In the latest sign of the meltdown of the economy, one of the leading girls yeshivas in Brooklyn, The Yeshiva of Bensonhurst, was evicted from their premises late Tuesday night on Avenue M in Flatbush.
According to sources at the NYPD, the 400 plus girl school was over two years late on rent payments and owed over $500,000 in rent. Another source added that the yeshiva was legally evicted by the Marshall in June of this year. However, despite this, the yeshiva illegally returned to take possession of the premises.
Our source at the NYPD tell us that after consulting with their legal department, the NYPD felt they had no choice but to facilitate the eviction because they viewed the yeshiva as illegally trespassing on private property. The staff of the yeshiva was asked to leave and the contents of the yeshiva were placed in storage by the landlord. Apparently, this all happened without incident.
Sources say that that leadership of the yeshiva did not inform parents until the very last minute that their children would have nowhere to go and many children showed up to a closed yeshiva yesterday. Parents of Yeshiva of Bensonhurst students are understandably fraught. One parent asked YWN, “How could the yeshiva take $5,000 in tuition for my daughter this year when they knew that they were being evicted from the yeshiva? I am really upset and don’t understand where my tuition dollars are going if the yeshiva is not even paying its rent.”
Local elected officials were unsuccessful in their attempts to stop the eviction. Councilman David Greenfield told YWN, “I was saddened to learn of this unfortunate situation. After my office received a courtesy call Tuesday night from the NYPD informing us of what was happening, I personally reached out to senior NYPD officials who informed me that there was nothing that they could legally do to stop this,” Greenfield explained. “This once again highlights the terrible financial challenges that even our most successful yeshivas are grappling with in these harsh economic times,” Greenfield concluded.
This is the latest in a string of hardships that yeshivas have faced this year. Several small yeshivas have closed this past year as a result of the bad economy and one of Brooklyn’s largest yeshivas is rumored to be on the brink of filing for bankruptcy.
(Chaim Shapiro – YWN)
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42 Responses
Very sad and upsetting.
Not just the story, but the lies I think it is filled with. I am not privy to the innermost secrets of everyone involved, but just going by what the general public can observe on their own, there is a lot that smells funny.
Let’s assume that the non-payment of rent and the dollar amounts are true. That is pretty bad but no one should accuse them of doing so on purpose – they just don’t have the money. There are indeed legal channels to have such a tenant evicted. But…
“One parent asked YWN, How could the yeshiva take $5,000 in tuition for my daughter this year when they knew that they were being evicted from the yeshiva?” – That ‘Parent’ might not have a child in this school, because they are famous for charging a flat-rate LOW tuition. I think it is about $3900 this year. And maybe if that ‘Parent’ would pay their tuition, the school would have been able to pay the rent. And finally, does any moron really believe that they ‘KNEW’ they were going to be evicted?
The school spent the whole summer doing required improvements to the building in order to be totally legal. ‘Someone’ called the Fire Department and Buildings Department on them numerous times last year. But they were certainly never evicted. Maybe the writer is thinking of FDNY Violations? (‘Knew’ they were going to be evicted? Ridiculous!)
As far as Greenfeld’s Office being called on Tuesday Night, the eviction took place on Tuesday afternoon. How exactly could he ‘try to stop it’ after the fact? Wasn’t that nice of the Police to give him a courtesy call after it was too late?!
I am sure that the landlord put the furniture and contents of the building ‘in storage’. Maybe storage on the curbside? Sure, every landlord is generous enough to pay for moving and storage costs when he evicts the tenant!
Where were the Marshals? I never heard of the Police being involved in an eviction (except to provide security in case of violence or danger.) There were no Marshals on the scene. (I am not sure about this one though.)
As for the Yeshiva not informing the parents until last minute.. DUH!!! They got evicted on Tuesday afternoon, and they called parents that same night to tell them that the school would be closed on Wednesday. How could they possibly call any earlier? If you are ‘alleged parent’ are so smart, why didn’t YOU tell everyone what was going to happen in future?
