Yeshiva University High School

Steven Eidman directs management and operations for BestCare Family Dental, which serves patients in Jackson Heights, New York. A native New Yorker, he earned his DDS from the New York University College of Dentistry and his BA from Queens College. Before college, Dr. Steven Eidman attended Yeshiva University High School in Manhattan.

Founded in 1916 as the Talmudical Academy, Yeshiva University High School was the first Jewish high school in the United States. It was established to provide the largely immigrant Jewish population of New York City with an education system that met their own strict cultural standards as well as the requirements of the New York State Board of Regents. The school day was 10 hours long, with religious subjects taught from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM, and secular subjects the remainder of the day. The school grew quickly on the strength of the superior academic achievement of its students, 95 percent of whom passed their Regents exams.

The school continues its strong tradition of immersing its students in the Torah while providing the highest possible quality secular education. The daily schedule is nearly as long as it was then, and each day still starts with religious instruction, which often continues into the early afternoon. Many of the school’s graduates go on to study at Yeshiva University, and many of those, in turn, become leaders not only in the Jewish community, but also in business, the arts, and public service.