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In the midst of the economic crisis, Shalom Torah Academy was one of the many Jewish institutions in need of financial assistance.

Six months ago, the school, a division of Shalom Torah Centers, Lakewood, began to feel the effects of the economy. As their financial troubles became more and more severe, Shalom sought outside help to keep the institution afloat. Luckily, Torah U'Mesorah was there.

Torah U'Mesorah, a Brooklyn-based institution that provides financial assistance, curriculum development, teacher training, and other vital services to Jewish day schools, became more intimately involved with Shalom as their financial need grew deeper, said Rabbi A. Moshe Possick, chair of school supervision.

"Shalom had been in trouble for a while," Possick said. "We needed to redo the entire budget to make sure the school was financially responsible and educationally sound. We did not want to affect the school negatively, so the budget was reassessed."

This assistance proved so necessary that Shalom decided in March to integrate Torah U'Mesorah executives into its own board. On April 30, Shalom's new board made itself available to parents, community members, and school faculty for the first time. "Due to the financial climate, the old board had financial issues and the new board needed to take over," said Nora Horn, principal of general studies in the East Windsor branch of the school. "The old board is still here to help with fundraising."

"When I think of what Shalom has gone through, when it was on the brink, a group of dedicated leaders banded together," Rabbi Yaakov Freedman, principal of the school, said. "We wouldn't allow the mouths of our children to be stuffed with rags when they cried out."

The new board includes lawyers, businessmen, real estate brokers, and Torah U'Mesorah representatives, all with careers involving curriculum development, finances, and management. Some of the board has been involved with Shalom Torah Centers for decades, but all the board members are in official leadership positions at Shalom for the first time.

"I'm proud to step into this role at this critical junction for Shalom," said Leon Goldenberg, a Realtor and active member of several Jewish organizations who has been involved with Shalom for 30 years. "Torah U'Mesorah is extremely passionate about Shalom, without any sacrifice to educational values. This board of successful business people has experience in running schools."

Two parents, Ronit Ahdout and Annie Portnoy, addressed the crowd with their praise for Shalom and their well-wishes for the new board.

"I remember standing in front of the building on the first day, wondering: Should I go in?" Ahdout said. "The way Rabbi Freedman talked about the kids was like a father for a child. That's when we knew Shalom was for our family. Shalom is not just secular education and great values -- it's the heart and soul of the community. Looking back, I don't know where my family would be if we didn't go to Shalom."

"When I swish through those double glass doors, I'm transported to another world," Portnoy remarked. "I can't help but be enveloped in what dreams are made of... while my son could enroll in the school of is choice, the cheder environment was counterproductive to his spiritual enrichment. A spiritually enriching environment is best for the soul."

Portnoy called Shalom's teachers "loving and effervescent" and its rabbis "role models that our teachers strive to emulate" to a loud round of applause from the parents in the audience.

"Shalom is a pleasure to walk into any time of day," Portnoy said. "The air is thick with simcha and middos."

The board announced that Torah U'Mesorah is developing a "stimulus package" to assist Shalom, said Possick, on the board.

"We're doing it because Torah U'Mesorah believes in success," Possick said. "There's only value in doing projects where we think we'll succeed."

Some of the measures of success Possick cited were the results from a recent standardized test, in which 26 percent of Shalom students scored above the 95th percentile; the colleges its graduates attend, including Cornell, Columbia, Rutgers, University of Maryland, and Yeshiva University; and the volunteer record of graduate students.

Shalom Torah Academy's first school was founded in Manalapan in 1973 by Rabbi Dovid Nojovitz with 31 children. In the years that followed, the center opened another school in East Windsor, several Hebrew schools, adult education programs, and a day camp. Its alumni number in the thousands and the East Windsor branch alone boasts 150 children enrolled in nursery through the 8th grade.

The short-term goals of the new board include vamping up fundraising efforts, improving organizational skills to help save money, and focus on forming a more prominent parent-teacher board so concerns and opinions can be voiced easily and regularly.

"We want to incorporate a quality school, incorporate a student body, and help you save some money," Possick said. "We stand with you to get a greater Shalom."