And then the dumb complaint that students showed up to a closed Yeshiva – that is a huge praise for the school. In their call to parents, they offered that if there were any parents that could not make alternate arrangements for their daughter, they should send them to the school on their regular bus, and the school would take care of them for the day, which they did very nicely!! Those parents purposely sent their daughters to the ‘closed Yeshiva’ knowing that they would be in good hands.
If any of you readers out there happen to have the $500,000 that the school needs for the rent, instead of wasting your time writing Loshon Hora or meaningless comments on YWN, write a CHECK instead!
Who’s the landlord? Why does no one care that he has lost a half million in income?
When are we going to wake up.
The liberal Democrat elected officials who smile at us on election day and bribe us with crumbs to vote for them, double cross us behind our backs when they get into office.
Because they are largely dependent on the Public School teachers unions for their support in getting elected, they refuse to treat Yeshiva students the same as public school students.
Public school students receive about $14,000 per student for their education, and this includes illegal immigrants who just arrive in New York City last night. Yeshiva students get almost nothing, except some credits for buying secular studies books.
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled, in the case of Milwaukee School vouchers that go to Yeshivos and Catholic schools, that vouchers and tax credits for private education are perfectly constitutional.
Yet, our elected officials adamantly refuse to help our parents pay tuition, at half the cost of these public school students.
When will we wake up and send these phonies a message?
#1 is a complete socialist.
My son ws coming home that evening and mentioned that there were Budget trucks in front of the school emptying the building and there was a police car as well. I happen to know a parent o the school and I called them up and they knew nothing and this was 6:30 PM. t just so happens that I found out that the owner is Jewish and how does a school owe 1/2million dollars in two years for rent. That would make the rent astronomically high and the landlord should be ashamed of himself. We are talking about a Bais Yaakov of little girls and there is no reason why they should be evicted so abruptly. I do not know all the particulars but it is impossible to get an eviction notice without some sort of notices prior and some court dates as well.
I hope that the yeshiva finds another place as I am told this was a top notch yeshiva for girls.
Please keep us posted as to what we can do to help.
A very sad story effecting many families.
It appears that the building is owned by a corporation controlled by a Jew. For an eviction to be served with police assistance an eviction notice must have been provided and a Marshal had to be present. I assume the Marshal’s notice is now posted on the door. As any landlord knows it can take months of notices, court proceedings for an eviction to take place. The school administration must have known that they were facing eviction.
This story is very very slanted against the moisad. I am very surprised at your reporting.
To #5- “That would make the rent astronomically high and the landlord should be ashamed of himself.”
Here is a better idea, how about the yeshiva not decide to rent a space that they cant AFFORD.
The landlord is allowed to charge whatever he wants.
What a sick world…..
In response to #2 and #4, read again. I did not ANYWHERE in my comment justify using someone else’s building without paying rent. And to #8, you should assume like any other person, business, or organization having financial difficulty, they surely did NOT plan on not being able to pay the rent.
On the other hand, to be fair I am also responding to #5. A simple division results in the rent being less than $21,000 a month. That is not high at all for the square footage being rented. Consider that this is a huge warehouse building. In fact, he probably gave them a bargain because he couldn’t find a commercial customer.
The obvious answer to what we can do to help, which would help not only the Yeshiva, but make the landlord happy as well, is to have an emergency appeal to raise the rent money.
And BTW to #6, that is what should happen if legal procedure is followed. I don’t think that happened here. Whether or not there is a Marshal’s notice on the door now, does not in any way indicate that they knew beforehand. Why would anyone who knows about it in advance wait until the school is already out on the street before starting to get legal help to stop the proceedings or to try to raise funds? The Rabbis together with some parents spent the day on Wednesday in court. Surely it would have been better to do that earlier! They could not have known beforehand.
I don’t know how big the building is, but if it was large enough for a school of over 400 students, $20,000/month for rent is not astronomical. The property taxes alone on a building that size can be about $10,000/month.
I don’t think anyone has a right to pass judgment on either the school officials or the landlord without knowing all the facts.
Next time before giving a donation to some “organizations”
think about all the schools that don’t have a penny to their name and then see if you still want to give that donation.
