Family
Chabad of Queens College is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, but most people consider us more of a family than anything else. Students dine in our home, facebook us to ask questions or share thoughts, know the names of our children, and don’t hesitate to call us on our cell phones, even late at night or on the weekends. Chabad QC is the only organization at Queens College that doesn’t close — because families don’t close; we are open on the weekends, legal and Jewish holidays and during vacation.
Our extended family is led by our Student Board, driven by Shaul and Tzipah Wertheimer, and joined by countless students and alumni. An integral part of our family are the hundreds of donors, comprised of alumni, parents and people just like you. Please scroll below for more about Tzipah & Shaul.
Born and raised in Rockland County, NY, Tzipah was interested in Judaism from an early age. She attended Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School and then went on the The Frisch School. In an interesting turn of “What Goes Around Comes Around,” one of Tzipah’s teachers at Reuben Gittelman has a daughter who currently attends Chabad programs at Queens College.
After graduating from high school, Tzipah went to Israel for a year of study at the Machon Gold Institute, followed by enrollment at the University of Binghamton, where she was involved in the Chabad House and Hillel. Completing her studies in three years, Tzipah again returned to Israel, to study in Machon Alte of Tzfat. After a year of study, she returned to New York where she was introduced to Shaul. They wed in November 2002, at which time Tzipah was a teacher’s assistant at Joseph Kushner Elementary School which Shaul continued his rabbinical studies. They moved to Queens in November 2004.
Shaul was born in beautiful Vancouver, Canada, and after a short stint there and in S.Diego, moved to Calgary, Alberta at 3-years-old. He was the first student (one of two!) at Akiva Academy, and spent most of his time hiking, biking, playing baseball, street hockey and collecting baseball cards. He also has partial ownership of a 2nd-year Wayne Gretzky card (his father and brother are the other partial owners). During the summer before entering grade 10, the Wertheimers moved cross-country to Skokie, Illinois, where Shaul attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. He then studied Philosophy at Northwestern University, where he was an avid Phish fan, attending more concerts than you could imagine.
After college, Shaul spent a year painting and putting up drywall, then embarked on a European and Israeli adventure. It was in Israel that he ended up at Mayanot, which ultimately led to five years of study at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, NJ.
