Yeshivas Ner Yisroel

Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, the son-in-law of Rabbi Sheftel Kramer, founded the yeshiva in 1933 with six students. It was based in a local shul.[4] The yeshiva was named after Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter,[12] the founder of the mussar movement followed by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel (known as the Alter of Slabodka), Ruderman's mentor. He modeled Ner Yisroel after Finkel's yeshiva, the Slabodka Yeshiva.

Rabbi Dovid Kronglass, of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe (and during World War II in Shanghai) was the yeshiva's first mashgiach ruchani until his death on December 16, 1972.[13] Besides his role as Mashgiach, he also served as a Maggid Shiur and was the Posek of the Yeshiva.[14]

Rabbi Herman Naftali Neuberger, a son-in-law of Rabbi Sheftel Kramer, brother-in-law of Ruderman, and an alumnus of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe, and of Ner Israel itself, was president of Ner Israel from 1940 until his death in 2005.[15][16] Rabbi Neuberger joined the Yeshiva as a student when he arrived from his native Bavaria in 1938.[17]

His son Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger was full-time assistant 'menahel' from May 1987, the menahel (president) of the yeshiva from 2005, when he succeeded his father, until his death on February 10, 2021.[18][19] Prior to 2005, Sheftel Neuberger was a Maggid Shiur in the yeshiva for many years, ending that position before Passover 1987 to become full-time assistant 'menahel' and Rabbi Noach Shafran assumed said Maggid Shiur position post Passover onward.[20]

Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg, a disciple of Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, served on the Ner Yisroel faculty for nearly 50 years. He served as a Maggid Shiur from 1945 to 1965, as well as dean of the Kollel from 1953 to 1965. From 1971 until 1987, he served as an assistant to the Rosh Yeshiva and head of the Kollel. From Ruderman's death in 1987 until his own death on July 1, 1999,[21] Weinberg served as Rosh Yeshiva. Weinberg was married to Chana Ruderman, the only child of Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman.[22] She died on January 23, 2012.[23]

Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Kulefsky, a disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Heiman and senior lecturer in the Yeshiva, served as the Rosh Yeshiva from Weinberg's death in 1999 until his death on November 30, 2000.[24] Other rabbis who served on the faculty include the late: Rabbi Shimon Schwab, later rabbi of the German-Jewish Frankfurt Kehillah / community in Washington Heights N.Y.; Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide of the Chevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem; Rabbi Ephraim Eisenberg, the son-in-law of Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, and Rabbi Zvi Dov Slanger, a disciple of Rav Shach, who was a Maggid Shiur in the high school for many years until 1996 when he founded and became Rosh Yeshiva of the Bais Medrash & Mesivta Of Baltimore.[25]

The yeshiva is headed by Rabbi Aharon Feldman, who serves as the rosh yeshiva and is also a council member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. Rabbi Feldman studied in the Yeshiva in the 1950s, but had been living in Israel from 1961 until his appointment as rosh yeshiva in 2001.

Rabbi Boruch Neuberger is the menahel (president) of the Yeshiva, succeeding his father, Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger. Mr. Jerome Kadden is the Yeshiva's executive director.

Rabbi Beryl Weisbord, a son-in-law of Weinberg, is the yeshiva's mashgiach ruchani. Rabbi Raphael Gold serves as Weisbord's assistant.

Rabbi Yosef Tendler, a disciple of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, served as the principal of the high school (the Mechina) for almost fifty years from 1964 until his death on February 8, 2012,[26][27] and Rabbi Simcha Cook (formerly assistant principal) is the current principal of the high school, with Rabbi Yosef Neuberger (son of Rabbi Sheftel Neuberger) filling the position of High School Mashgiach. (The position of assistant principal was changed to Mashgiach upon the death of Rabbi Tendler.) Rabbi Azriel Hauptman (son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Tendler) is the General Studies principal (replacing Mr. Jacob Schuchman).

The yeshiva campus is located at Mt. Wilson Lane, just northwest of the Baltimore City limits. The yeshiva moved to its present location in 1968. Their previous location was in Baltimore City at 4411 Garrison Boulevard. The large size of their present campus, which is nearly 100 acres, provides ample space for outdoors recreation.

