Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America

Rabbi Alexander Sender Linchner, the Founder of Boys Town Jerusalem, passed away in Israel on June 5, 1997, at the age of 89. Rabbi Linchner, who was born and raised in the United States, was one of the few Americans to study at the great yeshivos of Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. During the course of his studies at the Yeshiva at Radin, Poland, he came under the direct, personal influence of the Chofetz Chaim, considered by many to be the pre-eminent authority on Jewish law and philosophy of the 20th century. Rabbi Linchner returned to the United States before the outbreak of World War II, where he became principal at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, in Brooklyn, working under the guiding hand of his father-in-law, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz. Rabbi Mendelowitz was the founder of Torah Umesorah, the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools. He and Rabbi Linchner trained and inspired a generation of Jewish educators who founded Jewish day schools in many American Jewish communities, forming the backbone of Jewish education in this country.

Love… at first sight: Boys Town’s secret ingredient. One of the first experiences of every entering student at Boys Town Jerusalem is a one-on-one meeting with Dean Rabbi Moshe Linchner. At this very warm and personal session, Rabbi Linchner conveys a basic philosophy of the school: Boys Town doesn’t look at who the student is NOW, but who he CAN BE.Even prior to the student’s first day at the school, a team of teachers, counselors and social workers have visited the boy’s home to better understand what his special needs are and what makes him tick.Love is the secret ingredient of Boys Town’s success. Many of Boys Town’s students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. They suffer from low self esteem, domestic problems, but perhaps most important, an absence of love, the basic.