#10, I just decided to check the actual public records fr the property. I totally agree he can charge what he wants fr rent, but I just want to post what the real tax numbers are.
It seems like thanks to the yeshiva not paying rent, he is currently 2 years back on his taxes. He currently owes $86,696.43 to NYC. With the numbers going up and down the past 2 years, the last payment due was $20,282.10 for a 6 month period.
And if anyone wants to drop by the landlord and help him out, 1946 CONEY ISLAND AVENUE, 2ND FLOOR, BROOKLYN, NY 11223
(Everything I posted here is public NYC records.)
#3 deepthinker,
You continue to promote distortions of the law. I’ve pointed out to you before that vouchers violate the New York State Constitution. Here is the exact language:
“Article XI, §3. Neither the state nor any subdivision thereof, shall use its property or credit or any public money, or authorize or permit either to be used, directly or indirectly, in aid or maintenance, other than for examination or inspection, of any school or institution of learning wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination, or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught, but the legislature may provide for the transportation of children to and from any school or institution of learning.”
A yeshiva is bankrupt and hundreds of girls are out of school. A landlord is out half a million dollars and as a result is two years behind on his taxes. This is a nightmare for all concerned!!! And your response is to promote misinformation in order to promote a partisan political agenda? Shame!
I’m sorry but there is NO excuse for not paying rent for over 2 years. NO excuse. That is over 24 months of not paying rent. They are not 24 months late on 1 payment, they missed 24 payments – they did not meet there obligation over 24 times!! If you have no money leave the building! Can someone please explain to me how the yeshiva can be right in this case. I think the landlord was very nice (even if he is a BILLIONARE. There is no halacha that says the landlord has to lose money on the building. I’m sure the landlord did NOT want to go the route of eviction. The yeshiva was negligent, they were irresponsible. Shame on them. This is a major chilul Hashem on the yeshivas part. The yeshiva did not close down because of the economy or financial problems, they closed because the people running it were irresponsible. I hope other yeshivas learn from this story. Just because its a “yeshiva” there are no special privileges.
On a side note next time you vote, vote democratic. This way they can get a few thousand dollars for a our yeshivas that have multi million dollar budgets, and claim they “help” yeshivas. There was one politician that advertised that he helped yeshivas with grants. What was it? $25,000 to 2 huge yeshivas! (Comes out to less than $20 each student!) OR you can vote republican (even though the “askanim” say not to) and have them fight for school choice.
So my brothers and sisters, open your eyes, don’t be naive, educate yourselves, and daven.
lets not judge anyone….especially if we have no viable solution to offer! It’s a hard situation for all parties involved, and I’m sure everyone is trying their best to resolve this for the best!
on a different note : a girl i am very close with was recently thrown out (evicted)from the school and although there are times when such action is called for , in this case in my opinion it was unjustified . in addition it was not handled in the delicate way something like than needs to be. so even though i realize the the girls and the teachers are suffering too , i cant help seeing this as poetic justice
Two years ago a yeshiva in the Bronx went bankrupt and ceased operations. It had been renting space from what had at one time been one of the largest synagogues in the Bronx, but it had not pay the rent in about four years. As a result, the congregation had to sell the building and is now meeting in rented space.
The multiplier effects go on and on….
get ready for ALL schools to close down one by one-in all town-as Hashem gets us ready for mashiach & is sending us a sign from above that its time for EVERYONE to make aliya to eretz yisroel & get ready for the geula.
WATCH IT START HAPPENING & CONTINUE as brooklyn has closed down a few schools, Lakewood has also closed down schools & so has monsey & many other town worldwide…
Which ever way you cut it the landlord played a dirty trick!
Had they filed an evition in court first, the renter could appeal and the judge would hold off the evition untill the court decides the case. By [forcefully] moving out the tenant and property first they are not in the property so the judge has no way to “let them stay”.
The school may owe money and be wrong but 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Decide for yourself
1st of all this article doesn’t belong on Yeshiva world!
2nd whoever knows the principle know he’s a tzadik of a guy!
