Torah Blossoms In Las Vegas Desert

At the recent Yeshiva Day School of Las Vegas’s Annual Banquet, 180 guests from the Las Vegas Valley celebrated seven years of nurturing the Jewish future of Las Vegas. Divrei Torah and chizuk were the banquet’s themes.

Mr. And Mrs. Rocky Bocarsky, parents of the year, were recognized for their commitment to bettering the Jewish community and their children’s education.

Rabbi Michoel Paris was acknowledged for his mesiras nefesh as a marbitz Torah. In addition to teaching at Yeshiva Day School, Rabbi Paris teaches adult classes in tefillah, parshah and Gemara. He and his rebbetzin are active members of the Green Valley Jewish community, and are known for their hachnassas orchim.

Banquet participants expressed pride in the growth of the Yeshiva Day School as a preeminent Torah establishment. Rabbi Dovid Nojowitz, shlita, national director of Torah Umesorah, said of the yeshiva’s activists, “You have planted the living seed of Torah in the desert climate of Las Vegas, from which vibrant blossoms will grow in the hearts and minds of your students.”

Despite being one of the fastest-growing Jewish communities in the U.S. – the estimated Jewish population is 70-80,000 – Las Vegas has long been overlooked by much of the Torah world. Recognizing the urgent need to bring Torah to the Nevada desert, the gedolei roshei yeshiva and rabbanim encouraged the creation of the Yeshiva Day School.

In 2007 Rabbi Zev Goldman and Rabbi Moshe Katz, talented and dedicated talmidim of Rav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, launched the school with nine students in the back room of a shul. Seven years later, the school boasts nearly 100 students. It is planning to open a satellite campus on another side of the Valley for the 2014-2015 school year.