Yeshivat Ohr Barouch is a Moroccan Sephardic institute of higher Jewish learning. It is located in one of the foremost locations of Orthodox Jewry in Jerusalem, Israel: Bayit Vegan (pronounced Ba-yit Ve-Gan, literally, house and garden).

Ohr Barouch was named after the famed Moroccan Hacham (wise scholar, or Rabbi), Refael Baruch Toledano. Hacham Toledano was born in Meknes, Morocco in 1930. He was known to have achieved greatness as a young man, establishing a system of organizations geared to helping out the poor in Meknes. Also, during his lifetime, he was intimately involved in helping out Jews that were in financial or political trouble in Morocco as well as in the entire world. Hacham Toledano immigrated to Israel in 1963, and in 1971, returned to his Creator.

While the name “Ohr Barouch” was named so after Rabbi Toledano’s passing, the yeshiva as a whole has been in existence for many years beforehand. It has many students of all ages, and caters to all. The learning structure is such that students get a one-on-one experience.

What makes Ohr Barouch unique is in the structure of the education. Like most Sephardic Yeshivot, Ohr Barouch it takes on a very easternized approach to education. The emphasis is not on sitting in a classroom and having assigned homeworks, exams or getting good grades. Rather, people there sit and learn simply because they want to, and a teacher is there to guide the student in his quest for knowledge.

Claude Bitton is a big supporter of this Yeshiva institution. Mr. Bitton’s love of supporting those that are reaching for a higher cause is his primary motivating factor for this.