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Yeshiva
[from the Hebrew, "to sit"] - A religious
school for older boys. After finishing cheder, at thirteen or fourteen,
they could continue their schooling, studying the Halakhah [Hebrew, "the
way"] contained in the Talmud. They remained in the yeshiva until they
married. Some of them were granted a smicha [Hebrew, "authorization",
i.e., rabbinical ordination], giving them the right to be a practicing
rabbi.
The Pharisees founded the first yeshiva after the fall of the Second
Temple. Some modern yeshivas became famous throughout Europe, such as
the schools founded in the sixteenth century by Moshe Isserles in Krakow
or Shalom Shachna in Lublin. In the nineteenth century, there were
Chasidic yeshivas, often at the courts of the tzaddikim. In the second
half of the nineteenth century, the musar religious movement was founded
in Lithuania, whose aim was to revise teaching methods in yeshivas and
improve their quality. Wolozyn, in Lithuania, became one of this
movement's important centers; it was closed by the tsarist authorities
in 1892.
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During the interwar period, the tzaddik Shlomo
Henoch Rabinowicz of Radomsko founded the network of yeshivas known as
Keter Tora [Hebrew, "crown of the Torah"]. One of the largest was
Metivta [Aramaic, "College"] in Warsaw, under the sway of the teachings
of the tzaddik of Gora Kalwaria; it had several hundred students. There
was also a famous yeshiva in Radun, near Wilno, whose rector was Rabbi
Israel Meir Cohen. It was known as Chofetz Chaim [Hebrew, "Thirst for
Life"], the title of one of his works. In 1925, the modern Yeshivat
Chachmei Lublin [Hebrew, "School of the Wise Men of Lublin"] was
founded. At the initiative of the Agudas Isroel party, the Vaad
Ha-yeshivot [Hebrew, "Yeshiva Board"] was established during the
economic crisis of the 1930's in order to gather funds for yeshivas.
(A.C./CM)
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