Yeshiva Toras Chaim (YTC) is an all-male,

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n (

Litvish ''Misnagdim'' (, "Opponents"; Sephardi pronunciation: ''Mitnagdim''; singular ''misnaged / mitnaged'') was a religious movement among the Jews of Eastern Europe which resisted the rise of Hasidism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ''Misnag ...

)-style

Talmudic The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...

academy in the West Colfax neighborhood of

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. ''YTC'' was founded in Denver in 1967. It is headed by the

Roshei Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and the Torah ...

(deans), rabbis Yisroel Meir Kagan, and Yitzchok Wasserman. The student body is multi-state, including students from the across the US. The school is a part of the Denver West Side Jewish community.

History

The yeshiva opened in the fall of 1967. It was described by a local newspaper as "the only yeshiva between Chicago and the West Coast") and the students were initially mainly from Denver and other western cities, with some from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and other east coast communities.

Academics

The yeshiva provides a full

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

program (grades 9–12), a ''bais-medrash'' undergraduate program for post-high school '' bochurim'' or students, and a ''chabura'' or religious study group for married men (''

kollel A kollel (also kolel) (, , , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced Torah study, study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features Shiur (Torah), shiurim (lectures) and ...

yungeleit''). Students lodge in the yeshiva's

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

facilities, connected to the main yeshiva building.

Refusal of federal funds

The yeshiva is one of less than fifty private schools in the US that offer college-level education—out of a total of more than 2600—that refuse to accept federal funds (so-called Title IV financial aid, from the

Higher Education Act of 1965 The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) () was legislation signed into Law of the United States, United States law on November 8, 1965, as part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda. Johnson chose Texas State University (t ...

). Most if not all other such schools are conservative Christian colleges. By rejecting federal funding, which includes financial aid for students, the yeshiva is not required to adhere to federal guidelines other universities do, including guidelines related to discrimination, investigations of accusations of sexual abuse, and the reporting of on-campus crimes.See Ibby Caputo and Jon Marcus, "The Controversial Reason Some Religious Colleges Forgo Federal Funding," ''The Atlantic'', July 7, 2016, accessed online at https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/the-controversial-reason-some-religious-colleges-forgo-federal-funding/490253/ In particular, "can get exemptions if they can show they are controlled by religious organizations with whose beliefs Title IX requirements conflict."

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 1967 establishments in Colorado Educational institutions established in 1967 Haredi Judaism in the United States Haredi yeshivas Jewish education in the United States Jews and Judaism in Denver Lithuanian-Jewish culture in the United States Mesivtas Orthodox yeshivas in the United States