Thursday, June 23, 2005
Jewish school is back again
Hoops and Hasidic Judaism will return to Austin's old downtown motel this summer.
With their school year over, students from St. Paul's Lubavitch Yeshiva School spent two hours Tuesday night clearing a moving truck full of beds out of the motel. The summer camp for 14 and 15-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys is moving from Austin to Freeborn County, but a group of 13-year-olds will take their place, student Yosef Cohen said.
The older group grew by about 20 students from the 100-plus that came to the Austin camp for two months last summer. Cohen said they have found a bigger place for those students near where Interstates 90 and 35 meet in Freeborn County. He said the number of younger students coming to the motel this year will depend on the number of applications the school receives, but fewer are expected in Austin than last year.
The camps include some students from St. Paul, but also draw Hasidic youths from as far away as England and Australia; some 40 percent come from Brooklyn, New York, Cohen said. The school is in its 13th year, and the camps in their fourth, he said. This will be the second year campers are in Austin.
The campers drew a lot of attention last year with their conspicuous yarmulkes and basketball games. The group installed basketball hoops at the motel for the campers.
"We're trying to create an environment for these youngsters conducive to their Judaism as well as their physical growth," said Yosef Eizicovics, who identified himself as the rabbi's right-hand man. He said the camp is half study and half recreation.
It isn't clear what will happen with the camp or the motel beyond this year. Cohen said he believes the rabbi wants to keep the building. But a visit to the property as snow was melting at the basketball courts earlier this year suggests otherwise.
Two sharply-dressed St. Paul businessmen brought room keys and one of the men's family to check out each room of the motel. They said the school was looking to sell and they were thinking about buying and turning it into a nursing home.
Perhaps a more likely buyer for the property would be the City of Austin or Mower County. The building is on the city's hit list of unattractive properties and the county has discussed moving health and human services to the site.
A city or county purchase wouldn't take any taxes off the rolls. Because the land is owned by a church, its $294,700 assessed value is tax exempt.
http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2005/06/23/news/news1.txt
Hoops and Hasidic Judaism will return to Austin's old downtown motel this summer.
With their school year over, students from St. Paul's Lubavitch Yeshiva School spent two hours Tuesday night clearing a moving truck full of beds out of the motel. The summer camp for 14 and 15-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys is moving from Austin to Freeborn County, but a group of 13-year-olds will take their place, student Yosef Cohen said.
The older group grew by about 20 students from the 100-plus that came to the Austin camp for two months last summer. Cohen said they have found a bigger place for those students near where Interstates 90 and 35 meet in Freeborn County. He said the number of younger students coming to the motel this year will depend on the number of applications the school receives, but fewer are expected in Austin than last year.
The camps include some students from St. Paul, but also draw Hasidic youths from as far away as England and Australia; some 40 percent come from Brooklyn, New York, Cohen said. The school is in its 13th year, and the camps in their fourth, he said. This will be the second year campers are in Austin.
The campers drew a lot of attention last year with their conspicuous yarmulkes and basketball games. The group installed basketball hoops at the motel for the campers.
"We're trying to create an environment for these youngsters conducive to their Judaism as well as their physical growth," said Yosef Eizicovics, who identified himself as the rabbi's right-hand man. He said the camp is half study and half recreation.
It isn't clear what will happen with the camp or the motel beyond this year. Cohen said he believes the rabbi wants to keep the building. But a visit to the property as snow was melting at the basketball courts earlier this year suggests otherwise.
Two sharply-dressed St. Paul businessmen brought room keys and one of the men's family to check out each room of the motel. They said the school was looking to sell and they were thinking about buying and turning it into a nursing home.
Perhaps a more likely buyer for the property would be the City of Austin or Mower County. The building is on the city's hit list of unattractive properties and the county has discussed moving health and human services to the site.
A city or county purchase wouldn't take any taxes off the rolls. Because the land is owned by a church, its $294,700 assessed value is tax exempt.
http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2005/06/23/news/news1.txt
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