Yeshiva Torah Temimah

Yeshiva Torah Temimah is an Orthodox yeshiva with branches in Brooklyn, New York and Lakewood, New Jersey that was founded by Rabbi Lipa Margolis.[1] Rabbi Shlomo Feivel Shustal taught the highest level students of the school until August 2014, when he left to open his own Talmudic seminary called Yeshiva Neos Yaakov. The highest level students are currently being taught by Rabbi Betzalel Busel.

Yeshiva Torah Temimah
Location
Brooklyn
,
New York

United States
Coordinates40.635271°N 73.97217°W / 40.635271; -73.97217
Information
Established1976
Websitehttp://www.ytt.edu

Located on Ocean Parkway in Flatbush, the school was founded as Yeshiva Torah Vodaath of Flatbush;[2] and it began operating under the name Yeshiva Torah Temimah in 1976.[3] The institution grew to social prominence between 1980 and 2000.[4]

The school provides a combined religious and secular single-sex education to approximately 750 male students,[5] including training in talmud, musar literature, history, classical Jewish scholarship and literature, mathematics, language arts and sciences.

Students

The New York branch of the school consists of two buildings. One of them houses approximately 650 boys ranging in age from nursery school through the twelfth grade; the school maintains a separate building for tertiary study, with an additional enrollment of about 100 students.[3] It has a student-teacher ratio of approximately nineteen to one, and is staffed by renowned teachers and rabbis.[5]

Alumni

Graduates of the school generally pursue further Talmudic education in such institutions as the Brisk yeshiva and Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem, as well as Beth Medrash Govoha in New Jersey, with a significant percentage of school alumni occupying rabbinic pulpits and positions of Jewish education. They also attend prestigious universities such as Harvard law.

Controversies

The yeshiva made headlines when one of its teachers and assistant principal,[6] Joel (Yehuda) Kolko, was charged in 2006 with sexually abusing two first-graders and forcing an adult former student to touch him during a visit to the school. Six former students also filed suit against the yeshiva, alleging the school administrators knew about Kolko’s molestation of students for decades, but sought to cover it up and intimidate students who spoke out. Kolko later pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of child endangerment and was sentenced to three years' probation,[7] and has since left the school.[8] The suit also alleged that school principal Lipa Margulies waged a "a campaign of intimidation, concealment and misrepresentations designed to prevent victims from filing lawsuits."[9] Four of the lawsuits were dismissed for being filed beyond the then five year statute of limitations. In October, 2016 it was reported that the school had reached a $2.1 million settlement on the two remaining cases.[10] In August, 2019 Baruch Sandhaus filed a lawsuit under the Child Victims Act (NYS Kings County Supreme Court Index #518057/2019)[11] against Yeshiva Torah Temimah, Kolko and Yoel Falk,[12] alleging that Kolko[13] and Falk[14] sexually abused him around 1980 with the knowledge of the yeshiva and Margulies. In December 2019, an additional lawsuit was filed under the Child Victims Act against the school and Margulies (NYS Kings County Supreme Court Index #526789/2019) by a "John Doe" plaintiff alleging that Kolko sexually abused him in 1994 while he was a student at the yeshiva.

References
  1. Hamodia. Dec/5/12. p. C51.
  2. Kolker, Robert. "On the Rabbi's Knee: Do the Orthodox Jews have a Catholic-priest problem?", New York (magazine), May 15, 2006. Accessed March 8, 2008.
  3. "School Safety Engineering Project Final Report: Yeshiva Torah Temimah School, Brooklyn" (PDF). New York City Department of Transportation Office of School Safety Engineering. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  4. Helmreich, William B. (2000). The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry - Augmented Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Ktav Publishing. pp. xix. ISBN 978-0-88125-641-3.
  5. "Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Temimah - Brooklyn, New York". schools.privateschoolsreport.com. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  6. Khan, Daryl (December 9, 2006). "Brooklyn Rabbi Is Arraigned on Charges of Sexual Abuse". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  7. Winston, Hella & Cohler-Esses, Larry (April 18, 2008). "No Sex Charge For Kolko; Boys' Parents Foiled By DA". The Jewish Week. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  8. Vitello, Paul (November 12, 2008). "Sexual Abuse Complaints Subpoenaed". The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  9. "On the Rabbi's Knee". NYMag.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  10. Edelman, Susan (October 23, 2016) "Brooklyn Yeshiva Settles with Sexual Assault Accusers for $2.1M", New York Post. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  11. https://www.scribd.com/document/427441370/Lawsuit-against-Lakewood-yeshiva-rabbi-Joel-Falk#from_embed
  12. Martinez, Gustavo (October 7, 2019) "Lakewood Yeshiva Rabbi Accused of Molesting Brooklyn Student 40 Years Ago", Asbury Park Press. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  13. Fenton, Reuven; Edelman, Susan (August 16, 2019) "Florida Man Accuses Rabbi Joel Kolko of Sexual Abuse Under Child Victims Act", New York Post. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  14. Edelman, Susan (September 24, 2020) "Rabbi Accused of Molesting Student in Brooklyn Now Heads NJ Yeshiva", New York Post. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
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