Short Story
The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School has been the Merkaz Hatorah on Staten Island since 1976. With a boys division, a girls division and a preschool, RJJ serves as the bedrock foundation for the Jewish community on Staten Island. Currently, with two campuses, the Yeshiva has several hundred students and thousands of alumni.
Story
The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School has been the Merkaz Hatorah on Staten Island since 1976. With a boys division, a girls division and a preschool, RJJ serves as the bedrock foundation for the Jewish community on Staten Island. Currently, with two campuses, the Yeshiva has several hundred students and thousands of alumni.
Rabbi Jacob Joseph School is a religious, private elementary school. Originally established on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1900. Its mission, then and now, was to foster development of each child to reach their full potential in love of torah, ahavas hatorah, and full intellectual and academic achievement.
The elementary and preschool divisions moved from their Henry Street address to Staten Island in 1976 under the leadership of Dr. Marvin Schick who had the vision to recognize the burgeoning community of Torah dedicated families. These families wanted to imbue their children with the tools necessary to unlock the deepest mysteries of Torah and the world around them.
In September 1987 the girl’s division opened its’ doors. The same families that encouraged high academic standards for their boys wanted an equally appropriate yet separate environment for their girls. To date, the school remains the only yeshiva on Staten Island to teach Torah values in separate divisions.
With a small student body, we are able to pay particular attention to creating a warm and dynamic atmosphere. We seek to envelop our students in a torah environment in which they thrive and this remains the focal point of our dedication, concern and creativity. We remain committed to the success of each and every student, academically and socially, in accordance with their independent abilities and needs.
Our objective is to provide students with the tools of scholarship and the elements of a value system that will enable them to advance to their next level of education and to be a strong link to the next generation of Torah true Jews of who we will be proud. Infusing a sense of pride in being a Torah Jew and inculcating Midos Tovos, the goal of the designed curriculum is the development of an individual who has acquired the academic and ethical standards espoused by our Torah.