History
Oholei Torah was founded in early 1957 by Rabbi Michoel Teitelbaum, following a statement by Rabbi Schneerson (the Lubavitcher Rebbe) that there should be a school focusing on Torah study.
The school opened in a synagogue in Brownsville with three students. In 1958, the school expanded and a kindergarten for young boys was introduced. In 1964, Oholei Torah added a junior high school division. Several years later came the founding of Oholei Torah Mesivta High School. Finally, Beis HaMedrash, Talmudic Seminary Oholei Torah was founded in 1970, for post-high school Talmudic studies.
In 1975, the school began renting space for the elementary classes at the Brooklyn Jewish Center at 667 Eastern Parkway (built in 1920), and eventually bought the building outright in 1982. Beginning in 1997, the building underwent a major expansion, with a new wing (known as the Deitsch Campus, after the school's major financial patron Dovid Deitsch) and a study hall for the Talmudical Seminary.
In 1994, the elementary school was renamed "Oholei Menachem" in honor of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, though the old name persists in general usage.
Today Oholei Torah enrolls approximately 1600 students in its various divisions.
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