Frisch School

The Frisch School, commonly known as Yeshivat Frisch /frɪʃ/, is a coeducational yeshiva high school located in Paramus, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1972 by Rabbi Menachem Meier and Alfred Frisch, it adheres to the tenets and practices of Modern Orthodox Judaism. Most of the students are from the Jewish communities of Teaneck, Englewood, Fair Lawn, and Monsey, with some commuting from New York City and Central New Jersey.

Frisch School
Location
Frisch School
Frisch School
120 W. Century Road
Paramus, New Jersey NJ 07652

United States
Coordinates40.934173°N 74.080172°W / 40.934173; -74.080172
Information
TypePrivate High School, Yeshiva
MottoCougars Run Together
Established1972
FounderR. Menachem Meier and Alfred Frisch
PrincipalRabbi Eli Ciner[1]
Asst. principalsRabbi Joshua Wald
Elaine Keigher /kiːr/
Rabbi David Goldfischer
Deborah Herzog
Faculty85.8 FTEs[2]
Grades9 – 12
Enrollment637 (as of 2015-16)[2]
Student to teacher ratio7.4:1[2]
Color(s)     Red and
     white[3]
Team nameCougars[3]
AccreditationMiddle States Association of Colleges and Schools
PublicationFrisch Off The Press
NewspaperThe Struggle
Websitewww.frisch.org

The school is named for founder Alfred Frisch, who owned the land on which the original campus was situated prior to the school's inception in 1972. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1992. Its accreditation expires in 2022.[4]

As of the 2015–16 school year, the school had an enrollment of 637 students and 85.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 7.4:1. The school's student body was 99.7% White and 0.3% Asian.[2] In the past five years, Frisch has grown from a population of 549 to 861 students during the 2019-2020 academic year.[5]

Values

Frisch's core four values are intellectual inquiry, religious growth, pursuit of passion, and creating a community of kindness. The school's formal curriculum and extra-curricular programming are geared toward fostering these ideals.[6]

Campus

For the 2007-2008 school year, Frisch moved to 120 West Century Road in Paramus. Frisch purchased this site, 14 acres (57,000 m2) of land and an 115,000-square-foot (10,700 m2) office building, and renovated what had been an office building, constructing an 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) addition. The campus includes 41 classrooms, a learning center, six science laboratories, a state-of-the-art gymnasium, a two-story library, music and art studios, a Beit Midrash, a makerspace (fab lab), and a publications room. Outdoors, the campus has a softball field, two tennis courts, a basketball-hockey, and a soccer field encircled by a running track. Indoors, the building is wired for a modern computer network and cutting-edge technology.[7] The campus is named in honor of Billionaire Henry Sweica, who donated the campus.

The school formerly resided at E. 243 Frisch Court in Paramus, on a 7-acre (28,000 m2) plot of land.[8]

Academics

All students at Frisch complete a rigorous, dual-curriculum of general and Judaic studies. The school has multiple academic tracks, allowing students at all levels to challenge themselves and thrive within the classroom.

Incoming students choose between seven specialty tracks: Beit Midrash, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Humanities Lab, Music, Visual Arts, and World Languages. Each track provides specialized academic/vocational training, and multiple opportunities throughout the year for students to apply their skills.[9]


Student government

The school has a powerful student government. The Student government consists of two chambers: the executive board and the regular student council. Seats in government are very competitive, and elections are held at the end of each school year.[10]

The executive board is composed of four members, including both the president and vice-president of the school. The president is the person who wins the most votes, and the vice-president is the person who wins the second most votes.

The student council is composed of eight members, two from each grade.

Co-curricular programs and activities

Clubs

Frisch currently has over 100 co-curricular activities, including: Art Club, Biophysics Club, Drama Society, Film Club, Photography Club, Poetry Club, Sewing Club, Chessed Society, Chess Team, Chidon HaTanach, College Bowl, Debate Team, Federal Reserve Bank Challenge, Math League, Model Beit Din, Torah Bowl, Robotics Club, Coding Club, Girls Who Code, Science Olympiad, Choir, Jazz Ensemble, Performance Ensemble, America Israel Student Action Committee, Mock Trial, Model Congress, Model United Nations, Student Council, Frisch Torah Journal, Foreign Language Journal, Kalliope (Literary Magazine), Yearbook, American Sign Language Club, Cougar Nation Network (sports broadcasting), Dance Club, Finance Club, Frisch Farm, Lacrosse Club, Intramural Sports, Improv Club, Outdoor Soccer, Memory Club, Peer Tutoring, Pre-Med Society, Environmental Club, Ocean Preservation Society, and Ski Club.[11][12]

