Torah Academy of Bergen County
Torah Academy of Bergen County (commonly referred to as TABC) is a four-year yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey. It utilizes a split-schedule day offering both Jewish studies and college preparatory courses. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 2005.[2]
Torah Academy of Bergen County | |
---|---|
Address | |
Torah Academy of Bergen County Torah Academy of Bergen County | |
1600 Queen Anne Road , 07666 United States | |
Coordinates | 40.904722°N 74.001955°W |
Information | |
Type | Private, all-male Yeshiva high school |
Established | 1982 |
Principal | Rabbi Shlomo Adelman |
Faculty | 34.1 FTEs[1] |
Grades | 9–12 |
Enrollment | 313 (as of 2015-16)[1] |
Student to teacher ratio | 9.2:1[1] |
Color(s) | Royal Blue and Gold |
Team name | Storm |
Accreditation | Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools[2] |
Newspaper | Eye of the Storm Storm Watch Kol Torah Science and Medical Report |
Affiliation | Modern Orthodox Judaism |
Website | www.tabc.org |
TABC, as it is commonly known, is run by the Head of School, Rabbi Shlomo Adelman, the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Yosef Adler (who is also the Rabbi of Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck), and the Principal, Arthur J. Poleyeff. Rabbi Ezra Wiener is the Judaic Studies Principal, Rabbi Michael Hoenig is the Mashgiach Ruchani (religious life guidance counselor), and the S'gan Rosh Yeshiva is Rabbi Daniel Fridman.
As of the 2015-16 school year, the school had an enrollment of 313 students and 34.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.2:1. The school's student body was 99.9% White.[1]
Academic programs
Various Advanced Placement (AP) courses are offered primarily to juniors and seniors, such as AP Biology, AP Calculus, [AP English Language and Composition]], AP English Literature and Composition, Physics, Psychology, Statistics, and United States History.
The building hosts a second school called the SINAI Special Needs Institute. The program serves children of below to above average intelligence with different degrees of learning disability and a wide variety of behavioral characteristics, whose needs could not be addressed by traditional Jewish day school programs and curricula.[3] The students have separate administrators and teachers from TABC, though they share some classrooms.
Extracurricular activities
TABC has a number of extracurricular activities, some that do well even on the international level. The school's Mock trial team was the 2005 New Jersey State Champions and received a lot of press coverage both in the Tri-State Region as well as overseas for its efforts to gain accommodations to participate in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina without being required to compete during the Jewish Sabbath.[4]
The school has an International Bible Contest (Chidon HaTanach) team which is coached by Rabbi Neil Winkler. In 2017, junior Shlomi Helfgot placed 4th in the world in the international competition which takes place in Jerusalem on Yom HaAtzma'ut.[5]
The school also has a notable Science Olympiad Team, having won the Yeshiva League for the past 6 years, as well as College Bowl, with Junior Varisty having been undefeated since 2014.
Athletics
TABC has various sport teams, including baseball, softball, basketball, hockey, wrestling and others. [6]
In an effort to build inter-community relationships in Teaneck, former Torah Academy athletic director Bobby Kaplan and then assistant principal Rabbi Tzvi Grumet, arranged for the TABC Storm to play a pair of exhibition basketball games in 2000 against the Knights of the Al-Ghazaly High School, a Muslim high school in the township.[7]
The varsity hockey team has won the MYHSAL championship five times (1997–1998, 2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2012-2013 and 2015-2016). The JV team has won the MYHSAL championship a record eight times (1997–1998, 2002–2003, 2008–2009, 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2011–2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2017-2018). TABC is known as a hockey powerhouse and both teams have made the championship consistently.
