Manhattan Day School, often referred to as MDS, is a co-educationalModern OrthodoxJewishyeshivaelementary school located on theUpper West Side ofManhattan.[1][2] It was founded in 1943 as Yeshivat Ohr Torah Community School,[3] the first Jewish all-day independent school on the West Side of Manhattan. The rabbis and congregants ofCongregation Ohab Zedek and TheJewish Center helped Dr.Joseph Kaminetsky to found the school, who served as its first Executive Director before being recruited by RabbiShraga Feivel Mendlowitz to work atTorah Umesorah.[4]Shlomo Riskin served as dean of the school at a later time.[5]
Manhattan Day School consists of an Early Childhood (Two year olds - Kindergarten), Lower School (1st - 5th grade) and Middle School (6th - 8th grade). Ms. Raizi Chechik became Head of School in 2017.[6] The school is a not-for-profit organization.[7]
At Manhattan Day School children can participate in the After School program on the school premises. Starting from Nursery 3 through 8th Grade, children can join extracurricular activities in addition to their coursework. The after-school program options include karate, ballet, songwriting, dance, art, robotics, chess, cooking, and E2K.[8]
The MDS Blazers is the name carried by the sports teams that play for MDS Middle School. MDS has Basketball ,Football, Robotics, and now soccer teams.[citation needed]
MDS has a comprehensive program of Israel advocacy training called Stand With Israel. Students choose a topic to research and present to various influencers and organizations to show their support for Israel. The MDS Stand With Israel team has presented to the Upper West Side community,Alan Dershowitz, the United Nations, and at the Museum for Jewish Heritage and has partnered withStand With Us,AIPAC andNORPAC, among other organizations.[citation needed]
40°46′55.3″N73°59′3.01″W / 40.782028°N 73.9841694°W /40.782028; -73.9841694