Sports

There are 25 athletic teams and seven athletic clubs in total. More than 70 percent of students participate on one or more of the sports teams and clubs. There are four basketball teams, one baseball team, two boys floor hockey teams, one girls floor hockey team, and one boys wrestling team, which consecutively won five Wittenberg wrestling titles. There are three volleyball teams – the girls volleyball teams have won the most championship games of any yeshiva volleyball team - three soccer teams, two swimming teams, three softball teams, one bowling team, and two track teams, among others. Frisch also has the first-ever yeshiva ice hockey team, which, in its first year of existence, qualified for the NJ state tournament.[13] Frisch competes in ice hockey under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.[3] In 2016, 50 percent of Frisch's Yeshiva League sports teams qualified for the championships, and six teams won the championships.

The baseball team has won three consecutive Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League titles (2014, 2015, 2016),[14][15][16] and won the Columbus Baseball Invitational yeshiva high school tournament, dubbed the "Jewish World Series", in each of 2016 and 2017.[17][18]

In 2015, Frisch won the Red Sarachek Tournament hosted by Yeshiva University for the first time. After losing in the championship game in 2013 and 2014, they defeated the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway by a score of 75-73 in triple-overtime to claim the title.[19] In 2017, Frisch came back and won the Sarachek Tournament, defeating the Shalhevet Firehawks (of Los Angeles) by a score of 49-47 in the tournament final.[20]

In 2016, Frisch began hosting the Wittenberg Wrestling Tournament, after Yeshiva University announced that it would no longer host the annual event.[21]

Chesed

A Chesed Society coordinates community projects throughout the year.[22] Frisch students run a winter camp for children with special needs who have off from public school during the winter break week.[23]

Shiriyah

Each year, students at Frisch take part in Shiriyah, a week-long extravaganza of creativity and camaraderie based around a Torah theme. Students create artistic murals, Rube Goldberg machines, "stomp" dances, music, skits, Escape the Room games, decorate the hallways, and more. The week provides an opportunity for every student to shine at something they excel at, or try their hand at a new skill. The week of Shiriyah culminates in a school-wide event during which the students present their work to family, friends and faculty.[24][25][26]

Notable alumni

Controversies

The students were urged to write letters to President Trump, praising his decision to relocate the U.S Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This was done without consent of the parents. The school's spiritual leader, Rabbi David Sher, sent an email to students, telling them to write to Trump and express admiration for his "courageous leadership." The students were further told to "remember to sign your name at the bottom." [42]

Dozens of parents at the school lodged complaints, stating that the move was "sycophantic" and that the school should be "apolitical" and not attempt to "normalize Trump." [43]

The school principal, Rabbi Eli Ciner, claimed that a reporter leaked this information to the press without parental consent. [44] Ciner, in an effort to protect himself, further stated that only parents who were not happy with Trump complained and that the press had exaggerated the number of complaints. [45]

Jason Greenblatt was invited to speak at an assembly at Frisch, where he repeatedly told students that any allegation or investigation against Trump is to be considered "fake news." [46] Parents claimed that there was no "letter-writing campaign to thank Obama for the Iron Dome," only criticism, and that "Schools can't say we're apolitical so we're not going to address the president's bullying and lying and racism, and at the same time ask the kids in your school to write emails of gratitude for faithful service to the country. Something's wrong with that. The message to the kids is that all those things don't really matter because all we care about is that Jerusalem is the capital. If that's all Judaism is supposed to be about for our kids, we're really making a mistake. It has the potential to turn off a lot of kids from Judaism totally. And a lot of adults." [47]

Former Frisch alumnus claimed that Frisch's "support for Trump is, and opposition to Obama was, rooted in racism." [48].

