Yeshiva Gedola of Carteret

History

The yeshiva was founded in 2006 by Rabbi Azriel Brown and Rabbi Yaakov Mayer, both graduates of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem, and Yeshivas Ner Yisroel of Baltimore. With the backing of Rabbi Aharon Feldman, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, and Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, among numerous others, Rabbis Brown and Mayer decided to open a yeshiva in the suburban north Jersey town of Carteret. Carteret had previously boasted a Jewish community with two synagogues in the 1950s but its Jewish presence had dwindled since then, to the point that it was no longer able to support the remaining synagogue, a Jewish community center, which closed in 2002. Garson Gruhin and Lou Raiman, remaining board members of the Jewish community center who worked hard to preserve Jewish life in Carteret. Garson Gruhin along with his son Mark I. Gruhin, Esq., arranged to transfer the former synagogue and community center building and an adjoining five-bedroom rabbi's residence to the yeshiva.

The yeshiva opened in September 2006 with 14 students. Initially, Donya Brown and Chani Mayer, wives of the founders, handled the food preparation and bookkeeping for the fledgling institution, and each family hosted all the students in their home for one Shabbos meal. As enrollment grew and the students began staying in the Yeshiva full-time, the Browns and Mayers took an active role in each student's education, personal growth, helped them with shidduchim (marriage proposals), and even hosted their sheva brachos (festive meals held during the week after the wedding).

In 2014 Rabbi Heshy Fireworker became the Mashgiach of the yeshiva, after five years in his role of Second Seder Shoel U'meishiv.

In 2015 Rabbi Yaakov T. Biderman, became the executive director of the yeshiva. Biderman is an alumnus of the Yeshiva, who was intimately involved in its operations as student and remained involved throughout the years in between. He leads most of the fundraisers, as well as founded the Alumni Association in August 2013.

In 2017 the Roshei Yeshiva founded the Mesivta of Carteret, placing Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Roth in the Rosh Mesivta role, after several years as the Night Seder Shoel U'meishiv. The Mesivta is starting with a ninth grade for the 2017-2018 school year, with Rabbi Chaim Motechin being the Maggid Shiur. Rabbi Max Anteby is serving as the director of the Secular Studies department.

Program

The yeshiva is an all-male Lithuanian (Litvish)-style Talmudic college. Currently, it consists of a beis medrash (undergraduate) program, as well as a kollel (post-graduate) division for its married students. The beis medrash program is divided into two groups: a post-high school constituency which consists of primarily first-, second-, and third-year students (followed by a common tradition for students to spend a year or more of study at yeshivas in Israel), and a senior group which consists mainly of students who have completed their study in Israel and who act as mentors for younger students.

Curriculum

The yeshiva's studies are primarily Talmudic texts and rabbinic literature. The yeshiva has a cycle of various tractates it covers over a span of about eight years. Three large chunks of each day (sedarim, or sessions) are applied to the study of Talmud at varying degrees of depth. In addition to Talmudic study, small sections of time each day are allotted for mussar (Jewish ethical literature) and practical halacha (Jewish law). The primary focus of each day is the shiur (main lecture), which takes place at the end of first seder.

Faculty

Rabbinical Advisory Board

Hachnasas Sifrei Torah

In December 2008, the yeshiva celebrated a Hachnasas Sefer Torah, the traditional festivity upon the completion of a new Torah scroll. Several hundred guests came to Carteret for the procession, including several eminent Torah figures. Noe Street was barricaded off to outside traffic as the crowd wound its way to the yeshiva building accompanied by live music and dancing.

In September 2011, the yeshiva held a kesivas osios (Torah scroll-writing ceremony) in Lakewood for another new Torah scroll, that was to be dedicated after Sukkos 2011. The Hachnosas Sefer Torah took place in Carteret.

Alumni association

In August 2013, an alumni association was formed by a group of yeshiva alumni, spearheaded by Rabbi Yaakov T. Biderman (now executive director of the yeshiva), with the involvement and backing of the Roshei Yeshiva. Their motto is "By the alumni, for the alumni". The alumni association's primary goal is to keep the alumni united as a group, in order to network and support each other in both personal life and beyond. They arrange get-togethers, share simchas, and keep the alumni connected with their rebbeim.

Hurricane Sandy

In October 2012 the yeshiva building experienced substantial damage from Hurricane Sandy. The flooding reached nearly 2 feet (0.61 m) above the main floor, as well as damaged dormitory houses. One dormitory, hit by the flood and by an explosion from a neighboring building, was condemned by the township. Total damage was estimated at close to $200,000.