Posted to Chabad News, Communal Matters on
Members of the previous board of directors being honored at an Oholei Torah dinner in 2007. Archive Photo.

Oholei Torah Appoints New Board of Directors

Oholei Torah, the largest Jewish boys’ school in Crown Heights, has for the first time in years appointed a Board of Directors that will be tasked with overseeing the school’s finances and important decision making.

The new board consists of 14 individuals, including Rabbis Mordecai Deitsch, Yankel Pinson, Boruch Brikman, Kalman Brikman, Yosef Brikman, Shmuel Brook, Zalman Chein, Avrohom M. Deitsch, Avrohom Lokshin, Laibel Motchkin, Sholom B. Rabkin, Joseph Rosenfeld, Sholom Rosenfeld and Eliezer Teitelbaum.

Rabbi Joseph Rosenfeld will continue to serve as the Executive Director of Oholei Torah, and his son, Rabbi Sholom Rosenfeld, will remain on as the school’s director.

Oholei Torah’s last board of directors was disbanded in 2007, after a significant portion of its members had passed away. In the meantime, a Vaad consisting of Rabbis Itchik Rivkin, Michel Kramer and Nochum Sternberg served as a de facto board, but this Vaad was disbanded in favor of the new, proper – and legally empowered – Board of Directors.

CrownHeights.info contacted the leadership of Oholei Torah to ascertain whether this development has anything to do with the fallout following the controversial firing (and subsequent reinstatement) of two staff members late last year. Oholei Torah’s leadership would not comment on the matter.

Though the appointment of the board was not officially announced by Oholei Torah, its members were included on the school’s invitation for an upcoming dinner, cementing its status among the school’s faculty, parents and students.

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22 Comments

  • About time

    Kol hakavod”!
    A great move for the Mossad,
    Transparency, and leadership is the way to go!

  • WHat's this worth?

    Is the new board empowered to fire any staff who don’t belong there?

  • Rabbi Rosenfeld you are the best

    It amazes me how rabbi Rosenfeld still at his age
    Is running the yeshiva. He just never gives up and keeps the yeshiva running smoothe.
    Rabbi Rosenfeld plz know how much the community appreciates your dedication to raising a new generation of lubavitch biz a hundred un tzvantzik yur
    Massive rabbi Rosenfeld fan

    • Experience

      don’t know anyone personally, but age brings experience and wisdom. I would not want 20 year olds running a moised responsible for the chinuch of so many children.

  • !!!

    Will this help the touition go down and the learning standards go up??

    Will tis help have ONLY teachers that know how to teach and acctially smile to the children???

    Will this help have a real coricullim that all teachrs will have to follow with a principal on top of them to make sure it oulls thru??

    Will this help the percentege rate go down by big numbers of the amount of dropouts on our streets??

    Will this improve the chasidshkeit in the mossad???

    Wishing them alll much needed succes in all the neceray in fully improving the mosad!!!!!

  • three month vacation of the summer.

    Hatzlocha raba! Looking forward to many positive changes.
    Perhaps an extended school year eliminating the three month vacation of the summer.

  • Father and son

    Interesting that there are two sets of fathers and sons on this new board…

  • rosenfeld?

    Time to move on to a board that isn’t afraid to NOT honor their clean shaven alumni and those whos wives don’t dress the way the rebbe would approve of!

  • uly needs to do the same

    Uly is run by a phantom board that gives absolute power to one individual.

    • Taking a wait-and-see attitude

      The mere appointing of a board can mean huge changes, or none at all, or anywhere on the spectrum between these two extremes.

      It all depends upon how OT is set up:

      1) Will this be a “rubber stamp” board that will just add “legitimacy” to whatever is decided in the manner it’s always been decided?

      2) What, if any, powers will this board actually have?

      3) Are there really only 3 or 4 families in all of Lubavitch who are “acceptable enough” for sitting on a board of directors of OT? (Look at all of the repeat last names, and for all I know, there may Board members in this group who are also related to other Board members who don’t even share the same last name!)

      4) Does OT have “Articles of Incorporation” spelling out the role of its Board of Directors? Are those guidelines followed? If not, why not? Also, the fact that we don’t take matters beyond the Beis Din level, when there may seem to be “improprieties” (C”V), may not make any “Articles of Incorporation” nor any “Board of Directors” worth more than the paper their names and supposed roles are printed on.

      Meanwhile, there is an old French saying that translates to: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

      I’m glad my tuition dollars don’t currently go to OT.

      But I’m certainly open to things improving in the future. I saw positive changes to the OT mesivta over the past 10 years. Maybe the rest of the system can also improve.

  • Lawyer

    The law as relates to not for profit corporations is changing in NY. The non-profit revitalization act of 2013 is coming into effect this summer. This change of the board is only being done on paper in view of the need for compliance with the new law. Probably nothing will change in practical terms at the school.

  • Age?

    Looks like average age of “new” vaad is 70…..

    How many of them “get” the young families that actually have their kids in school.

    Hopefully a step in the right direction.

    Now let’s hope other schools do some change, any change would be good, They need new vaad and some young new principals… from top to bottom.
    The only thing they know is how to kick kids out, make them feel like garbage and tell them they need psychiatric help….

  • mendel

    when i grew up most teachers weren’t qualified to teach in the g-building.

    today most of the melamdim are qualified understand todays children and instill great chinuch manners/yoras shmaim/chasideshkeit…thanks rabbi rosenfeld for putting your care and all into ot..ot is not afraid to make big changes and maintains a excellent ruach and chayis…

  • thoughts...

    Yeah….news worthy….but that’s pretty much it.

    Never seen a [functioning] school board who do not have children in the school.