Only a few months before the Beth Judah Institute of the Hebrew Academy opened registration in the Fall of 1953, a graduate of the Mirer Yeshiva and his wife had purchased a house at 1333 Emerson Street NW. In the following years Rabbi Nechemia and Nechama Malin would try to transform this house into the District of Columbia's first true Yeshiva.
Nechemia was born in Brest Litovsk on December 24, 1918[1] to Rav Isser Yehuda and Rachel Malin. Before the outbreak of WWII, Nechemia was studying in the Mirer Yeshiva. Nechemia accompanied his peers and tens of thousands Jewish refugees who fled to Lithuania and eventually to Japanese occupied Shanghai. Nechemia and his older brother Meir continued to study at the relocated Mirer Yeshiva in the crowded Shanghai Ghetto[2]. After the war ended, the Malin brothers followed the Yeshiva to New York, where they continued studying for several years[3].
At some point in the early 1950s, Nechemia married Elizabeth (Nechama) Bogner. Elizabeth was the daughter of Rabbi Arthur (Meir) Bogner, who fled Austria with his family in 1938[4]. Rabbi Arthur Bogner worked as the Rabbi of the Ezras Israel Congregation of Northeast Washington, DC.
The Malins moved to the District in 1953 and appear to have begun laying the groundwork for their Yeshiva as soon as they arrived. (It's certainly conceivable that Rabbi Bogner or others invited Nechemia to DC for this purpose.) 1333 Emerson St was put up for sale in Feburary 1953. On March 13, 1953, the owners of the house at 1333 Emerson, Luther and Ethel Iager, filed a petition with the zoning board to establish the "Or[-]Torah Rabbinical Seminary" in their home[5].
The Iagers were not Jewish, so their involvement in the permitting of the Yeshiva is curious. A potential explanation may stem from the nature of the Iagers' sale of their house. The February 28 real estate advertisement for 1333 Emerson Street says that the "Owner [was] selling on doctor's orders."[6] The Iagers' need to quickly sell the house may have led them to help their willing buyers, the Malins, to establish a Yeshiva on the property.
The zoning board rejected the Iagers' appeal to form the Yeshiva on their property[7]. Despite this, the Malins went through with the sale and signed the deed for 1333 Emerson St in June 1953.
In mid August 1954, the National Jewish Ledger reported on a meeting that Rabbi Nehemia [sic] Malin held with other local Rabbis to discuss a fundraising drive for the "Rabbinical Seminary of Brisk". The Ledger also noted that both local and out-of-town students were already registered for the coming term.[8]
Rav Moshe Feinstein sent a letter to R' Nechemia Malin that was dated to Motza'ei Shabbos Bereshis 5715 (October 23, 1954). The letter seems to have been carried by one of R' Nechemia's students on his was back to Yeshiva after Sukkos break.[9]
In the winter of 1955, R' Nechemia Malin and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Menachem Mendel Schneerson, exchanged a series of letters that are partially preserved in the published collections of the Rebbe's correspondences[10]. Nechemia Malin appears to have written to the Rebbe asking him to advocate for him to receive some of German reparation funds that were being divvied by a small council of refugee Roshei Yeshiva who had escaped the Nazis with their Yeshivas. The Rebbe's advocacy seems to have been successful in getting R' Nechemia Malin's Yeshiva some of the money[11].
By 1959 the Brisker Yeshiva seems to have begun an after school program to educate Jewish teens. This program mentioned in an article about a Shlomo Carlebach concert that the Yeshiva was hosting to raise funds for itself. The article noted that the Yeshiva was "a school which prepares high school students for advance studies to become Rabbis and other workers in the religious field."[12]
In the Fall of 1960, the Brisker Yeshiva opened the first parochial Yeshiva high school in the District. An article from the school's first banquet in April 1961, described the school:
"Yeshiva High School which began its program with 15 students last September, is located at 1333 Emerson street N.W. The school teaches Jewish religious subjects in addition to regular high school courses. It is the only Jewish high school in the city."[13]
The Yeshiva High School's success was very short lived. It's unclear if the school opened for a second year in the Fall 1961. A February 1962 advertisement for an estate sale at 1333 Emerson street listed school desks among the assorted furniture.[14] The Malins sold the house on March 1, 1962. This seems to be the end of the Brisker Yeshiva in DC.
The relationship between R' Nechemia Malin's Yeshiva High School of 1960 and the later Yeshiva High School that opened in 1964 is unclear. Certainly they did not share any of the same leadership, but it is possible that they shared the same demographic of parents who were interested in such a school.
[1] See Nechemia Malin's passport and other immigration documents: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154811749102 (Accessed January 19, 2023)
[4] Moshe Weissberg, "Imma Shel Malkhut: haRabbanit Nechama Malin a"h," Bechadrei Charedim, September 8, 2011. https://www.bhol.co.il/news/87252
[5] "Official Notices: Board of Zoning Adjustment," Evening Star (Washington, DC), March 13, 1953. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1953-03-13/ed-1/seq-55/
[6] [Advertisement,] "Boss & Phelps Present 4 Attractive Home Values," Evening Star (Washington, DC), February 28, 1953. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1953-02-28/ed-1/seq-28/
[7] "Zoners Again Reject Chevy Chase Lot as Pepco Substation Site," Evening Star (Washington, DC), March 27, 1953. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1953-03-27/ed-1/seq-21/
[8] "Yeshiva to Expand," National Jewish Ledger (Washington, DC), August 20, 1954.
[9] "Letter from Rav Moshe Feinstein" https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/letter-rabbi-moshe-feinstein-1
[10] Igros Kodesh Vol. 21, Page 283, Letter 8,041. https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15914&st=&pgnum=302
[11] https://forum.otzar.org/viewtopic.php?t=15506#p279943
[12] "Israeli Singer to Give Concert," Evening Star (Washington, DC), June 7, 1959. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1959-06-07/ed-1/seq-19/
[13] "Jewish School Founders Feted," Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 25, 1961. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1961-04-25/ed-1/seq-5/
[14] [Classifieds] "Miscelaneous for Sale: Furniture—...1333 Emerson," Evening Star (Washington, DC), February 11, 1962. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1962-02-11/ed-1/seq-88/
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