The Jewish Heritage Day School (JHDS) in Amherst, New York, now known as Ohr Temimim, was founded in 1994 and has been led from inception by Rabbi Shmuel Schanowitz, the school’s Principal. In 1995, the school gained a Provisional Charter from New York State Board of Regents and on November 10, 2000 it was granted an Absolute Charter. The Jewish Heritage Day School was initially based in offices within the Jewish Community Center in Getzville, NY, but in November 2001 the JHDS relocated into its own building in a former Prudential Insurance office at 411 John James Audubon Parkway, Amherst, NY 14228, which remains the school’s current address. In 2008, the JHDS merged with another Orthodox school, Torah Temimah Day School of Buffalo (founded during the 1970s), which was affiliated with the Chabad movement. The new merged school took the name of Ohr Temimim. While the original JHDS was initially affiliated with the Torah U’Mesorah Jewish Day School network during the 1990s, Ohr Temimim is now affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Chabad is a Chasidic movement in Orthodox Judaism. Chabad is an acronym of three words: Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Da’at (knowledge). Lubavitch is the name of the small town in the county of Mohilev (Imperial Russia) that served as the center of the Chabad Chassidism for four generations. The origins of modern Chabad-Lubavitch organization in the United States are traced to the early 1940’s when the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), appointed his son-in-law and later successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (1902-1994), to head the newly-founded educational and social service arms of the movement. As of 2007 there are over 3300 Chabad linked institutions around the world.

Ohr Temimim provides a dual curriculum in secular and Judaic studies for Grades Kindergarten through eighth grade as well as a preschool and nursery for over 100 children from 40 families and is planning an expansion in 2013/2014.