Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

The school was established in 1904 as Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim in Brownsville, Brooklyn, by Jews who moved there from the Lower East Side of New York City,[2] thus making it the oldest yeshiva in Kings County.[3] At the suggestion of Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan), it was renamed for his brother, Chaim Berlin, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and later Jerusalem, and who had also served in Valozhyn, where several of the yeshiva's founders were from.[2]

Jacob Rutstein, a real estate developer, businessman and, philanthropist, was essential in establishing Chaim Berlin Yeshiva in the United States. An article in the Brooklyn Eagle, on March 16, 1942, described one of the many donations he acquired for the institution, stating that “$2,000 was raised in outside gifts by Jacob Rutstein who recently returned from Florida.” On December 11, 1944, another article appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle which stated, “Yesivah Rabbi Chaim Berlin, one of the largest Orthodox Jewish institutions of learning in the country, is dedicating its new seven-story building at Stone and Pitkin Ave... The opening ceremonies were attended by more than 3000 persons. Jacob Rutstein, chairman of the dedication committee, announced that $25,000 had been donated by those present towards the new $1,000,000 building.”

Rabbi Aaron Schechter (white beard) celebrating Purim in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin during the late 1970s.

The founding rosh yeshiva, Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, served from 1936 until his death in 1963. Yitzchok Hutner joined the faculty during 1936-1937, and gave monthly lectures as rosh yeshiva from 1943 to 1980. In the late 1970s, a branch was opened in Jerusalem called Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok (Fear of Isaac).

After Hutner's death, the New York yeshiva was headed by his disciple Aaron Schechter, and the Jerusalem branch was headed by his son-in-law Yonason David.

The position of mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) has been held by (among others) Avigdor Miller, Shlomo Freifeld, Shlomo Carlebach, and Shimon Groner.

Chaim Berlin consists of a preschool, a yeshiva ketana (elementary school), a mesivta (high school), a college-level beth midrash, and Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate kollel division. Total enrollment for all divisions approaches 2,000 students.[4] The mesivta acts as a feeder school for the beth midrash.[1]

The yeshiva maintains a summer location, Camp Morris, in Sullivan County, New York.[5]

Shlomo Carlebach served as mashgiach ruchani of the yeshiva under Hutner. When Hutner appointed Schechter and David to lead the yeshiva after him, they ultimately fired Carlebach from his position, as they viewed him as a challenge to their authority. Carlebach summoned them to a beth din (rabbinical court) headed by Moshe Feinstein. The summons was ignored, and the yeshiva was given a status of lo tzeis dinah. Many leading rabbis urged Hutner and Schechter to heed the summons of Feinstein, but they were ignored.[6]

Notable alumni include many who served in rabbinic capacities throughout the world.

• Shalom Z. Berger (born 1960), Senior Content Editor of the Koren Talmud Bavli
• Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994), former mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
• Yonasan Dovid David, co-rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
• Yaakov Feitman, rabbi of Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, New York[7]
• Aharon Feldman (born 1932), rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel Rabbinical College
• Shlomo Freifeld (1925–1990), founding rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Shor Yoshuv
• David Weiss Halivni (born 1927), rabbi
• David Hartman (born 1931), American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute.
• Simcha Krauss (born 1937), retired rabbi of the Young Israel of Hillcrest, Queens, and leader of the Religious Zionists of America
• David Lefkowitz (1875–1955), chaplain United States Marines
• Aharon Lichtenstein (1933–2015), rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Alon Shevut, and rosh kollel of Yeshiva University's Gruss Kollel, Jerusalem
• Yaakov Perlow (1931-2020), the Novominsker Rebbe of Borough Park[8]
• Yechiel Perr (born 1935), rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway
• Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld (1922–1978), Polish–American rabbi and educator associated with the Breslov Hasidic movement
• Nota Schiller (born 1937), rosh yeshiva of Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem
• Ahron Soloveichik (1917–2001), taught at Yeshiva University, Hebrew Theological College and Brisk Rabbinical College
• Pinchas Stolper (born 1931), former Executive Vice-President of the Orthodox Union and founder of NCSY
• Noah Weinberg (1930–2009), co-founder of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem; founder of Yeshivas Aish HaTorah
• Yaakov Weinberg (1923–1999), rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel Rabbinical College
• Yisroel Eliyahu Weintraub (1932–2010), rabbi

• Yeshiva Torah Vodaas – another yeshiva in Brooklyn

• Hagadah of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
• Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin at Greatschools.org
• Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin
• Harry Perkal (November 20, 2017). "Confessions Of A Chaim Berlin Yeshiva Graduate," The Forward.