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The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 in the town of Volozhin (today part of Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
), founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin

Rabbi Chaim Ben Yitzchok or Chaim Volozhin was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist. Popularly known as Reb Chaim Volozhiner, or simply Reb Chaim, he was born in Valo?yn when it was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and died there while it was under the control of the Russian Empire....
, a student of the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
.

yeshiva was founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. In 1821, he was succeeded as head of the yeshiva by his son, Isaac. When Isaac died in 1849, Rabbi Eliezer Fried was appointed head of the yeshiva, with Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

File:Netziv.gifRabbi Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuanian Jews....
 as his assistant.






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The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
 in the town of Volozhin (today part of Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
), founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin
Chaim Volozhin

Rabbi Chaim Ben Yitzchok or Chaim Volozhin was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi, Talmudist, and ethicist. Popularly known as Reb Chaim Volozhiner, or simply Reb Chaim, he was born in Valo?yn when it was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and died there while it was under the control of the Russian Empire....
, a student of the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
.

History

The yeshiva was founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. In 1821, he was succeeded as head of the yeshiva by his son, Isaac. When Isaac died in 1849, Rabbi Eliezer Fried was appointed head of the yeshiva, with Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

File:Netziv.gifRabbi Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuanian Jews....
 as his assistant. Rabbi Fried died soon after, in 1854, whereupon Rabbi Berlin became the new head along with Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveichik
Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Beis Halevi)

Yosef Dov Soloveitchik was the author of Beis Halevi, by which name he is better known among Talmudic scholars. He was the great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin....
, Reb Chaim's great-grandson who was the assistant rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva

Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the Dean of a Yeshiva . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh ? meaning head, and yeshiva ? a school of religious Jewish education....
. In 1865, Soloveichik left to become a rabbi in Slutsk.

The Volozhin yeshiva closed in 1892. The reasons for the closure have been the source of debate. One version is that the Russia
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
n government demanded the introduction of certain secular studies. Rabbi Berlin refused to comply and allowed the government to close the yeshiva.

Another theory is that Rabbi Berlin was not so much opposed to secular studies as to the dictatorial tone of the demand: "All teachers of all subjects must have college diplomas ... no Judaic subjects may be taught between 9 AM and 3 PM ... no night classes are allowed ... total hours of study per day may not exceed ten."

Others, such as historian Shauel Stampfer, say the problem was Rabbi Berlin's attempt to install his son as Rosh Yeshiva in the face of opposition. Russian government documents that have recently come to light seem to indicate that this was the real reason for the yeshiva's closure.

Rabbi Refael Shapiro
Refael Shapiro

Rabbi Refael Shapiro was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin . After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899....
, the son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

File:Netziv.gifRabbi Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuanian Jews....
, reopened the yeshiva in 1899, albeit on a smaller scale.

Threat of repossession

In 2000, the Volozhin authorities returned the building to the Jewish Religious Union of Belarus, an Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization. In 2007, the government of Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
 threatened to repossess the building unless the community raised $20,000 in order to renovate it. The Jewish community in America took action and Agudath Israel
Agudath Israel

Agudath Israel can refer to any of several related organizations, including:*World Agudath Israel, an international movement*Agudath Israel of America, an American organization...
 raised money to restore the site.

Prominent alumni

  • Zelig Reuven Bengis
    Zelig Reuven Bengis

    Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis was the Russian-born Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem for the Edah HaChareidis. He wrote a seven-volume commentary on the Talmud, called "Leflagos Reuven"....
  • Shmuel Alexandrov
    Shmuel Alexandrov

    Rabbi Shmuel Alexandrov of Bobruisk was a prominent student of the Volozhin Yeshiva, who became close to the tradition of Chabad Hasidism. Rabbi Alexandrov was a Orthodox Judaism mystical thinker, philosopher and individualist anarchism, whose religious thought, an original blending of Kabbalah, Orthodox Judaism, contemporary philosophy and...
  • Meir Bar-Ilan
    Meir Bar-Ilan

    Meir Berlin, later Hebraization of surnames to Meir Bar-Ilan, , born Volozhin, Lithuania, died Jerusalem, Israel) was anOrthodox Judaism rabbi and leader of Religious Zionism, the Mizrachi movement in USA and British Mandate of Palestine....
  • Micha Josef Berdyczewski
    Micha Josef Berdyczewski

    Micha Josef Berdyczewski , or Mikhah Yosef Bin-Gorion was a Ukrainian-born writer of Hebrew, a journalist, and a scholar. He appealed for the Jews to change their way of thinking, freeing themselves from dogmas ruling the Jewish religion, tradition and history, but is also known for his work with pre-modern Jewish mythologys and legen...
  • Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin
    Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin

    File:Netziv.gifRabbi Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin was the Rosh yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuanian Jews....
  • Hayyim Nahman Bialik
    Hayyim Nahman Bialik

