Yeshiva Building For Sale: Will Lubavitch Return to Bedford & Dean

By Sruly Meyer – COLlive

Last week, three Lubavitchers were seen walking around the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Dean Street in the north part of the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY.

They were looking at a property – one that had personal significance.

The three, R’ Noochie Gross, R’ Itchik Rivkin, and R’ Chaim Drizin, inspected the building that served as the Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch during pivotal years.

“We discovered that the building was available,” Gross told COLlive.com, noting that some aspects of the building haven’t changed over the years. “We even saw Mezuzahs that were still there and other memorabilia!”

“Bedford and Dean,” as the Yeshiva was known in Lubavitch circles, was the second building that the Frierdiker Rebbe purchased upon arriving in the United States from Nazi-occupied Europe in the Second World War. The first building was 770 Eastern Parkway which became the home of Lubavitch World Headquarters.

The establishment of the Yeshiva held immense significance for the Frierdiker Rebbe, marking one of the first endeavors after his arrival in America. He insisted that “America isn’t different” and that the Torah scholarship in Russia and Poland could be replicated in New York.

The Frierdiker Rebbe appointed his son-in-law, Rabbi Shmaryahu Gurary (“Rashag”), as its director. Additionally, Rabbi Shmuel Levitin and Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson were appointed as menahalim (principals) and mashpiim (spiritual mentors), while Rabbi Mordechai Mentlick assumed the position of Rosh Yeshiva.

“The current owners mentioned their fond memories of the Rashag,” Gross said.

Over the years, the building housed offices for many esteemed Chassidim, including the principal Rabbi Yosef Menachem Mendel Tenenbaum, Rabbi Tzvi Yosef Kotlarsky and Rabbi Moshe Pinchos Katz from the administration, and renowned teachers like Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky, and the late Rabbi Chaim Meir Bukiet, Rabbi Yaacov Schwei, Rabbi Kalman Yehuda Marlow and Rabbi Avrohom Barnetsky. The late Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Friedman also worked and lived in an apartment above the building.

The Lubavitcher Yeshiva resided in the building from 1946 to 1971. It was among the last institutions to leave the area, which was once a vibrant frum community with multiple Yeshivas. In recent years, the area has experienced a significant resurgence, with young Lubavitchers settling nearby as Crown Heights expands.

While the building served as a seniors’ social club and health facility for many years, it now stands vacant. Gross says he and his friends see a potential for Chabad’s return after 51 years.

“The owners would love to see the property back with a Chabad presence,” Gross reveals. “We, a group comprising myself, Itchik Rivkin, and Chaim Drizin, are seriously looking into leasing it for various possible purposes, with our dream being to establish a Yeshiva there again!”

Gross himself learned there, as did Rivkin. “While it’s not entirely clear if either of the Rebbeim visited the place, it’s known that they passed by with the Aron of the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1950 by his levaya, making it a site of deep historical significance for Chabad.”

Gross said he hopes that COLlive readers will share their own experiences or those of their fathers and grandfathers related to the building. “The history of this building has touched so many,” he said.