The Ramaz School is an American coeducational Jewish Modern Orthodox day school which offers a dual curriculum of general studies taught in English and Judaic studies taught in Hebrew. The school is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It has an early childhood center (nursery-kindergarten), a lower school (1st-4th grade), a middle school (5th-8th grade), and an upper school (9th-12th grade).
The Ramaz Upper School is a college preparatory program designed to develop an appreciation for and understanding of the intellectual disciplines that are part of western civilization. The Judaic studies curriculum provides a program through which the religious and cultural tradition of Judaism is both taught and experienced. It is located on East 78th Street, seven city blocks (0.5 km) away from the other two school buildings located on East 85th Street. Approximately fifty percent of the upper school student body advances from the Middle School. Students commute from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, and Nassau counties in New York; Stamford and New Haven in Connecticut; and metropolitan New Jersey. Some students attend on a weekly or less frequent basis, coming from more distant communities.
Ramaz was founded in 1937 and is affiliated with Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun ("KJ"), a synagogue located on East 85th Street which shares a building with the lower school and is across the street from the middle school. The congregation and its rabbi, Joseph Lookstein, helped to found and finance the school.
Architect James Rossant designed the modernist upper school building, completed in 1981.Goldberger, Paul. "Architecture: A Bridge known as Ramaz School", The New York Times, June 4, 1981. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
In 2007, the school was featured in the Wall Street Journal for its exceptional acceptance rates into elite universities.
History Founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein through the generosity of New York lawyer and philanthropist Max J. Etra, Ramaz takes its name from the initials of Rabbi Moses Zevulun Margolies, the grandfather-in-law of Lookstein. The former principal, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, is the son of Joseph Lookstein and was a member of the first class of six students.
Classes were held in many locations over the years, including the vestry rooms of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun. After the closing of Finch College, Ramaz bought the college's campus and renovated the buildings.Goldberger, Paul. "A Bridge Known as Ramaz School.", The New York Times, June 4, 1981. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
In 2007, Joyce Villarin, a former nurse at the school, treated a child for an injury that he claimed his father caused. Villarin contacted the father who admitted to injuring his son. The Ramaz administration told Villarin not to report the incident to the police. Villarin did report this and was fired in 2008 because the school thought that she was "not a team player." Villarin sued the school in Manhattan Supreme Court in 2009, arguing that the state's Social Services Law obligated her to report the potential abuse. Under the law, school faculty are required to report to state authorities a suspicion that a child is being abused or mistreated.Marcy Oster, Ex-Ramaz school nurse can sue under whistleblower law April 15, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
On November 30, 2007, The Wall Street Journal listed Ramaz as one of the top schools for graduates entering the top eight universities in the country, with 10 out of a class of 100 (class of 2007) going to these schools.
Also in 2007, Ramaz received a donation of $500,000 from Jeffrey Epstein. The donation was reported to be a thank-you to the lawyer Jay Lefkowitz in exchange for Epstein's "sweetheart deal."
In January 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ramaz lost $6 million in the collapse of the Bernard Madoff investment scheme.Mary Pilon, Private Schools Feel the Pinch Amid Recession, Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2009.Stephanie Strom, Wall St. Fraud Leaves Charities Reeling, The New York Times, December 15, 2008.
The Ramaz School had proposed a 28-story project to be built in place of the Lower School during 2008–2010. The building would have replaced the current school with a new building split into ten floors used by the school and topped by 18 floors of condominiums. Air rights of the adjoining synagogue would be transferred for use by the adjoining school/condo structure. The project may have had to be scaled back following a review by the city's Board of Standards & Appeals because the height is more than what is permitted at this site.Beyer, Gregory. "Condos Above Classrooms Strike Some as an Odd Mix", The New York Times, November 11, 2007. Retrieved January 8, 2008. The plans were withdrawn by the school in July 2008. However, due to a fire in the adjacent Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun building in July 2011, the Lower school began to undergo repairs and refurbishments for water damage. Since the building was not ready to welcome students that September, the Temple Emanu-El of New York and Park Avenue Synagogue volunteered their facilities for students until November 2011. On November 8, 2011, the Lower school reopened its doors."Lower School Building Reopening After KJ Fire", News from Ramaz, November 4, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
Co-curricular activities and athletics
The Ramaz School's team name is the Ramaz Rams, and their logo is a Ram's head. Ramaz fields a number of competitive and recreational athletic teams throughout the school year. In the Upper School, there are varsity teams for both boys and girls in basketball, tennis, volleyball, and floor hockey; these teams compete in both the Yeshiva High School Athletic League and local independent school leagues. Ramaz also fields soccer, baseball, swim, table tennis, and track teams.
Ramaz's Model Congress team participates in the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University Model Congress tournaments, and their Model UN team competes in the annual Yeshiva University National Model United Nations event. Ramaz's College Bowl team participates in independent tournaments, their Math Team competes in the New York Math League and the Mandelbrot Competition, the Chess Club competes in the Yeshiva Chess League, the Science Olympiad team competes against 15 other New York and New Jersey schools in a competition administered by the Board of Jewish Education, and their Hidon HaTanakh and Torah Bowl teams compete against local Jewish Day Schools. Ramaz Upper School students have succeeded in the 2004–2005 Siemens Westinghouse Competition and the 2007 NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing. Ramaz's creative writing magazine, Parallax, has also consistently been awarded the gold medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
The Ramaz Upper School also has special interest clubs, including a Robotics Club, Coalition for the Homeless, an Israel Advocacy Club, and fine and performing arts clubs. The Ramaz Chamber Choir has competed in national choral competitions, performed on CBS Sunday Morning News, and at the White House and is on the Best of Jewish A Cappella, Volume 3.