    Hayim Nahman Bialik , also Chaim or Haim, was a Jewish poet who wrote in Hebrew language. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poets and came to be recognized as Israel's national poet....
  • David Cohen
    David Cohen (rabbi)

    Rabbi David Cohen was a rabbi, talmudist, philosopher, and kabbala....
  • Baruch Epstein
    Baruch Epstein

    Rabbi Baruch Epstein or Baruch ha-Levi Epstein was a Lithuanian rabbi, best known for his Torah Temimah Bible commentary on the Torah....
  • Moshe Mordechai Epstein
    Moshe Mordechai Epstein

    Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein was Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka Yeshiva, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century....
  • Isaac Halevy
    Isaac Halevy

    Isaac Halevy may refer to:*Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog*Yitzhak Isaac Halevy Rabinowitz*Yitzhak HaLevi ben Mordechai Raitzes, Rabbi of Krakow from 1778 to 1799...
  • Chaim Ozer Grodzinski
    Chaim Ozer Grodzinski

    Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski was a world renowned pre-war Dayan, Posek and Talmudic scholar in Vilnius....
  • Abraham Harkavy
    Abraham Harkavy

    Avraam/Albert Yakovlevich Harkavy , or Avraham Eliyahu ben Yaakov Harkavy was a Russian-Jewish historian and orientalism....
  • Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman
    Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman

    Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman was a renowned Orthodox Judaism Talmudic scholar, Posek and rabbi and served as a Beth din#Officers of a Beth/Beis Din of the London Beth Din....
  • Jacob Joseph
    Jacob Joseph

    Rabbi Jacob Joseph served as chief rabbi of New York City's Association of American Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, a federation of Eastern European Jewish synagogues....
  • Chaim Mordechai Katz
    Chaim Mordechai Katz

    Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland and among American Jewry's foremost religious leaders....
  • Abraham Isaac Kook
    Abraham Isaac Kook

    File:Abraham Isaac Kook 1924.jpgAbraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi Jews chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionism Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halacha, Kabbalah and a renowned Torah scholar....
  • Moyshe Kulbak
    Moyshe Kulbak

    Moyshe Kulbak , was a Yiddish language writer, born in Smarhon in Belarus to a Jewish family. He studied at the Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuania....
  • Baruch Ber Lebowitz
    Baruch Ber Lebowitz

    Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz was a main student of Rabbi Chaim Brisker and was famed for his Talmudic lectures.Reb Boruch Ber, as he is called by his students and followers, was born in Slutsk and was known a Child prodigy while at a very young age....
  • Aryeh Levin
    Aryeh Levin

    Rabbi Aryeh Levin, , known as Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the central prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the Mandate for Palestine....
  • Paul Philip Levertoff
  • Isser Zalman Meltzer
    Isser Zalman Meltzer

    Isser Zalman Meltzer, , was a famous Lithuanian Orthodox Judaism rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He is also known as the "Even HaEzel", after the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishne Torah....
  • Samuel Mohilever
    Samuel Mohilever

    Rabbi Samuel Mohilever , also Shmuel Mohilever, was a pioneer of Religious Zionism and one of the founders of the Hovevei Zion movement....
  • Yitzchak Yaacov Reines
    Yitzchak Yaacov Reines

    Yitzchak Yaacov Reines ???? ???? ????? , was a Lithuanian Jews Orthodox Judaism rabbi and the founder of the Mizrachi Religious Zionist Movement....
  • Zundel Salant
    Zundel Salant

    Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant was the primary teacher of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter.Reb Zundel was born in 1786 in Salantai, Lithuania. Little is known of his early years....
  • Refael Shapiro
    Refael Shapiro

    Rabbi Refael Shapiro was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin . After the Volozhin yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, he reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale in 1899....
  • Shimon Shkop
    Shimon Shkop

    Rabbi Shimon Shkop was a rosh yeshiva in the Telshe yeshiva and a renowned Talmudic scholar. He was born in Tortz in 1860. At the age of twelve he went to study in the Mir Yeshiva , and at fifteen he went to Volozhin yeshiva where he studied six years....
  • Chaim Soloveitchik
    Chaim Soloveitchik

    Chaim Soloveitchik , also known as Reb Chaim Brisker, was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker approach to Talmudic study within Judaism....
  • Elchonon Wasserman
    Elchonon Wasserman

    Elchonon Wasserman was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva in pre-World War II Europe. He was one of the Yisrael Meir Kagan's closest disciples and a Torah scholar of note, and well known for being a strong opponent of secular Zionism....


    • Bibliography

    • Shaul Stampfer
      Shaul Stampfer

      Shaul Stampfer is a researcher of East European Jewry specializing in Lithuanian yeshivas, and Jewish demography, migration and education....
      , Lithuanian Yeshivas of the Nineteenth Century
    • E. Leoni, Wolozyn; sefer shel ha-ir-shel yeshivat “Ets Hayim” Tel-Aviv, 1970


    External links