WITH THAT SAID THERES NO NEED TO COMMENT…..
is this by bensonhurst? or is this a diff school? (im not from ny, so im not familiar with all of the schools)
This unfortunate situation should be an alarm bell for all of klal Yisroel. Everyone involved personally is deeply affected: the landlord who is certainly entitled to his rent, the administration of the school who put their hearts and souls into creating a wonderful institution for Bnos Yaakov, the devoted teachers, the students and their parents. These are the obvious ones, but maybe not so obvious is the fact that all members of Klal Yisroel are affected.
For Years our community has been grappling with the rising cost of tuition. The fact that this particular school is in such bad shape is a direct result of the problem we are all facing. Many parents of this school have not been able to make their tuition payments. As a yeshiva that really cares about its students, no child was asked to leave because of an inability to pay. Of course from a business perspective this makes absolutely no sense. However we are not talking about a business. We are talking about the chniuch of our children. But busines is still busines and if there is not enough revenue coming in the institution can not pay its bills. The unfortunate landlord is the one at the end of the line who is not getting his due.
Today it is this Yeshiva. Which one will it be tomorrow? What can we as concerned members of Klal Yisroel do to help our Mosdos stay open and continue the business of educating our youth. I don’t know the solution to this problem or I would have solved it years ago. One thing I do know is that talking back and forth about who is the victim and who is the villian does nothing to help anyone. Only by working together can we avoid making all our children into victims.
Chaim Shapiro, you’re a troublemaker and a terrible journalist.
Did you interview the landlord for “the rest of the story”?
Did you research to see if there was a Din Torah involved?
Did the landlord receive a psak that he may initiate the eviction actions?
Aside from the taxes owed currently by the landlord, how much did the landlord already pay?
What about utilities and other expenses that the landlord pays? Do you know what gas and electric costs to maintain a building in the winter and summer, over two years? We are dealing with six figures for this alone.
Chaim Shapiro, where is the yosher in your story? None that I can see.
And yes, how can you justify a business (or school) taking money from customers (or parents), knowing that they may go under at any time? Sounds like a ponzi scheme “l’shem shamayim”.
It’s also interesting that all the students were absorbed by other existing schools, finally some sanity.
“On a side note”
We will never get significant government for religious schools as long as it is a partisan issue. We need to create broad-based coalitions with poor minority communities and unions who support Democrats. (Note that the most Catholic schools in the NY area have unionized faculty in staff; they should be the most natural allies.) In NY State that support would require an amendment to the state constitution. An attempt was made way back in 1967 and got 28% of the vote. No referendum for school vouchers has ever received majority support in the US, and in most of them, vouchers have lost by landslide margins. We need to completely change the paradigm and that isn’t going to happen using the methods that have been tried for the past half century.
I know from someone involved, that the first year the yeshiva moved in they paid the full year rent UPFRONT as a favor to Renaissance Realty because they begged the yeshiva to give the money upfront so they could pay their TAXES and mortgages because they had no tenant for over 4 years. (By the way it is public record on ACRIS that they didn’t pay and defaulted on their mortgage). The yeshiva paid every single month ONTIME until April. Since April they’ve made a couple of payments and are behind 3 months. This is in addition to pumping $1,000,000 to renovate the building. When was the last time you heard of a yeshiva evicted for being behind 3 months rent?
My dear brother #8-I spoke to askanim involved who said the landlords are unreasonable people and refused to treat the yeshiva like any other commercial tenant.
By the way, I’ve seen a marshal’s evictions. They dump the stuff on the street. They don’t put it in to moving trucks. This was no marshal’s eviction!
Schools need to learn to live width a budget. I mean really they are behind in rent by $500,000 having not paid in two years. What did they expect would happen?
If you keep doing the same things you will keep getting the same result, which in this case is yet another school has gone broke.
When the avalanche has started it is too late for the snowflakes to vote.
#18- How does one become a Moshiach Agent? I’d also love to get such inside information on how and why Hashem operates?
There is some serious distortion of the facts here.
The school only moved into the building 2 years ago. To be behind 500k that would mean they moved in and promptly stopped paying rent while the landlord patiently waited to evict them 2 yrs. later. I think a fact chek will reveal that someone added a zero. 50k behind sounds more like it. Not a deadbeat, a slow pay.
