Staff. "Dor L’Dor: HAFTR celebrates its 38th year", The Jewish Star, February 24, 2016. Accessed February 9, 2017. "HAFTR was established in 1978 as a merger between two outstanding South Shore day schools — Hebrew Institute of Long Island (HILI), which served the Rockaway and budding Five Towns communities since 1936, and the Hillel School, which was founded in 1957 to serve the area’s growing needs."