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“I’m from Brooklyn.”

“I understand.”

It was fall of the year 2000. Rav Ahron Kaufman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Shmuel of Waterbury, was explaining to the local zoning officer why he placed 30 bochurim into a home zoned for far fewer occupants. The officer, in this iconic blue collar city, “understood,” but wasn’t particularly fazed. He ordered the makeshift dormitory of this new mosad haTorah shut. Today, Rav Kaufman – incredibly out- going and cheerful by nature – laughs when recounting the incident.

A Heavenly hand helped establish Mosdos HaTorah and a community that changed our Chinuch scene for good.

In the decade and a half since, “Wa terbury” has been transformed into a full- fledged Torah community of 200+ families, with a network of vibrant mosdos haTorah at its core: a yeshiva ketana elementary school, Bais Yaakov elementary and high schools, a mesivta, a bais medrash, a kollel, several shuls, mikvaos, a kosher grocery, a pizza shop, and more. Within the past half-year or so, approximately twenty new young frum families moved into town.
But Waterbury’s earliest stage – fervent idealism battling seemingly insurmount- able odds – remains a symbol of the un- believable siyata diShmaya that produces miracles in this city every day.

A Revival Based on a Vision

When the present-day Orthodox com- munity of Waterbury “opened” at the turn of the century, it did so on the ruins of a once proud Jewish community.
For the bulk of the 20th century, Water- bury had a strong Jewish community of all denominations and a full community infra- structure. Jews enjoyed the so-called Brass City’s vibrant industrial economy. The famed Telsher rosh yeshiva, Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l, served as rov of Waterbury in the 1940s.
As the decades passed and America’s manufacturing economy lost out to over- seas, the Waterbury Jewish community was on the verge of extinction. Its day school had closed and its non-Orthodox congregations were practically empty. The city’s historic Orthodox congregation was aging and gathering a minyan was difficult. Its rabbi, Rabbi Judah Harris, was only in town over the weekends.
Jewish Waterbury was at a crossroads. At the same time, a man who had never been to Connecticut was at a crossroads too.

In the late 1990s, Rav Ahron Kaufman was serving as a successful maggid shiur at Yeshiva of Far Rockaway. Rav Kaufman was beloved by his talmidim.
Yet, despite the successful track he was on, Rav Kaufman believed that it was time for him to fill a gaping void in our community’s chinuch scene.The phenomenon of teens who felt passive within the yeshiva system was coming to a head. Roshei yeshiva and mechanchim were all grappling with these uncharted waters. Rav Kaufman recalls thinking, “There must be an infrastructure that offers every boy a chance to succeed.”
There was much discussion about how to cater to our children’s unique needs and prevent them from possibly heading on an unhealthy track.

Various options were discussed sur- rounding establishing yeshivos that com- bined some level of learning with full academic and/or vocational programs, or other forms of a watered-down yeshiva system. Rav Kaufman wanted to be bolder. “Trying to keep a bochur frum and within a positive structure is great, but still to some degree just ‘patchwork,’” he says. “Our working goal should be to turn him into a productive ben Torah.”
This was no small undertaking, neither logistically nor idealistically. But Rav Kaufman’s vision struck a chord. This was just what the yeshiva world needed for the 21st century: A full-time yeshiva, in sync with a solid mainstream Torah hashka- fah, that was broad enough to appeal to bochurim who weren’t feeling the proper fulfillment in other yeshivos.

Join us this Motzei Shabbos at the home Mr. & Mrs.  Beinish Mandel at 2602 Ave N in Brookkyn, NY as we are privileged to hear diverei bracha from the Rosh Hayeshiva, who will also be available to answer questions after the melava malka.

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