In the fall of 1966, two Morristown families looking to give their children a Jewish day school education made their decision to create a school in Morris County.  These pioneering families, Morty and Beatsy z"l Wertheimer and Charlotte and Alvin z"l Turner, joined with Michael Rubenstein z"l, other dedicated families, area rabbis, and Jewish leaders to build support for their concept. The school would be a community day school welcoming families from all branches of Judaism. With little experience or money but a lot of hard work, tremendous commitment, and a little bit of luck, the founding families' vision became a reality.

In September 1967, Hebrew Academy of Morris County opened its doors in the basement of Morristown Jewish Center with 18 students. Over the next decade, like our ancestors wandering in the desert, HAMC led an itinerant existence, moving from venue to venue, but by the mid-1970’s it was clear that to survive and thrive, the school needed a home of its own.

Michael Rubenstein z”l found a parcel of land for sale and with the help of community leader Horace Bier z"l, HAMC founders secured the purchase of 140 Dover Chester Road in Randolph. With strong and generous support from many families, a new building was constructed in time for the September 1980 school year. The building was named in memory of Nathan Bohrer and Abraham Kaufman, the fathers of the lead donors for the building project, Esther z”l and Bernie Bohrer z"l. 101 families with 121 children were enrolled that year. 

For many years the school flourished in its new home, and in the 1990s, a new classroom wing was built, a computer center, a new administrative wing, a beautiful new sanctuary, and an expanded library were added, all with the support of dedicated community leaders and families.

1998 marked the introduction of the Base Grant Affordability Program, conceived by Paula and Jerry Gottesman to assist middle income families afford the increasing cost of a private Jewish day school education. This tuition subvention program was the first of its kind in the United States and has subsequently become the model for similar programs around the country. 

In 2003 the HAMC celebrated its Double Chai (36 year) anniversary. To commemorate this special milestone, the school honored its founders: Morty Wertheimer, Beatsy Wertheimer z"l, Alvin Turner z"l and Michael Rubenstein z"l. with a gala dinner to mark the momentous occasion.

The HAMC implemented its first five-year strategic plan in 2004. This plan organized parents, administration, and the board around academic, financial, enrollment, and community goals and objectives. With great momentum and leadership from all the schools’ lay leaders, tremendous progress and growth was achieved in a relatively short time frame. 

National Blue Ribbon status for academic excellence was achieved in 2006, which formally recognized the school for its academic program and supremely talented and dedicated teachers. That same year Paula and Jerry Gottesman made an incredibly generous gift by funding the Base Grant Affordability Program with a $6 million endowment. The early childhood center was renamed the Lillie Brandt Early Childhood Center in 2008, a result of a generous gift from Ron and Lillie Brandt. The school continued to focus on strong education and formalized its rigorous curriculum with accreditation by the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.

To support its mission as a true community day school that was open and accessible to all Jewish families, HAMC joined RAVSAK, The Jewish Community Day School Network in 2009.
As the years, continued and with an aging infrastructure and the need for more room to support growing enrollment, the school’s board formed a long-range planning committee to explore options to meet these needs.

In 2010, Paula and Jerry z”l Gottesman responded by making a $5 million pledge to the HAMC for capital renovations and to the Day School Community Fund. After follow-up conversations, the gift was split: $4 million to HAMC, and $1 million to the Community Fund as a match to other donors.
 
In spring of that year, the HAMC formed a Capital Needs Assessment Committee to evaluate the current needs of the school and potential capital renovations and building plans, with an eye to the long-term future of the HAMC. Jerry z”l, the consummate visionary encouraged the committee to plan a structure and campus “for the next 50 years.”
 
After more than a year of planning, the HAMC Capital Needs Assessment Committee determined the best path forward was for the HAMC to stay at its current site, with the potential to buy additional surrounding property. The Committee recommended either a significant overhaul of the current structure, or the construction of an entirely new building. HAMC leaders meet with Paula and Jerry to ask for an additional lead gift to make the expanded plans possible. Paula and Jerry decided that in addition to the $4 million commitment made in 2010, the Gottesman Foundation would make an additional up-front gift of $4 million, as well as a $7 million match to other donors. Thus, the total Gottesman Foundation commitment is $8 million in up-front funding for capital renovations, as well as a $7 million match to other donors, for a total of $15 million. The campaign raised more than $22 million, with the match, for capital and endowment needs to help secure the HAMC into the future.
 
In Spring 2012, after extensive review by an architect and engineer, the HAMC determined, in consultation with the Gottesman’s, that the best path forward was to build a new building. With encouragement from Jerry, HAMC purchased 4 acres on the north end of the HAMC campus, the best site for a new building.
 
In March 2014, the school celebrated the launch of the HAMC Our Future Together Capital and Endowment Campaign with approximately $18 million in capital and endowment commitments. The school is renamed the Gottesman RTW Academy. The RTW is in recognition of the founding families – Rubenstein, Turner and Wertheimer. On March 2, 2014, the school celebrated the ground-breaking for the construction of a new 34,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art green building.

In September 2015, the community celebrated the grand opening of the new building and campus as students ceremoniously marched with the Torah to kick off the new school year. The building, powered by more than 500 rooftop solar panels, is an award winning educational center with beautiful modern touches, contemporary classrooms and labs, a regulation sized gym, state-of-the-art stage, art and music rooms, community garden and indoor and outdoor facilities that engage students and prepares them to excel. Moreover, the school has retained that strong sense of family and individualized attention that has been a vital hallmark throughout the school’s history. 

In 2019, Bill Rubenstein, son of founder Michael Rubenstein, and his nephew Andrew Rubenstein and family committed $2 million to name the school campus, after their family. The naming is even more meaningful as it was the land which was founded by their father/grandfather, Michael Rubenstein z”l.

Today, the school offers a progressive education to over 200 students in Early Childhood through eighth grade. Many of GRTWA’s more than 550 alumni have excelled at the highest levels of public and private high schools, colleges and careers and are engaged citizens who put into practice the values and ethics they have learned as Jewish day school graduates. The school has become the anchor of a vibrant Jewish community in Morris and Sussex counties.

Throughout the schools 55-year history, GRTWA has enriched the lives of hundreds of families, drawing them together in life-long friendships. It is the very definition of a community day school and gathering place for the Jewish community and serves as a model for how to develop and educate Jewish children in the 21st century. 

Each generation that has been educated at our "Jewel on the Hill" has been fortunate to have inspired educators, lay leaders, and families who have propelled the school forward and helped safeguard this precious gem.