In appreciation for the generous donation (and with an eye on the potential PR value), Rabbi Silber went to Shea Stadium
In 1946, Rav Yitzchok Hutner recommended a young Nuremberg-born talmid named Rav Meilech Silber for the principal position at a small Chaim Berlin offshoot in Crown Heights. Rav Hutner felt that Rav Meilech, the national director of Pirchei Agudath Israel and assistant head counselor at Camp Agudah, was the perfect man for the job.
Under Rav Meilech’s 25 years of stewardship, the nascent school grew into the renowned Yeshiva of Eastern Parkway — a dynamic force in Torah education. By 1965, the 700-student institution encompassed an elementary school, a high school, and a post-high school. When the neighborhood changed, it moved from Crown Heights to East Flatbush.
In November 1968, the yeshivah sustained an arson attack, the worst of several such crimes targeting Jewish institutions within a short period of time. Tragically, seven sifrei Torah were either completely or partially burned, many students lost their tefillin in the blaze, and the yeshivah’s seforim were damaged.
Undeterred, Rav Meilech sprang into action and had the yeshivah functioning in a temporary location. He then launched a campaign with the assistance of the yeshivah’s board and such prominent New Yorkers as Mayor John Lindsay who were disgusted by this act of anti-Semitism. At one meeting, real estate magnate Jerome Belson, a friend of the yeshivah, brought along a fellow named Julius Isaacson, who was acquainted with New York Mets management and made the team’s manager aware of the story, resulting in a $500 donation from the club.
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