Ner Israel has two central study halls, one for the high school (known as the Mechina) and one much larger for the beis medrash and the kollel (also doubling as the main prayer sanctuaries). There is an additional study hall/multi-purpose room of a smaller size that is called the "Friedman Beis Medrash". Enrollment is approximately 250 students in its high school division, 300 students in its beis medrash/undergraduate division, and about 200 members in its kollel/postgraduate division.

The dining hall is located in a separate building known as the Sindler/Wolf Dining Hall. The dining hall had a significant expansion and renovation in 2019. There are also three dormitory buildings on campus.

There is faculty housing on campus for members of the faculty and some members of the kollel. This section of the campus is known as "Yeshiva Lane".[28]

The renaissance of the Orthodox Jewish community in Baltimore is closely related to the presence of Ner Yisroel, as many graduates who originate from other regions settled in the community.[29]

In 1959, Rabbi Sholom Gold established a branch of Ner Yisroel in Toronto. In 1964, Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg became the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel of Toronto until 1971.[30] This yeshiva still functions but is no longer affiliated with Ner Yisroel in Baltimore.

In recent years, Ner Israel has sent alumni to kollelim across the United States and several have founded their own institutions.

Major student projects include "PROJECT YAHUD", a spring break fund-raising effort for the religious school in Yahud, Israel, and "PROJECT SEED", a summertime outreach effort in smaller communities across America and the world.[31]

Ner Israel is a Maryland state-accredited college through the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools – Accreditation Commission (AARTS), and has agreements with Johns Hopkins University,[32] Towson University, Loyola College in Maryland, University of Baltimore, and University of Maryland, Baltimore County allowing undergraduate students to take night courses at these colleges and universities in a variety of academic fields.[33] The agreement also allows the students to receive academic credits for their religious studies. Ner Yisrael also has a pre-med program in association with Stevenson University of Owings Mills.[34]

The Mechina high school is an accredited high school in the state of Maryland under the name "Israel Henry Beren High School". The high school was dedicated by the philanthropic Beren family in memory of Israel Henry Beren who died in 1994.

Degrees granted by Ner Israel are a Bachelor of Talmudic Law (four years), Master of Talmudic Law (six years), Doctorate in Talmudic Law (ten years and authoring a commentary on Talmudic or Rabbinic texts).

Rabbinic ordination (Semichah) can also be conferred in Ner Yisroel.

Ner Yisroel's Machon program, which began in 1962, trains religious educators for Jewish communities and schools and students earn a Torah Umesorah recognized certification.[39]

• Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky – rosh yeshiva, Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, and member of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
• Rabbi Aharon Feldman – rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Ner Israel and member of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
• Jeff Ballabon – political consultant and community activist
• Rabbi Tzvi Berkowitz – maggid shiur, Yeshivas Ner Israel
• Rabbi Shmuel Bloom - Executive Vice President Emeritus of Agudath Israel of America[45]
• Rabbi Emanuel Feldman – Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, Georgia, lecturer
• Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman – Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta
• Rabbi Yissocher Frand – maggid shiur and lecturer, Yeshivas Ner Israel
• Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt – Chief Rabbi of Moscow
• Rabbi Sam (Shlomo) Kassin - Head of the Shehebar Sephardic Center and Chief Rabbi of the Bukharian Quarter of Jerusalem[46]
• Rabbi Dov Lipman – former Israeli Knesset Member, Yesh Atid[47]
• Rabbi Nota Schiller – Rosh Yeshiva, Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem
• Rabbi Moshe Sherer – former president of Agudath Israel of America
• Rabbi Noach Weinberg – Rosh Yeshiva, Aish HaTorah
• Rabbi Yochanan Zweig – Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Bais Moshe Chaim, Miami[48]
• Hershey Friedman – Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist with interests spanning the plastics packaging business and kosher meat in North America to luxury real estate development and Jewish books in Israel.
• Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch – Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Birkat Moshe
• Aaron Twerski (born 1939) - the Irwin and Jill Cohen Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, as well as a former Dean and professor of tort law at Hofstra University School of Law
• Rabbi Idan Scher - Rabbi of Congregation Machzikei Hadas
• Rabbi David Bashevkin - American rabbi and professor
• Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Wolf - Founding Rabbi of the Great Neck Synagogue and the North Shore Hebrew Academy
• Moishe Bane - President of the Orthodox Union[49]
• Rabbi Azriel Brown, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gedola of Carteret
• Rabbi Yaakov Mayer, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gedola of Carteret

• Official website