By COLlive reporter
Ukrainian Jewish billionaire Gennady Bogolyubov, most famous for building the world’s largest Jewish community center in Dnepropetrovsk, is involved in another construction project.
He is helping to fully renovate a historic French chateau in the Brunoy township located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, to be used for the legendary Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim.
The chateau was given by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to Chabad when the Yeshiva was founded in 1947 by the Frierdiker Rebbe, following the Nazi Holocaust.
With a restricted number of 30 students and an even more restricted financial means, the Yeshiva opened its doors to a bastion of Torah scholarship and Chassidic Jewish life.
Leading it and guiding its students were the Chassidic greats of that generation. Among them were Rabbi Nissan Nemanow, Rabbi Yosef Goldberg, Rabbi Yisroel Noach Belinitzki and Rabbi Nochum Labkowski, of blessed memory.
Some 20 years ago, with a second building erected on the campus, the use of the the historic building was forbidden due to safety building codes and has remained vacant ever since.
As the Yeshiva continued to grow, there was a need for additional space to hold the 300 students who come from around France, the United States and Israel to study under the leadership of Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yechiel Kalmenson.
Plans were made to make use of the historic structure and Bogolyubov generously donated the majority of the $3.8 million construction budget. The building will be dedicated in memory of his father and named Beis Baruch.
“This building is ancient and most of our bochurim have learned in it,” said Rabbi Mendel Gurevitch, financial director of the Yeshiva.
The building was carefully restored to retain the original architecture. It will include a study hall (zal), classrooms and offices. The old mikvah of the yeshiva was also renovated at a cost of $130,000, as well as the courtyard and parking lot.
Bochurim have recently been calling it “the Altneu building,” borrowing the name from the Old New Synagogue in Prague, Europe’s oldest active synagogue which combined an old and a new congregation.
“Preparations are being made for the inauguration ceremony of the building which will take place in the near future,” Gurevitch said. “We are contacting the thousands of the Yeshiva’s alumni to participate.”
Your generosity is inspiring and should be a merit for you and your family!
Thank you Rabbi Kaminetzky for making this happen!!
Very nice. It would also be great to take pictures of the old zals and couple them with stories of what it was like to be a bochur in the yuds, chofs, even lameds.
Wow!!! this is majestic! like a real palace. I’m sure the “inside” of the Yeshiva will be as beautiful as its exterior!!
I have the sweetest memories of learning in that zal! My son can’t wait to be old enough to learn there…in Yerushalayim!
I went to many yeshivas the only one I loved and proud of
wow!
Wow, so much has changed over the years. it’s so nice to see.
LOL!
Reb Nissan zt”l was very strict, but what fantastic results he produced! 🙂
Hope they don’t take opportunity to begin chargeing 35,000$ a year being a top class yeshiva…
really, kol ha kavod to him. He is having many opportunities to do some really meaningful mitzvos. This one is beautiful.
An alum
So nice that lubavitch has a yeshiva the bochurim can feel proud of
Beautiful and very modern . But just to make sure the boys remember they are still in learning in Brunoy, they got some good old hard chairs just like the old building….
I kind of wish I could go back to yeshiva age just to go learn in Brunoy.
Finally a yeshiva were the students could be proud of, so warm and airy. I love the ceiling.