Reasonable landlords don’t evict in such circumstances.
It sounds to me like a sneak attack designed to grab the $1m improvement the school sunk in to renovate a building that had been sitting empty for some time. The MO of calling in violations in an attempt to force them out certainly sounds like it.
Rumor has it that the school had an option to buy. Landlords sometimes do these things to prevent a tenant from excersizing their buyout option while property values are down. (Remember a certain bakery.)
There are many problematic factors, #1 There are way too many small schools. Just like the 50 or so Mesivta’s in Lakewood, there are too many schools for the community to support. #2 The parent body is made up of mostly Kollel, and Rebbeim’s families. The Rebbeim aren’t getting paid from their schools, and so the saga continues.
I don’t want to be the spoil sport, but the Kollel life style in todays day and age, is not sustainable. Is it right that a melamed shouldn’t get paid on time because he teaches a child who’s parent learns in Kollel?
I know that Talmud Torah is Kneged Kulome, but Derech Eretz is kudmo L’torah, and not paying your child’s tuition is not proper.
Can someone explain to me how not paying your rent for 2 years is not theft? This yeshiva literally stole half a million dollars from their landlord. Are the people running it that incompetent that they didn’t notice that they hadn’t paid their rent in 2 years? Or did they just not care that were taking a service that they were not paying for?
We must vote for school choice The democrates are runned
by the unions and the unions are for the teachers and the teachers want to stay employed so they are going to fight for public school only. Time for choice and if public schools close so they close. Let them educate the kids in the best way like we do. We pay our taxes and than have to pay $4000, $5000, to $12000 for private school
How did a school expect to pay $20,000 a month rent, $1 million in renovations, teachers and administrators salaries, insurance and other costs with a student body of 400? But then, a few months ago we heard that the largest Jewish girls school in the country was facing similiar difficulties.
The schools are struggling, yet the high end supermarkets and clothing stores are booming. Clearly money is being spent in the wrong places.
This is very sad. But the society can no longer split dollar bills into any more slices to help fund and keep places of learning functional; vouchers or no vouchers.
This generation must be prepared with an understanding of he importance of being prepared for parnasa. They must study hard in all areas, just like their forbears did, and that includes secular subjects and trades, as well. It is not evil to study to be prepared, although I am making it clear I am not poskining on the subject.
i think there are too many schools in brooklyn for all the parents to support there needs to be a consolidation of funds everyday i am always seeing how there are so many organizations doing the same thing instead of having one organization with branches in different areas talking to each other and pooling money and resources like they do in the bikur cholim in hospitals. i do not know who is right or wrong in this situtation but you cannot blaim individuals who do there best to make contributions when they barley have enough money to pay there rent.
To Charlie Hall:
You wrote: “…You continue to promote distortions of the law. I’ve pointed out to you before that vouchers violate the New York State Constitution.”
1. Do tax credits also violate the State Constitution?
2. So, let’s elect Conservatives who will work to change the State Constitution. Why continue to elect Liberals who want to treat religious people like second-class citizens?
In Florida, Yeshiva parents get tax credits and scholarships, which are opposed by Jewish Liberals there. Thank heaven there are more Conservative Republicans there who support these credits.
#31,
The New York State United Teachers endorsed seven Republican State Senate candidates this past election. All won, and as a result the Senate may be controlled by Republicans. Please take your conspiracy theories elsewhere.
#34
“1. Do tax credits also violate the State Constitution?”
Maybe, maybe not. The courts have not ruled in NY. But the clear intent is to prevent such so only an activist court would rule otherwise. Also note that a significant tax credit would require a significant tax increase on everyone.
“2. So, let’s elect Conservatives who will work to change the State Constitution. Why continue to elect Liberals who want to treat religious people like second-class citizens?”
In fact it is suburban Republicans who don’t want to change things — they like their good public schools and know that funding private schools would mean an increase in their already confiscatory taxes. School district consolidation is essential if there are ever to be funds available for private schools.
