Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America

About BTJ Foundation of America

Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America, Inc was established in 1948, as Rabbi Alexander S. Linchner founded Boys Town Jerusalem to provide a home and education for young immigrants to the newly-created State of Israel. Rabbi Linchner, a Brooklyn-born rabbi, devoted his life to creating this institution to provide Israeli youth the quality education and values to contribute technological skills and Jewish idealism to the Israeli nation. Today, The Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America, Inc. is the first and foremost organization raising funds for Boys Town Jerusalem’s growth, scholarships and maintenance. The Foundation includes offices across the East Coast.

National Board of Directors

Rabbi Alexander S. Linchner, Zt”L

Rabbi Alexander S. Linchner, Zt”L

Founder

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.

Ira Guilden, Z”L

Ira Guilden, Z”L

Founding President

 Josh S. Weston

Josh S. Weston

Honorary Chairman

Michael J. Scharf

Michael J. Scharf

President

When Michael Scharf first came to Boys Town Jerusalem, he saw the facilities that comprise Boys Town Jerusalem’s 18-acre campus. But it was more than the classrooms, laboratories and dormitories which attracted his attention and began a loyal friendship. Two decades later, the Hon. Chaim Herzog, President of the State of Israel, visited Boys Town Jerusalem and expressed the lofty ideals which captured Michael Scharf’s spirit: “At Boys Town Jerusalem, I have found a source of hope for unity and love between the different parts of the Jewish people. The students of Boys Town Jerusalem leave the school strengthened in their Torah and in their faith, able to identify heart and soul with the building of the State of Israel, and appreciative of the contributions of all segments of the nation, without exception, to Israel’s redemption.”

Henri C. Levit

Henri C. Levit

Interim Co-Chairman

Dr. Norman Frankel

Dr. Norman Frankel

Interim Co-Chairman

Yoni Strimber

Yoni Strimber

Chief Executive Officer

Rabbi Ezra E. Berenholz, MSW

Rabbi Ezra E. Berenholz, MSW

National Director of Development

Donald Solomon

Donald Solomon

Vice Chairman of the Board

Rabbi Moshe Linchner

Rabbi Moshe Linchner

Chairman of Executive Committee

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.

General Board of Directors

Lawrence B. Diener

Lawrence B. Diener

Vice Presidents

Dr. Kenneth Garay

Dr. Kenneth Garay

Treasurer

Marjorie Diener Blenden

Marjorie Diener Blenden

Secretary

Members

Ira Bartfield, Jack A. Belz, Michael Benedict, Carl Cohen, Joseph Cooper, Samy Dwek, Mark Follender, Neil Goldstein, Hugh Greenberg, Menahem Z Gurman*, Hart N. Hasten, Bernard Hasten, Malcolm Hoenlein, Norman Horowitz, Douglas Kahan, Robert Kaswell, Ed Kerson, H. Irwin Levy, Elly Libin, David S. Mack, Robert Miller, Gershon Rothstein,* Aleksander Smukler, Yudi Teichman, Rebecca Tenenbein, Benjamin Veit, Aaron Weitman, Mayor Michael J. Wildes, Michael Wimpfheimer,* Shimon Wolf, Dr. Matthew Zizmor.

*executive committee members

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Annual Report

View our 2022 annual report.
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Contact Us

Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America, Inc.
209 W. 29th Suite #6250
New York, NY 10001

Toll Free: 1-800-4MY-BOYS (469-2697)
Toll Free Fax: 866-730-BOYS (2697)

Yoni Strimber
Chief Executive Officer

Rabbi Ezra Berenholz
Director of Development
Tel: 646-375-5027