Yeshivat Har Etzion, (YHE), (Hebrew: ישיבת הר עציון) commonly known as "Gush," is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, a community in Gush Etzion in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, Israel. With a student body of 484, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivas in Israel. [1]
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Most of the students are Israelis in the hesder program, which integrates intensive yeshiva study with at least 15 months of active service in the Israel Defense Forces. Post-high school overseas students are also accepted after undergoing a selective application and interview process. Many return after university to study for the rabbinate in the yeshiva's Semicha Program (Semicha given by the Israeli Rabbanut) and affiliated Herzog College. Over 550 alumni from overseas have made aliyah and a high percentage are involved in Jewish education. Others have gone on to prominent academic careers in science, law, medicine, engineering and mathematics.
YHE also runs a program for developmentally disabled men, Yeshivat Darkaynu.[2]
In 1968, shortly after the Six Day War, a movement was founded to resettle the Gush Etzion region. Rabbi Yehuda Amital, a prominent rabbi and Jewish educator was asked to head the yeshiva. First established in Kfar Etzion, it moved to Alon Shvut, where it developed into a major institution. [3]
According to the mission statement of the yeshiva, it advocates a combination of Torah study and a love of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.[4] Its embrace of spirituality and religious striving is tempered with a message of moderation and openness. YHE encourages serious study, creative thought, intellectual rigor, fellowship with all Jews regardless of level of observance or political outlook, and a universal, humanistic outlook.
YHE employs the Brisk analytic style of Talmud study.
The yeshiva operates two libraries. The Torah Library has over 70,000 volumes, as well as CDs, microfilms, a collection of rare Judaica and an antique book facility. The state-of-the-art Pedagogic Resource Center of the Herzog College supplements the central Torah library, providing audio-visual material for teachers of Judaic studies in Israel and worldwide.
YHE established the Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash, which provides yeshiva-style courses and shiurim (lectures) in Torah and Judaism to students of all ages outside the Yeshiva walls, in an effort to open to the greatest extent possible a window into the Beit Midrash. Over 18,000 subscribers in every continent throughout the world subscribe to weekly shiurim, in English, Hebrew,and Cyrillic in Tanakh, Gemara, Halakha, Jewish Philosophy and various other Jewish topics.[5]
KMTT is a daily Torah study Podcast, from Yeshivat Har Etzion which is sent out every day of the week. [6]