by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

May 20, 2008

Rabbi Dovid Wadler came to South River’s Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School 15 years ago to fulfill a dream of developing a new school from the ground up.

As he prepares to leave to fulfill another dream by making aliya to Israel, he looks back with satisfaction on the thriving institution he leaves behind.

What began with 14 female students housed in the Hillel office at Rutgers University now includes 160 boys and girls studying at a former public school purchased in 1999.

“It’s been fabulous what we started in this community,” said Wadler as he sat in his office on May 8 amid family and school photos, papers, books, and a sign proclaiming “Wadler’s Hotel.”

The school was filled with reminders that it was Israel’s 60th birthday. Wadler said he and his wife, Frieda — a special education teacher at Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn — had always wanted to move to Israel, where they will join two of their four children and some of their nine grandchildren.

“We wanted to do it before we retire so we could be productive, active members of society,” he said.

However, it is with sadness that he leaves MAYHS and the students and staff.

“We have students who have made aliya,” said Wadler. “We have graduates who have served in the Israeli army. We even have students who have married each other. They are true MAYHS couples.”

Wadler is a resident of the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and former associate principal at the Yeshivah of Flatbush.

In 1993, he came to what was then known as the Yeshiva High School of Central New Jersey as its founding principal. The school moved to the Highland Park Conservative Temple before purchasing its South River home.

The student body is drawn from an area stretching from Philadelphia and Cherry Hill to Manalapan, Elizabeth, and Staten Island.

The school offers a full range of secular and Judaic studies, including advanced placement courses, and boasts a 100 percent college placement record.

MAYHS is a constituent agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County.

“This is a special school with an excellent curriculum, professional teachers,” said Wadler. “There is a supportive environment. We care about the kids. We don’t just teach them. We help them grow. We know every student by name and his or her strengths and weaknesses. Even after they graduate we continue to be close to them. We have programs for them. We attend their weddings.”

Those that have been involved with the school, some since its inception, believe it is Wadler’s guidance that is largely responsible for making the school what it is today.

Bernie Leff, a MAYHS board member who served as president for 12 years, said Wadler was instrumental in developing the school’s curriculum, hiring the faculty, recruiting students, raising money, and articulating the school’s mission.

“He’s been our first and only principal and basically he took an empty classroom with nothing in it but air and created a whole educational process,” he added. “It was him that built the school. We are sad to see him go but we are happy he is going to do something he has always wanted to do, which is also important.”

Wadler’s successor, Rabbi Dovid Komet, is a longtime math and Talmud teacher at the yeshiva. (See sidebar)

Leff put a positive spin on Wadler’s departure.

“Change is sometimes healthy,” he said. “We certainly will carry on with a lot of the things he did. We consider him to have been highly successful and to have accomplished a great deal.”

Wadler was honored for those accomplishments by the community May 18 at a dinner at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park. The guest speaker was Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week in New York City. It was also announced that a Rabbi Dovid Wadler Scholarship Fund will be established to aid a MAYHS student each year.

Staff and students alike had many fond memories of Wadler.

“I believe he may be the greatest principal ever,” said Talmud teacher Rabbi Buddy Berkowitz, who has been with the school from its beginning. “From the first moment he was a wonderful, amazing principal and friend. We are all close to him and he will be truly missed.”

Rabbi Avraham Krawiec, a Talmud teacher and school attendance coordinator, cited Wadler’s “open-door policy” toward students, who would share happy news and seek advice in times of crisis.

Senior Rachel Gross of Aberdeen said Wadler’s lessons have extended far beyond the classroom.

“Through his examples we have learned kindness, patience, respect among other midot (values),” she said. “Although we will miss him greatly, we at MAYHS are so happy for him. He is the heart of MAYHS and we will never forget him.”

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New principal says goal is to energize recruiting

As incoming principal, Rabbi Dovid Komet says his major goal is to make Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in South River “the place of choice” for educating young people from the local community.

Komet, who assumes his new role in September, is an Edison resident who has taught Talmud and math at the school for 10 years. He replaces Rabbi Dovid Wadler, who is making aliya this summer.

He knows firsthand the strengths of its curriculum. However, he is troubled that despite its outstanding Judaic and secular studies, too many members of the Orthodox communities in East Brunswick, Highland Park, and Edison choose to send their children to day schools out of the area.

“A major goal is recruiting,” said Komet. “We have kids from all over, but the past few years we’ve had difficulty recruiting locally. I want to strengthen our recruiting. I feel we have a New Jersey core academic program that compares favorably with any other high school. Our faculty compares favorably with any other yeshiva high school.”

One solution lies in raising the school’s profile.

“When they come here to visit, come to the open houses and meet our faculty, and see what we have to offer they will be really excited about sending their kids here,” said Komet. “My goal is to make this the place to be for Jewish education.”

Komet, a native of Fair Lawn, moved to the community 10 years ago when he was hired to teach Talmud at MAYHS.

His math degree is from Yeshiva University, where Komet also received smiha, or ordination, and was enrolled in a post-smiha program. He also taught at YU’s Stern College for Women.

Komet and his wife, Esther, have seven children, the youngest of whom was born less than two weeks ago. The family worships at Congregation Agudath Israel in Highland Park.

Asked what led to his appointment as principal, board member Bernie Leff cited Komet’s track record with students.

“Rabbi Komet is a phenomenal individual with a wonderful reputation both in Jewish and secular education,” said Leff, a member of the school’s board since its inception 15 years ago and president for 12 of those years. “He’s an excellent math teacher and has an unbelievable entree to kids, their minds, and how they think. He has a phenomenal rapport with students. They absolutely love him and trust him and confide in him not only as a teacher, but turn to him with help in getting through life.”

Melissa Kohn Rosen, MAYHS’ community relations director, said that Komet is well respected throughout the community.

“There is a lot of excitement that he is taking over leadership of the school,” said Kohn Rosen, whose own children have attended the school.

That excitement was shared by students.

“Rabbi Komet is an amazing person and an amazing rabbi who has guided me through my years at MAYHS and even into my future,” said senior Dov Muchnick of Jackson. “I am very excited to see him become principal.”

Senior Akiva Gordon of Merion, Pa., called Komet “the most enthusiastic rabbi I have ever encountered.”

“He is sympathetic, encouraging, and witty,” he said. “He also knows exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. The two years I have experienced in his shiur [Torah lesson] helped me grow and mature.”

Debra Rubin

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