And consider what happened in the attempted 1967 constitutional revision: The Convention had 101 Democrats and 85 Republicans and Conservatives. But they still voted to eliminate the Blaine Amendement that I quoted above. Unfortunately, the Republican governor and the Republicans who controlled both houses of the Legislature did not support the revisions. The overwhelmingly Democratic Bronx was one of the few places where the proposal got even close to a majority.
Your making everything a partisan issue will get some Republicans a few votes in frum election districts but will not get vouchers or tax credits.
When the yshiva made any improvements, it should have insured a longterm ironclad lease, in order to amortize the costs over many years of service. I am sure they did, but did not realize the improvements were an immediate drain on their cash flow. Where is the accountability here? Why was a budget not followed? They now have no options other than to sue to enforce the lease, but they must pay back due rent. If you sign a lease for a certain rent, you must pay the rent. Period.
All else is surplasage.
It is unfortunate that the parents and the students were not regularly informed of the economic distress so that they may have made other arrangements. Our existing yeshivas must take in any student who applies no questions asked. We must come together as a united community to lessen the challenges of these students. Treat first, then theorize later. All the comments on this site have not even addressed a solution. The solution is open the doors for those affected immediately and with no red tape.
Thanks for the info, Charlie (no. 36), maybe you’re not such a bad guy after all.
The answer, then, is to educate the public about the benefits of competition between different school systems.
Monopolies are lazy and careless. That’s why we have an expensive bloated, corrupt, public school system in New York State.
“I don’t think anyone has a right to pass judgment on either the school officials or the landlord without knowing all the facts.” (#10)
“lets not judge anyone….especially if we have no viable solution to offer! It’s a hard situation for all parties involved, and I’m sure everyone is trying their best to resolve this for the best!” (#15)
What else is there to say?
Vouchers are not going to happen, people have been fighting for them for 40 years with no results. Time to find a different solution. (Sorry to burst your bubble)
However even if you had vouchers, if the school can’t stick to a budget it would not help. If more money goes out then comes in the school goes broke. That both numbers are higher does not change that (except to alter the timing)
As a tuiton paying parent of daughters in this mosad, I am extremely disturbed that rent was not paid. We were told that if we did not pay our tuition our daughters would not be allowed into class (hmmm sounds almost like an eviction). Why doesn’t the administration put it’s money where it’s mouth is.
It is also rumored that Rebbeim and Teachers have not been paid. Where is my money?
Anyone familiar with landlord-tenant laws in NY knows that there is no way that the landlord could have evicted the tenant without some notification. Furthermore the evictions supposedly took place in June. Are we to believe that the administration had no inkling that they would likely be thrown out?
How could they demand that I pay for the building fund, for the school year, knowing that they were not using the money to pay for a building? How could they pressure me to send in my registration and tuition if there was a chance that my daughters would be evicted? If you collect money for a building do you have the right to misappropriate the funds.
Dear administration, please show us your books!
How do we know why they were evicted, why they were behind on the rent? All the quoted sources are from NYPD, who wouldn’t necessarily know why the eviction was taking place.
Who knows, maybe they were having a landlord-tenant dispute, and putting the rent in escrow while not paying? And the eviction (if there really was no notice) might not have been so legal, even if they had the papers drawn up so that it looked kosher.
People in my parents’ building had leaks for years, and withheld rent, until it was solved. The sudden repairs to “make everything legal” at the school’s expense sounds like it could have been despite the landlord’s failure to make the needed repairs.
The reporter relied on one side, the police who were serving a writ made by the landlord. Where’s the comment from the school’s hanhala?
On the other side, how can a city yeshiva afford to charge only $3900 per student? Or even $5000? Assuming that you only collect 2/3 of that, with scholarships etc., that’s 400 * 3300, or $1.3 million. Out of which you have to pay, perhaps, 24 teachers, say 12-15 staff (custodial, cooks, administration), plus this $21,000 a month in rent, how is this possible? The salary roll (assuming an average of $40,000 per person) would be 1 million, the rent 250,000, equipment, books, food, supplies, etc…
Don’t know what they pay, but public school teachers start at $45,000 and go up to $100,000 per year. School secretaries get about $31,000/year. Administrators make proportionately more. This is all public record on uft.org.