Yeshiva Living on the Edge

Jeff Strickler – Star Tribune

In its four years of existence, Yeshiva High School has exceeded expectations in every area except one — raising money — and that might be the one that kills it. The only Jewish boarding school in the Twin Cities needs to come up with $600,000 in donations and pledges to pay off its mortgage by Feb. 7 or it will be forced to close.

Rabbi Moshe Weiss, who helped launch the school in a former Baptist church in Cottage Grove, is cautiously optimistic.

“I’ve been amazed at the way the community here has rallied around us,” he said. “We’ve had complete strangers walk in and offer to help. Once they do that, they’re not strangers anymore. They’re our friends. I’m meeting all these friends that I didn’t know I had.”

The Orthodox boys school is in what used to be Eagle Grove Baptist Church. The school’s founders knew that they had found a home the first time they looked at the church.

“We needed something with rooms that could be used for dorms, a kitchen, dining room and a place we could add a shower room,” Weiss said. “And we didn’t have much money, so we needed something that we could buy on a contract for deed. This offered everything we needed.”

But now the Minnesota Baptist Conference is calling for payment.

“I have no ill will of any sort toward the conference,” Weiss said. “They need to cash out because they’ve got their own financial problems and can’t afford to be our bank any longer. They’ve already granted us two extensions. I have no gripes with them. I have nothing but respect.”

That’s little consolation to the students who face losing their school.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do if the school closes,” said Tzemi Zimmerman, 15, a native of Chicago who started school in the fall. “I don’t have any other options that are as good as this.”