Denomination Orthodox Jewish Enrolment 385 (K-12) Slogan Educating for life Principal Rabbi Smukler Motto Educating for life Colors Navy blue, Gold | Established 1955 Colour(s) Navy Blue & Gold Founded 1955 Headquarters Melbourne, Australia Number of students 385 (K-12) | |
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Key people The Lubavitcher Rebbe;
Rabbi Y. D. Groner. OBD School types Independent school, Single-sex education, Day school | ||
Yeshivas Oholei Yosef Yitzchok Lubavitch (Hebrew: ישיבה אהלי יוסף יצחק ליובאוויטש), known more commonly as Yeshivah College, is an independent, single-sex, Orthodox Jewish day school for boys, located in St Kilda East, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Contents
- History and Origins
- Administration
- Curriculum
- Shluchim
- In the community
- Sexual abuse scandal
- Notable alumni
- References
The school is run by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's Yeshivah Centre, and caters for students from kindergarten through to Year 12.
History and Origins
The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe sent 5 Chabad families to establish a community in Australia. They originally moved to Shepparton as there was already a Chabad family there.
In the 1950s they moved to Melbourne and started the school in 1958. Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Groner was sent from New York to help in the school and not long after his arrival he became the principal and director of the school.
Yeshivah College now thrives on the same campus as Yeshivah Shul, the community's synagogue.
The school has received wide criticism for its handling of reported child abuse in the 1990s.
Administration
The school is part of a worldwide network of schools named after Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe. The school is as a branch of the Yeshiva Centre umbrella, and Rabbi Mordechai Berger was the principal of the high school, having replaced Rabbi Avrohom Glick at the start of the 2008 school year, however, Rabbi Glick stepped in as Interim Menahel when Rabbi Berger left at the end of the 2009 school year. Rabbi Glick ended his term as Interim Menahel at the end of term two, being succeeded by Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler from Sydney, Australia.
Curriculum
From students in Year 10 and upwards, Yeshivah College has two educational tracks. One is a dual curriculum including both religious studies and general education studies. The other is a religious studies only curriculum known as Mesivta (Hebrew for "academy").
Shluchim
Every year a group of shluchim (emissaries) are sent to assist the teachers and mashpias of the school in setting an example for today's students. They do so by instituting mivtzos programs which encourage the practice of Chassidic life . In most years, the shluchim are sent from Ohlei Torah Rabbinical College.
Over the years the number of Shluchim to the school has varied. The last number of years have had approximately five shluchim per year.
In the community
Yeshivah scores top VCE results for a non-selective boys only school.
The Yeshivah school is part of a larger network of facilities of the Yeshivah Centre, which include a youth movement, Jewish studies classes, day camps, and many other initiatives for Melbourne's wider Jewish community.
The Melbourne Lubavitch community is part of a larger Haredi community based in Melbourne.
Sexual abuse scandal
The school has been under investigation by the Australian Royal Commission for alleged sexual abuse during the tenure of Rabbi Avrohom Glick. Glick resigned from all posts at Yeshivah College, where he was principal 1980s and 1990s, the era during which the alleged abuse took place. He also tendered his resignation from the spiritual committee of the Yeshivah Center. Victims were angry that he had remained this post, which he had maintained was “his calling” during the Royal Commission's hearings.