The Beth Rivkah elementary school for girls was established by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn in Brooklyn, New York, in 1941, two years after he founded the first boys' yeshiva in that city.
The elementary and high school divisions experienced significant growth from the late 1950s to the 1970s due to the high birthrate among Lubavitcher families, and the influx of Soviet and Iranian Jewish refugees to New York City.