References
  1. Message from the Headmaster and Principal, The Frisch School. Accessed November 13, 2014.
  2. School data for The Frisch School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed October 20, 2017.
  3. Frisch School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed May 12, 2017.
  4. Frisch School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools. Accessed September 2, 2011.
  5. https://frisch.org/about/overview/
  6. https://frisch.org/#corevalues
  7. Our New Campus Archived 2007-09-25 at the Wayback Machine, accessed October 12, 2006
  8. Goldrich, Lois. "Bat Torah headed for Paramus", Jewish Standard, May 2, 2008. Accessed June 23, 2008. "While Bat Torah, which Bak said "has very high academic aspirations", will rent the whole building, the school hopes ultimately to share the facility with other groups. "We'll want to remain small", said Bak, indicating that she would not want more than 40 students per grade."
  9. https://frisch.org/academics/
  10. "Special Interests". The Frisch School. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
  11. https://frisch.org/outside-the-classroom/
  12. https://www.jewishlinknj.com/schools/33335-over-100-co-curriculars-highlighted-at-yeshivat-frisch-club-fair
  13. http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-frozen-chosen/
  14. http://jewishlinknj.com/sports/3977-frisch-cougars-win-baseball-championship
  15. https://www.jewishlinkbwc.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=7000:frisch-cougars-defeat-tabc-storm-repeat-as-yeshiva-high-school-varsity-baseball-champs&Itemid=586
  16. http://jewishlinknj.com/component/content/article?id=13640
  17. http://www.jewishlinknj.com/sports/13309-frisch-cougars-top-tabc-storm-in-columbus-invitational-tournament
  18. http://www.jewishlinknj.com/sports/18856-frisch-cougars-are-columbus-champions
  19. Staff. "Frisch Wins Sarachek in Triple OT", Jewish Link of New Jersey, March 26, 2015. Accessed November 10, 2016. "It took three grueling, extra periods for the 2014–15 Frisch Varsity Cougars (the 3-seed coming into the tournament having been reseeded from the top spot after losing a flukey heartbreaker in the Yeshiva League semifinals) to finally dispatch the top nationally ranked HAFTR Hawks by final score of 75-73.... HAFTR's last-gasp fling fell short and the Red Sea of Frisch fans parted onto the Court to celebrate Frisch's first Sarachek championship."
  20. Torok, Ryan. "Wild finish thrills Milken Wildcats' faithful", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, March 7, 2017. Accessed October 8, 2017. "Meanwhile, Shalhevet, which also qualified to compete in the CIF state playoffs, elected instead to travel to New York to compete in the March 2–6 Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament at Yeshiva University in New York. The Firehawks lost, 49-47, in the championship game to the Frisch School Cougars of Paramus, N. J."
  21. Nussbaum, Jake. "Frisch to Host Wittenberg Tournament", Jewish Link of New Jersey, February 11, 2016. Accessed October 8, 2017.
  22. Community Service, Frisch School. Accessed October 8, 2017.
  23. Staff. "Friendship Circle of Bergen County Offers December Mini-Camp for Students With Special Needs", Jewish Link of New Jersey, December 15, 2016. Accessed October 8, 2017.
  24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D9iBbluKzs
  25. https://www.jewishlinknj.com/schools/16762-frisch-enjoys-the-magic-of-shiriyah
  26. https://frisch.org/outside-the-classroom/shiriyah/
  27. Mooney, John. "2 RHODES SCHOLARS, SO FAR -- A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION CHALLENGE", The Record (Bergen County), February 6, 1997. Accessed November 11, 2015. "A year ago, the scholarship went to Jeremy Dauber, Class of '90, now in his first of two years at Oxford."
  28. Siemaszko, Corky. "Eerie Links Between 2 N.J. Women", New York Daily News, February 26, 1996. Accessed October 8, 2017. "The New Jersey women killed yesterday in a bus bombing in Jerusalem followed in the tragic footsteps of a former classmate Alisa Flatow. Sara Duker was one year ahead of Flatow at the Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus, N.J."
  29. Kratz, Elizabeth. "Jewish Center of Teaneck Welcomes Rabbi Daniel Fridman", Jewish Link of New Jersey, September 8, 2016. Accessed October 8, 2017. "Rabbi Fridman was raised in Teaneck and educated at Yavneh Academy, the Frisch School, Yeshivat Har Etzion and Columbia University."
  30. Moss, Linda. "Pieces of Penthouse founder's erotic collection in Englewood up for bid", The Record (Bergen County), November 9, 2013, backed up by the Internet Archive as of March 4, 2016. Accessed October 8, 2017. "As a product of the 1980s, Frommer, who attended the Frisch School in Paramus, was well acquainted with Penthouse. As a teenager, he would ride his bike to the local convenience store and try to coax older youths to buy him copies of the magazine."
