohr Somayach Institutions, a Jerusalem-based yeshiva for newly-observant Jewish men, he was considered one of the fathers of the modern-day baal teshuva movement.
Eitz Chaim Schools is a private, Orthodox Jewish elementary school in Toronto and Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. The school receives funding from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, primarily based on the amount of tuition subsidies provided. In addition to the regular Ontario curriculum, the school teaches various Jewish-related topics including Chumash, Mishna, Gemara, and Dinim. Some Hebrew language and Navi, is also taught, particularly with the girls.
Dirshu is an Orthodox Jewish international organization whose goal is to strengthen and encourage Torah study. Founded in 1997, the organization produces study cycles, sponsors shiurim, furnishes and grades tests, and offers financial incentives to individuals and groups to learn and master Talmud, Halakha, and Mussar texts. It has also published new editions of traditional Jewish texts, and sponsored major gatherings to celebrate the completion of its study cycles. As of 2018, more than 150,000 people have participated in its programs, which have spread to 26 countries on five continents.
Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva in Telshe (Telšiai), Lithuania.