Just Like the Mikvah: 1414 Dormitory Installs Steel Turnstile

No free lunch: Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim of 770 installed a full height stainless steel revolving gate to only allow registered bochurim into the diningroom of its dormitory at 1414 President

 Street in Crown Heights.

The Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch – 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights is trying to regulate the foot traffic that frequents the daily meals that are served for bochurim.

Having been closed for 3 months during the coronavirus pandemic, the dormitory at 1414 President Street was reopened late summer but that isn’t stopping visitors from mingling with

 students.

Last week, the Yeshiva announced the installment of a full-height stainless steel turnstile at the entrance of the dining room in the dormitory’s basement, only allowing one person at a 

time to pass through its revolving arms.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Zalman Labkowsky, Mashpia Rabbi Shloma Zarchi and administrator Rabbi Moshe Meir Gluckowsky wrote in a letter to bochurim that the mechanical gate was long

 overdue.

“The turnstile is a continuation of all the efforts we have recently invested to better the dining room, and all this is for the sake of our students,” they wrote.

“Every day, tens of people who aren’t official students of our yeshiva come to the dining room every day – something that has often led to our own students not receiving what they deserve.”

Bochurim of the Yeshiva learn in the main shul and the “small zal” upstairs at 770, both of which spaces are open to visitors from around the world. With operating expenses rising, the Yeshiva

 is trying to manage the spaces that are under its direct control.