Beyond the Bricks: Kehillas Yaakov Pupa Wraps up Mega Campaign, as Massive Building Construction Underway

Earlier this month, the Kehillas Yaakov Pupa institutions held a successful fundraising campaign to support their conglomerate of mosdos hachinuch which has now been responsible for molding thousands of talmidim and talmidos in our community, over five generations.    

The campaign was named “Beis Yosef Lehuvu,” alluding to the fire that was kindled by the previous Pupa Ruv, author of “Vayechi Yosef,” who emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust, and began building Torah and Yiddishkeit in America exactly seventy years ago. 

While any proceeds from this campaign must go to funding the enormous budget of everyday expenses of educating so many precious children, ka”h—¬and is unconnected to the building effort—today we take a look “beyond the bricks” at some fascinating developments on this corner of Boro Park. 

About two years ago, BoroPark24.com reported on a historic real estate deal in Boro Park, with the purchase of the current Pupa cheder, located at the corner of Tenth Avenue and Forty-Seventh street, to a Boro Park institution that is more than one century old… the nearby Maimonides Medical Center, which owns an enormous real estate portfolio in that area, used for medical office space and other support for this gigantic medical institution. 

Two years later, the construction is proceeding at a furious pace on the new site for the Pupa cheder at Fort Hamilton and 38th Street—which will hold a state-of-the-art Talmud Torah for the 500 children being molded in the yeshiva every day. It will stand at five stories—the second of which is currently having its steel put in.  

The secret of the success of this effort is in the heart and soul that the entire Pupa chassidus lends to all matters near and dear to growing the mosdos. A number of successful builders and developers from within the community have lent their expertise, knowledge, and resources to all construction projects in Pupa, this one included. 

Last spring, the Pupa Rebbe visited the site to lay the cornerstone for the new building—taking another step in the tradition of his saintly father, growing and expanding Torah and Yiddishkeit in America. 

‘Beyond the…’ series goes behind the scenes, exploring beneath the surface of the sites, sounds, personalities, and institutions of our Boro Park shtetl. A special project of Boropark24.com, it appears every Tuesday. 

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