The Yeshivah of Flatbush (YOF) is a Modern Orthodox private Jewish day school located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. It educates students from age 2 to age 18 and includes an early childhood center, an elementary school, and a High School.
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History
The Yeshivah of Flatbush (YOF) was founded in 1927 by Joel Braverman, among others. The school, which at first was located on East 10th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn (a neighborhood sometimes identified with nearby Flatbush), at first consisted of an early childhood program, an elementary school, and a middle school. The high school, founded in 1950 to complement the elementary school, was originally housed in an adjoining building. In 1962, the high school moved into a new building on nearby Avenue J, and the elementary school expanded into what was formerly the high school building.
Hebrew
The school incorporates Hebrew into Judaic Studies to enable its students to achieve fluency in the Hebrew language.
Student demographics
YOF comprises Jewish students and teachers from a variety of backgrounds. In the past, more than half of the students were Ashkenazi Jews whose families originated from communities in Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe, and Russia. In recent years, the majority has shifted to students of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish descent. The overwhelming number of Sephardic students can be attributed to the growth of the Syrian Jewish community in Flatbush, and the decline in Ashkenazi enrollment can be attributed to the movement of Modern Orthodox communities to Long Island and New Jersey, with a concomitant increase in the number and quality of Jewish day schools and yeshivot in those areas. In 2022, the lower school consisted of 1,400 students.
Leadership
David Eliach was the principal emeritus, following a decades-long tenure as principal of the high school. In later years, Raymond Harari, an alumnus of Yeshivah of Flatbush High School, served as the "head of school" of the high school, followed by Joseph Beyda.
The Elementary School, formerly led by Lawrence Schwed, is currently headed by Yahel Tsaidi.
Sports
Shorts teams are called the Flatbush Falcons and in most cases are members of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League.
Notable alumni
Arlene Agus (1949-2024), feminist and activist
Howard Apfel, rabbi and expert on medical halacha and ethics
Robert J. Avrech, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter
David Berger, academic, expert in medieval Jewish history
David Bernstein (born 1967), Professor, George Mason University School of Law and author
Lee Bienstock (born 1983), finalist on The Apprentice 5.
Baruch Samuel Blumberg (1925–2011), recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, identified the Hepatitis B virus
Chaim Brovender, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat HaMivtar
Abraham Cooper (born 1950), rabbi who is the associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda for the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Abraham Foxman (1940–2026), director of the Anti-Defamation League (1987–2015)
Gideon Gartner (born 1936), founder of the Gartner Group
Baruch Goldstein, perpetrator of the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.
Judith Hauptman (born 1943), feminist Talmudic scholar and professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Neal Hendel (born 1952), former Israeli Supreme Court Justice