Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin is an American Haredi Lithuanian-type boys' and men's yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. The school's divisions include a preschool, a yeshiva ketana (elementary school), a mesivta (high school), a college-level beth midrash, and Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate kollel.

History

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin was established in 1904 as Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim in Brownsville, Brooklyn, by Jews who moved there from the Lower East Side of New York City, thus making it the oldest yeshiva in Kings County. At the suggestion of Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan), it was renamed in 1914 for his brother, Chaim Berlin, Chief Rabbi of Moscow and later Jerusalem, and who had also served in Valozhyn, from where several of the yeshiva's founders came. Through the help of philanthropist Jacob Rutstein, in 1940 the yeshiva purchased the seven-story former Municipal Bank Building at Pitkin and Stone Avenues (now Mother Gaston Boulevard) in Brownsville.

Leadership

The founding rosh yeshiva, Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, served from 1936 until his death in 1963. Yitzchok Hutner joined the faculty during 1936–1937, and gave monthly lectures as rosh yeshiva from 1943 to 1980. In the late 1970s, a branch was opened in Jerusalem called Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok (Fear of Isaac). After Hutner's death, the New York yeshiva was headed by his disciple Aaron Schechter, and the Jerusalem branch was headed by his son-in-law Yonason David. When Schechter died in 2023, the leadership of the yeshiva passed to his son-in-law Shlomo Halioua. Halioua died on 27 October 2024 after leading the yeshiva for only a year and a half. The leadership then passed jointly to Halioua's son Yosef and son-in-law Tzvi Fink. The position of mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) has been held by (among others) Avigdor Miller, Shlomo Freifeld, Shlomo Carlebach, Shimon Groner, and Mordechai Zelig Shechter.

Divisions

Chaim Berlin consists of a preschool, a yeshiva ketana (elementary school), a mesivta (high school), a college-level beth midrash, and Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate kollel division. Total enrollment for all divisions approaches 2,000 students. The mesivta acts as a feeder school for the beth midrash. For a time, while located in Far Rockaway, the mesivta was headed by Shlomo Freifeld. The yeshiva maintains a summer location, Camp Morris, in Sullivan County, New York. The Yeshiva also runs a summer youth program with the name Chaim Day Camp.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include many who served in rabbinic capacities throughout the world.