Volozhin yeshiva

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Old photo of the Volozhin yeshiva

The Valozhyn Yeshiva, also known as the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva situated in Valozhyn, present-day Belarus during the 19th century. Valozhyn Yeshiva is known as "the mother of yeshivas".

1 Establishment (1803)
2 Closure (1892)
3 Threat of repossession
4 Prominent alumni
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links

[edit] Establishment (1803)

The yeshiva was founded by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin in 1803 who was a student of the Vilna Gaon. Reb Chaim's son Isaac took over in 1821. When Isaac died in 1849, Rabbi Eliezer Fried was appointed head of the Yeshiva with Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin as his assistant. Rabbi Fried died soon after in 1854 whereupon Rabbi Berlin became the new head along with Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveichik, Reb Chaim's great-grandson who was the assistant Rosh Yeshiva.

There was disagreement between the two leaders and a delegation of prominent rabbis resolved the dispute by reasserting that Berlin was head and Soloveitchik was the assistant. In 1865, the latter left to become the rabbi in Slutsk.

[edit] Closure (1892)

In 1892, the Volozhin yeshiva shut down. There are several explanations and differing versions of events:

Russian authorities (influenced by Haskalah elements) sought to introduce a limited program of secular studies into the yeshiva. As this would seriously undermine the aims of the institution, Rabbi Berlin saw no other solution than to let the government close the yeshiva. A variation on this version is that Rabbi Berlin may have been willing to accept the secular studies but not in the manner it was presented by the authorities, with one historical record describing government requirements such as: "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."
The yeshiva was closed due to its own internal upheaval. This internal strife was caused by Rabbi Berlin's attempt to install his son as Rosh Yeshiva. Recently available Russian governmental documents of the time clearly point to this conclusion, as described in the publications of Shaul Stampfer.^[1]

After the Valozhyn yeshiva was closed down in 1892 by order of the Russian government, Rabbi Refael Shapiro, (the son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin), reopened it, albeit on a smaller scale, in 1899.

[edit] Threat of repossession

In 2000 authorities in Valozhyn returned the building to the Jewish Religious Union of Belarus, an Orthodox umbrella organization. A few years later in 2007 the government of Belarus issued an edict which would repossess the famous building from its ownership by the Jewish community unless the community rasied $20,000 in order to renovate of the entire building. In response, the Jewish community in America took action and Agudath Israel raised money to restore the holy site.^[2]