  31. Park, Pearl J. "HE LEARNS POLITICAL SCIENCE FROM FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE -- FRISCH SENIOR IS LOBBYIST", The Record, October 16, 1991. Accessed February 20, 2008. "Frisch School senior Ryan Karben has strong political convictions -- and an equally strong desire to advocate them."
  32. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi Archived 2011-06-28 at the Wayback Machine, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah. Accessed September 2, 2011. "She is a graduate of the Frisch Yeshiva High School and Barnard College and was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College."
  33. Hyman, Vicki. "Ivanka Trump to convert to Judaism to wed Jared Kushner", The Star-Ledger, November 5, 2008. Accessed September 2, 2011. "Kushner, a graduate of the Frisch School, a coed Jewish high school in Paramus, was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, which frowns -- to put it mildly -- on intermarriages."
  34. Peters, Jeremy W. (2011-06-24). "Life in the Fishbowl for Jared Kushner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  35. Yellin, Deena. "Arthur Lenk", The Record (Bergen County), May 3, 1998, accessed April 16, 2007. "I grew up in Teaneck and graduated from Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus."
  36. Leichman, Abigail. "North Jerseyan named JTS dean", The Record (Bergen County), February 8, 2007. Accessed November 11, 2015.
  37. Staff. "Behind the Jewcan Sam controversy: Controversial Plastic Surgeon Offers Free Surgery To Jewish Singles", South Florida Jewish Home, March 29, 2012. Accessed August 26, 2015. "I went to A.S.H.A.R. in Monsey, Moriah in Englewood, NJ; spent freshman year of high school in Public School (Tappan Zee High School), where incidentally I was teased pretty regularly for my 'big Jewish Schnoz'; then went to the Frisch Yeshiva High School in Paramus, New Jersey."
  38. Rosenblatt, Gary. "Joining 'Gangs' to Work With the Best: Executive producer Rick Schwartz savors a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese and others.", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, January 2, 2003. Accessed October 22, 2011. "Schwartz said that while the rest of his family is 'quite Orthodox, I am still finding my way, but I no longer take my Jewish education for granted.' He graduated from the Moriah day school in Englewood and Frisch yeshiva high school in Paramus, N.J., and said he increasingly appreciates the rootedness his traditional Jewish lifestyle gives him."
  39. Dickter, Adam. "Sofer Sex", The Jewish Week, September 19, 2003. Accessed September 2, 2011. "It's not a likely career path for a former student of Achei Temimim, a Lubavitch grade school in Massachusetts, or the Frisch High School in Paramus. Sofer's father, Martin, is an Orthodox rabbi, as anyone who peruses her online biography or recent media interviews will learn."
  40. Bloom, Nate. "Noshes: Worth Checking Out", The Jewish Standard, June 29, 2007. "Spektor... went to middle school yeshiva in New York and, for her first two years in high school, she went to the Frisch School in Paramus."
  41. Engelmayer, Shammai. "A dream come true", The Jewish Standard, October 26, 2007. Accessed November 11, 2015. "One of the most interesting from a sectarian perspective is Yashar Books, located in Brooklyn and the brainchild of Gil Student, who grew up locally and who graduated from the Solomon Schechter Day School and the Frisch high school."
  42. Moore, Jack. "JARED KUSHNER'S HIGH SCHOOL IS MAKING CHILDREN WRITE LETTERS OF SUPPORT TO DONALD TRUMP", Newsweek, January 17, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018.
  43. Maltz, Judy. "Kids at Kushner's Old High School Were Urged to Write Letters Sucking Up to Trump ñ and Parents Are Fuming", Haaretz, January 18, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018.
  44. Levine, Cecilia. "Frisch Principal Reveals More On Controversial 'Letters To Trump' Campaign", Paramus Daily Voice, January 17, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018.
  45. Sommerfeldt, Chris. "Jared Kushner's old New Jersey high school encouraged students to sign letter praising President Trump", Daily News, January 17, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018.
  46. Yudelson, Larry "Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?", Jewish Standard, January 25, 2018. Accessed February 15, 2018.
  47. Yudelson, Larry "Was a thank-you note a breach of etiquette?", Jewish Standard, January 25, 2018. Accessed February 15, 2018.
  48. Lichtenberg, Alexander "Toward a more perfect union", Jewish Standard, February 3, 2018. Accessed February, 18, 2018
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