TABC's wrestling team had placed 3rd in the Wittenberg Championships from 2007 to 2010.[8] In 2009, TABC had six finalists and two champions. In 2010, TABC had three champions - Navid Ahdoot (112 lbs), Evan Friedlander (171 lbs) and Dovid Greenfield (285 lbs) - as well as several second and third place wrestlers.[9] In 2011 TABC placed second overall with three first-place winners including Shimmy Auman, Evan Friedlander, Dovid Greenfield. In 2013, TABC won Wittenberg with three champions, and eleven total placers. TABC wrestlers Efraim Ellman, Dovid Greenfield, Navid Ahdoot, Ramin Ahdoot and Lior Shachar have been inducted into the Wittenberg Hall of Fame.[8] TABC Wrestling has also continued to place well at Wittenberg even fielding smaller teams. They have wrestled at the Brick Memorial Tournament, The Randolph Wrestling Tournament, The North Bergen Wrestling Tournament, and more. 2016-2017 saw another individual first place finish from Ben Antosofsky 19' (126 lbs), as well as more high placements. In 2017-2018 Dovid Meiseles took home 1st, with a myriad of 2nd - 5th place finishes backing him up.
The TABC track team was undefeated in 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. The team is coached by alumnus Shmuel Knoller ('13). Notably, Zachary Greenberg came in 3rd place in his age group in the Jerusalem Marathon in 2016.[10]
The school also has both a varsity and junior varsity basketball team coached by former St. John's assistant Coach Oswald Cross.[11]
The Yeshiva University Red Sarachek basketball tournament plays some of its games in the TABC gym, for which they received an award in 2004. TABC also participated in Sarachek in 2012, entering the tournament as the 13th seed and finishing ranked #12 overall.[12] In 2016, TABC again participated in the tournament, entering as the #9 seed. In the first round, TABC defeated the Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy Warriors on a last second shot, but were defeated in the second round by eventual-champion DRS Wildcats 34-31.
References
- School data for Torah Academy of Bergen County, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed October 20, 2017.
- Torah Academy of Bergen County, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools. Accessed November 9, 2017.
- Karasick Shalem High School at Torah Academy of Bergen County, SINAI Special Needs Institute. Accessed November 29, 2017. "SINAI’s Rabbi Mark and Linda Karasick Shalem High School at Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) is located in Teaneck, NJ. Serving boys ages 14-21, we offer a functional academic high school program designed to prepare students with developmental disabilities for rich and productive adult lives."
- New mock trial contest arises from controversy, The Record (Bergen County), February 24, 2006
- Schwartz, Bracha. "Teaneck Students Place in Top Ten at Chidon HaTanach in Jerusalem ", Jewish Link of New Jersey, May 4, 2017. Accessed November 29, 2017 ."Two Teaneck students placed in the top ten of the Chidon HaTanach, an international competition that tests students on over 400 chapters of Tanach and is held each year on Yom Ha’atzmaut. Shlomi Helfgot, an 11th-grade student at Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), placed fourth, while Uriel Simpson, an eighth-grade student at Yeshivat Noam, placed sixth."
- Teams, Torah Academy of Bergen County. Accessed April 19, 2012.
- Pincus, Helen Weiss. "SOAPBOX; Exhibition Games", The New York Times, April 9, 2000. Accessed June 21, 2011.
- Yeshiva University Henry Wittenberg Wrestling Invitational, Yeshiva University wrestling. Accessed September 8, 2011.
- Wittenberg Tournament 2010 Place Winners, Yeshiva University wrestling. Accessed September 8, 2011.
- Jerusalem Marathon 2016, March 18, 2016.
- Leichman, Joseph. "Coach Oswald ‘Oz’ Cross, Named New Coach of TABC Basketball Teams" Jewish Link of New Jersey, September 24, 2015. Accessed December 21, 2015. "TABC is excited to announce Coach Oswald 'Oz' Cross as the head coach of the Junior Varsity and Varsity Storm basketball teams. Coach Oz has 15 years of coaching experience, winning championships at Our Savior Lutheran High School, serving on Coach Norm Robert's staff at St. John's University and coaching the prestigious New York City AAU Team Scan. Through his coaching he has worked with players as successful as Brooklyn Nets draft pick Chris McCullough and McDonald's All American, Thomas Bryant."
- Teams, Red Sarachek Tournament. Accessed April 19, 2012.