Yeshivat HaHesder Yerucham

Yeshivat HaHesder Yerucham (Hebrew: ישיבת הסדר ירוחם) is a hesder yeshiva located in the development town of Yeruham, Israel. It was founded in 1993 and currently there are over 220 students.

History

In the early 1970s, a group of Religious Zionists settled in Yeruham with the goal of minimizing socioeconomic gaps that divide Israeli society. Over time, the group grew in number and expanded its activities by taking on educational responsibilities as well. After establishing "Midreshet B'Yahad", a Seminar Center of Judaism, Society and Zionism Studies, the group realized the need for a yeshiva as the next step in strengthening the existing projects by bringing youth to Yeruham.

The leader of this group, Shmuel Friedman Ben-Shalom, approached Rabbi Eliyhau Blumenzweig, who at the time taught at Yeshivat Har Etzion, with a proposition to lead the future yeshiva, which he accepted. The yeshiva subsequently opened its doors in 1993.

Curriculum

Yeshivat HaHesder Yerucham emphasizes the importance of learning Talmud in depth, specifically through applying the Brisker Method. A typical day in Yeshiva will include two sessions of intensive Talmud study (iyun) and one of extensive study (bekiut).

The yeshiva guides its students to base their perspective upon the teachings of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi and the Maharal of Prague in accordance with the ideology of Rabbi A.Y. Kook, as is often customary in Religious Zionist yeshivas. With the goal of educating students to deal independently with the challenges they face living as an observant Jews in modern time in mind, the yeshiva encourages a broader study of Biblical, rabbinic, and other classical and modern sources. Hence, the yeshiva curriculum contains weekly classes in Tanakh, Medieval Jewish philosophy, Hasidic philosophy, and the works of contemporary scholars such as Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

Educational approach

The yeshiva educates its students to be aware of their surroundings and attentive to the needs of society in general. The yeshiva believes that the keys to solving Israel’s socioeconomic gaps lie in integration and education. All the students volunteer in the community mainly in the field of education. Many of the yeshiva's alumni settle in Yeruham instead of heading to the country's central cities.

The yeshiva also promotes other programs, among them:

Educational staff

In addition to Rabbi Blumenzweig, rabbis who teach in the Yeshiva include Rabbis Uriel Eitam, Chaim Wolfson, Yair Ya'acobi, Meir Kahana, Shai Gnizi and Shmuel Gleizer. Rabbis Gnizi and Gleizer themselves began as students in the yeshiva. There are also rabbis who come from afar to give weekly classes: Rabbis Joseph Elitzor, Eliyahu Bazak and Ehud Barzilai. Previously there were other teachers who have since left. These include physicist and philosopher Rabbi Dr. Michael Abraham, and Rabbi Nir Weinberg (who left to establish and head the Hazor'im Yeshiva High-School in the lower Galilee).

See also

External links

Publications

Coordinates: 30°59′07″N 34°55′39″E / 30.9853882°N 34.9274340°E / 30.9853882; 34.9274340

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