Hebron Yeshiva
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, and originally as Slabodka Yeshiva, is known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high-level study of the Talmud. The yeshiva was located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno (Kaunas), now Vilijampolė, a suburb of Kaunas. It functioned from the late 19th century until World War II.
Origins
From the second half of the 19th century, Kovno became a center of Jewish cultural activity in Lithuania. Prominent there were Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (the "Kovner Rav"; officiated 1864-96); Abraham Mapu, one of the first modern Hebrew writers; and Israel Isidor Elyashev, the "Ba'al Makhshoves", the first Yiddish literary critic. The yeshivot of Slobodka, in particular the Or HaChaim yeshivah founded by Tzvi Levitan about 1863, attracted students from other countries and were headed by noted scholars. Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, also known as "Der Alter fun Slabodka" (The Elder of Slabodka), introduced Musar ideals there. Headed by rosh yeshiva Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, the Alter's yeshiva was known as the Slobodka yeshivah from 1881. Subsequently there was opposition among the students to the Musar method, and in 1897 the yeshivah was divided into two. The followers of Musar established the Knesses Yisrael yeshivah, named after Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, while its opponents founded the Knesset Beit Yitzchak yeshivah, named after Rabbi Spektor.[1]
Relocation to Palestine
A 1924 edict requiring enlistment in the military or supplementary secular studies in the yeshiva led a large number of students in the Slabodka yeshiva to relocate to Palestine. The Alter sent Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski to head this group and establish the yeshiva in Hebron.[2] Upon Grodzinski's return to Slabodka, the Alter transferred the mashgiach ruchani responsibilities to him, and the rosh yeshiva duties to Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Sher, and himself moved to Hebron to lead the yeshiva there.[3] Hebron was chosen over Jerusalem to avoid the influence of the Conservative Old Yishuv.[citation needed] The Slabodka yeshiva ceased operation during the Holocaust. A branch was also established in Bnei Brak.
1929 Hebron massacre
Twenty-four students were murdered in the 1929 Hebron massacre, and the yeshiva was re-established in the Geula neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Despite a delay after the death of Rabbi Moshe Hebroni, the last of the previous generation, the yeshiva moved into a new and larger campus in the south-central Givat Mordechai neighbourhood in 1975.
Prominent alumni
- Meyer Abovitz, av beis din in Russia
- Yehuda Amital, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivat Har Etzion
- Yechezkel Abramsky, av beis din, London Beth Din
- Zvi Block, Talmudic instructor, Mir yeshiva (Brooklyn)
- David Cohen
- Yisroel Zvi Yoir Danziger, of Aleksander
- Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Ateres Yisrael, Jerusalem
- Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, rabbi in Soho, London
- Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
- Avraham Grodzinski, mashgiach ruchani, Slabodka yeshiva
- Reuven Grozovsky, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
- Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
- Meyer Juzint, American Talmudic scholar
- Yaakov Kamenetsky, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
- Avraham Elya Kaplan, rosh yeshiva, Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
- Aharon Kotler, rosh yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha
- Shneur Kotler, rosh yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha
- Yeruchom Levovitz, mashgiach ruchani, Mir yeshiva (Belarus)
- Dovid Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen
- Saul Lieberman, professor of Talmud, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
- Avigdor Miller, mashgiach ruchani, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and community rabbi
- Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, Baltimore
- Yechezkel Sarna, rosh yeshiva, Slabodka yeshiva
- Dov Schwartzman, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Beis HaTalmud
- Elazar Shach, rosh yeshiva, Ponovezh yeshiva
- Avraham Shapira, rosh yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav
- Moshe Shatzkes, Polish-born rabbi and rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Grodno
- Zalman Sorotzkin, Polish-born rabbi
- Selig Starr, Talmudic instructor, Hebrew Theological College
- Naftoli Trop, rosh yeshiva, Raduń Yeshiva
- Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, rosh yeshiva, Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
- Harry Austryn Wolfson, Harvard University scholar
- Nissan Yablonsky, rosh yeshiva, Hebrew Theological College