When Michael Weichselbaum was a student at Yeshiva Dov Revel, a Modern Orthodox school in Forest Hills, Queens, he was known as something of a mischievous kid who was once kicked out of a science class taught by his mother.
But now, Weichselbaum, 64, is a rabbi, and since 1999, he’s been the principal of Bnos Malka Academy, an all-girls yeshiva. In 2006, the school moved into 71-02 113th Street — the very same building that once housed Dov Revel.
Weichselbaum, who was known as “Mikey” by his former classmates, acknowledges that among those who knew him in elementary school, his career — in which he spends his time behind a principal’s desk, instead of in front of it — seems an unlikely one. Shortly after Bnos Malka moved into the building, Weichselbaum recalls how a former classmate came to visit him there, saying, “I heard that you became principal of the building and I had to come and see it for myself!”
“Walking into the building for the first time was surreal,” Weichselbaum said. “So many memories came rushing back. It was hard to believe how little had changed over the years.”
Recently, many of Weichselbaum’s former classmates had the same opportunity to relive their elementary and middle school memories. That’s because on Sunday, June 15, Yeshiva Dov Revel, which permanently closed its doors many years ago, held a reunion at the school building for its graduating class of 1975.
The date of the gathering was an auspicious one: It was exactly 50 years, to the day, since these former eighth-graders got their diplomas.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years,” Weichselbaum told the New York Jewish Week. “It certainly made me reflect on what I thought I’d be doing with my life, and what I’ve actually done and been able to accomplish.”
Out of the class’s 81 graduates, 37 of them — many of whom hadn’t seen each other in half a century — gathered inside the school’s multipurpose room, which was used for prayer services back in the Dov Revel days. The former pupils warmly greeted each other, and relived memories over a light lunch of kosher wraps.
Alumni Sharon Katz Sherman, Robby Bindiger and Steve Khosrova helped organize the reunion. (Risa Doherty)
Alumni came from as close as Queens and Manhattan to as far away as Connecticut, Maryland and Israel. Ten other graduates joined the festivities via Zoom, although some of those in Israel had difficulty connecting from their shelters or safe rooms, as Israel’s war with Iran had begun less than two days prior.
Among the attendees were Hillel Kuttler, former Washington bureau chief for the Jerusalem Post, who now runs his own Israel-based communications company, and Queens-based singer/songwriter Eytan Mirsky, who was sound effects editor for the Academy Award-winning films “Chicago” and “A Beautiful Mind.”
The impetus of the reunion dates to May 2009, when Dov Revel alum Steve Khosrova started a Facebook group for the yeshiva’s class of ‘75.
“None of this would’ve happened if Steve didn’t start the Facebook group,” said Robby Bindiger, one of the reunion’s organizers, along with Kuttler, Sharon Katz Sherman and Steve Khosrova.
“It says a lot about this gift of education we received here, from our parents, our families and through this institution [which] we are celebrating today — and it’s important enough to be here even on Father’s Day,” Bindiger said in a speech to the group. “To be here with each other, commemorating this important milestone in our lives and honoring our parents, our teachers and our school.”
Yeshiva Dov Revel was named for Rabbi Bernard (Dov) Revel, a prominent rabbi and founder of Yeshiva College, later known as Yeshiva University. In the 1970s, the school’s student body numbered around 700, and consisted of pupils of varied levels of observance and backgrounds, including Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.
Attendee Linda Izhakoff Alweiss, who wore a white dress, said she was very social in school. Fellow alum Odeleya Jacobs called Alweiss “most popular.”
Alweiss told the New York Jewish Week that she dreamed of becoming a princess as a young girl. She ultimately worked at an art gallery and in PR and spoke about how YDR provided her with social skills. “That’s what a school is supposed to be; give you a basis for friendship forever.”
Jacobs came to YDR from Israel in third grade. At the time, she didn’t speak English; at the reunion, Jacobs shared how grateful she is for all that she learned at the school. “In third grade I learned how to pray, how to daven,” she said. “It was in the yeshiva that I was able to form a spiritual connection to Hashem.”
Jacobs was not a good math student, she said, but she still remembers how she unexpectedly got a math commendation right before graduation. Jacobs ran to her math teacher with tears in her eyes because she didn’t think she deserved it.
“She said, ‘So you’re not going to be a mathematician,’” Jacobs recalled. “‘Imagine what a boring world this would be if everyone was a mathematician. You showed effort. Whatever the effort, that’s what you’re judged on.’“
Exterior shot of Bnos Malka Academy in Forest Hills, which was once home to Yeshiva Dov Revel. (Risa Doherty)
That math teacher “gave me, in my life, such confidence in myself,” Jacobs said, adding that it was meaningful “coming back to a place that shaped up who we are today.”
During the reunion, the former classmates bonded over shared memories — reminiscing over the cafeteria’s thick-skinned chocolate pudding and how they used to use a rexograph (ditto) machine — the commonality of their Jewish heritage and love of Israel connected them, too, especially as some of the former classmates’ children were now serving in combat units in Israel.
Kuttler recited the Shehecheyanu, a prayer that is commonly recited when people reach a certain milestone or auspicious occasion, and Weichselbaum led the group in Tehillim, prayers of thanksgiving.
As the afternoon wound down, attendees said their goodbyes and the crowd slowly dissipated. Co-organizer Sherman marveled at “how easy it was to pick up friendships after 50 years,” she said. “Maybe it was the years spent together and our innocence at the time.”
“No matter how far apart we grew — whether religiously, geographically, politically or professionally — nothing can compare to the bonds you form in your formative years,” Weichselbaum said. “The years just seemed to melt away.”
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