I was enrolled at the original location on Virginia St. in Far Rockaway. There was a basketball hoop across the street over a neighbor’s garage. We had some great games under those boards! There was little in the way of learning going on back then. The classrooms were often out of control. You might say we were a bunch of ווילדע חיות ! Rabbi Peer and Rabbi Brafman ran the school. I was asked to leave around the end of 10th grade and finished the year at HILI - Hebrew Institute of Long Island. I came to the school after having been sexually abused by a Rabbi visiting from Israel when I was attending ישיבה תורה ודעת in Brooklyn. I was spending Shabbos at a nearby house in Boro Park. Another incident involved a man in the dormitory, who studied at the בית המדרש across E. 9th St. It is hard to describe the corrosive effects the abuse had on me. There was tremendous shame and guilt and no resources or support structure in place to help students who had been victimized and taken advantage of. I hope things have changed today because I feel these kind of incidents are probably systemic in a setting where young boys are not permitted to interact with girls and normal acts such as masturbation are considered an עבירה. The lack of oversight in these environments can only be seen as detrimental to the mental health of the community and א בושה און א חרפה - a shame and a disgrace.
I was enrolled at the original location on Virginia St. in Far Rockaway. There was a basketball hoop across the street over a neighbor’s garage. We had some great games under those boards! There was little in the way of learning going on back then. The classrooms were often out of control. You might say we were a bunch of ווילדע חיות ! Rabbi Peer and Rabbi Brafman ran the school. I was asked to leave around the end of 10th grade and finished the year at HILI - Hebrew Institute of Long Island. I came to the school after having been sexually abused by a Rabbi visiting from Israel when I was attending ישיבה תורה ודעת in Brooklyn. I was spending Shabbos at a nearby house in Boro Park. Another incident involved a man in the dormitory, who studied at the בית המדרש across E. 9th St. It is hard to describe the corrosive effects the abuse had on me. There was tremendous shame and guilt and no resources or support structure in place to help students who had been victimized and taken advantage of. I hope things have changed today because I feel these kind of incidents are probably systemic in a setting where young boys are not permitted to interact with girls and normal acts such as masturbation are considered an עבירה. The lack of oversight in these environments can only be seen as detrimental to the mental health of the community and
א בושה און א חרפה - a shame and a disgrace.
MAZAL TOV KOL TOV LA YESHIVE REGARDS FROM MEXICO CITY