Notable alumni
Aviva Cantor (born 1940), journalist, lecturer, and author Adam Ferziger (born 1964), historianRabbi Dr. Adam Ferziger, Torah In Motion. Accessed January 28, 2016. "A native of Riverdale, New York, he attended the SAR Academy and the Ramaz Upper School. After graduation from Ramaz, he studied Torah at Beit Midrash l'Torah (BMT) in Jerusalem and Yeshivat Har-Etzion (Gush)." Ari Gold (1974–2021), pop singer and songwriterMerwin, Ted. "'Bashert,’ Ari Gold StyleThe gay pop star and provocateur reclaims the Jewish concept in a new show.", The Jewish Week, July 12, 2012. Accessed January 28, 2016. "Reared in an Orthodox family in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx, Gold was discovered at the age of 5, when he was heard singing at his brother’s bar mitzvah. At the age of 6, he recorded a children’s album for CBS and went on to perform children’s voices on more than 400 television jingles. He attended Ramaz on the Upper East Side, and then went on to Yale and NYU. " Shai Held (born 1971), rosh yeshiva of Mechon HadarPalmer, Joanne. "Deeply HeldRabbi’s Shabbat talks to focus on joining theology to responsibility", Jewish Standard, April 19, 2013. Accessed January 28, 2016. "Held grew up in Monsey and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He was educated at the Ramaz School and then at Harvard, where he earned both a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate." Isaac Herzog (born 1960), 11th President of Israel, former Israeli Tourism Minister, chairman of the Labor party, head of the opposition, and son of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog, Jewish Living (Toronto), November 15, 2006. "Herzog calls his years at the prestigious Ramaz school 'the formative period of my life.'" Matthew Hiltzik (born 1972), CEO and president of Hiltzik Strategies, a consulting and communications firmLipman, Steve. "Ramaz Israel Row Points To Larger TrendsIn extending invitation to Khalidi, Modern Orthodox students seen seeking wider view on Israeli-Palestinian conflict.", The Jewish Week, February 25, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2017. "Matthew Hiltzik, a Ramaz alumnus and father of three current students at the school, said he supports both the students’ initial invitation to Khalidi and the administration’s cancellation of the invitation." Sam Lassner (born 1992), also known as Prince Fox, DJ, songwriter, and producer Nathan Lewin (born 1936), attorneyNathan Lewin, Esq. to Deliver Lecture at Touro Law, Touro College, February 29, 2012. Accessed January 28, 2016. "Mr. Lewin attended Ramaz School and Yeshiva University High School and College." Natasha Lyonne (born 1979), actress in Orange Is the New Black and creator of Russian Doll, writer, director, and producerHeyman, Marshall. "An Actress Turns a Page", The Wall Street Journal, October 25, 2010. Accessed January 28, 2016. "Further browsing encouraged Ms. Lyonne to reminisce about the authors she loved as a high school student at Ramaz Yeshiva on the Upper East Side: Camus, Gide, Gogol, Hemingway, and, perhaps most randomly, the Comte de Lautréamont and his book, Les Chants de Maldoror." Leandra Medine (born 1988), author, fashion blogger/designerWallace, Benjamin. "What's So Alluring About a Woman Known As Man Repeller?", New York, February 8, 2014. Accessed January 28, 2017. "Leaving aside the eighth-year pronouncement regarding her indifference to others’ sartorial opinions, it would have been hard to foresee Medine’s modish future based on the black and gray maxi-skirts she was required to wear through her high-school years at the Ramaz School, a yeshiva on East 78th Street." Daphne Merkin (born 1954), author and journalistBiographies for "SELF-CONCEPTIONS: WOMEN, CREATIVITY AND JEWISH IDENTITY", YIVO, Retrieved January 2, 2007. J. Ezra Merkin (born 1953), former money manager and Bernie Madoff affiliateKehilath Jeshurun Bulletin, Online, September 6, 2006. Retrieved May 19, 2011. "Ursula Merkin...All of her children are alumni of Ramaz. Many of her grandchildren are either alumnae or current students in our school in which her son, Ezra, serves as Vice Chairman of the Board.." Peter N. Miller (born 1964), historian and academic Michael Mukasey (born 1941), the 81st United States Attorney GeneralHeller, Jamie. "Mukasey’s Pedigree", The Wall Street Journal Online, Law Blog, September 17, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2007. "Mukasey graduated from Ramaz in 1959 and went on to Columbia College and Yale Law School." Shirah Neiman (1943–2025), federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Deputy U.S. Attorney Haviva Ner-David (formerly Haviva Krasner-Davidson), Israeli feminist activist and rabbiRamaz Alumni Living in Israel , Ramaz Website, (PDF) Retrieved May 3, 2012.