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yeshiva.bnei-menashe.org » yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah(Hebrew: ישיבה pl. yeshivot or yeshivos) is an institution for Torah study and the study of Talmud by males primarily within Orthodox Judaism.

The term yeshiva gedola ("senior/higher yeshiva") refers to post-high school institutions, and yeshiva ketana (junior yeshiva") refers to institutions catering for boys aged 13-16. A yeshiva with a framework for independent study and providing stipends for male married students is known as a kollel.

Yeshiva is also used as a generic name for the entire system of schools that teach Torah, Mishnah and Talmud, to all ages.

Origins

Jewish tradition lays down that students should sit while learning from a master. The word yeshiva, meaning "sitting", therefore came to be applied to the activity of learning in class, and hence to a learning session (which also literally means "sitting").

The transference in meaning from the learning session to the institution appears to have occurred by the time of the great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Sura and Pumbedita, which were commonly referred to as shte ha-yeshivot, "the two colleges".

A further shade of meaning is that the root verb can mean "reside" as well as "sit". The term "yeshiva" can therefore be used to distinguish a full-time residential institution from a class at the local synagogue. On a deeper and more homiletic level, the word for "sitting" also means to "hold back", since a yeshiva is a place where a capable young man "holds himself back" in order to learn before going out into the world.

Pre-1800s

Traditionally, every town rabbi had the right to maintain a number of full-time or part-time pupils in the town's study hall (beis midrash, usually adjacent to the synagogue). Their cost of living was covered by community taxation. After a number of years, these young people would either take up a vacant rabbinical position elsewhere (after obtaining semicha, rabbinical ordination) or join the workforce.

The Mishna (tractate Megilla) mentions the law that a town can only be called a "city" if it supports ten men (batlanim) to make up the required quorum for communal prayers. Likewise, every rabbinical court (beth din) was attended by a number of pupils up to three times the size of the court (Mishna, tractate Sanhedrin). These might be indications of the historicity of the classical yeshiva.

As indicated by the Talmud, adults generally took off two months a year (Ellul and Adar, the months preceding the harvest) to pursue work, the rest of the year they studied.

Types of yeshivot

There are five types of yeshivot:

  1. Yeshiva ketana ("junior yeshiva") - Many yeshivot ketanot in Israel and some in the diaspora do not have a secular course of studies and all students learn Judaic Torah studies full time.
  2. Yeshiva High School - Also called Mesivta or Mechina, combines the intensive Jewish religious education with a secular high school education. The dual curriculum was pioneered by the Manhattan Talmudical Academy of Yeshiva University (now known as Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy) in 1916.
  3. Mechina - For Israeli high-school graduates who wish to study for one year before entering the army.
  4. Beth medrash - For high school graduates, and is attended from one year to many years, dependent on the career plans and affiliation of the student.
  5. Kollel - Yeshiva for married adults. The kollel idea, though having its intellectual roots traced to the Torah, is a relatively modern innovation of 19th century Europe. Often, a Kollel will be in the same location as the yeshiva.

Traditionally, girls do not learn Torah in a yeshiva setting. In 1917, under the guidance of Sarah Shenirer the Bais Yaakov system was started, which provided females with a Torah education, but one usually not comparable to yeshivas, in curriculum. Eventually, the term "Bais Yaakov" came to apply to any girls' seminary in this style.

Israel

There are also many Hesder yeshivot, which combine study with military service; various Hasidic yeshivot; and dozens of others.

Hesder (in Hebrew: "arrangement"; or Yeshivat Hesder ישיבת הסדר) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces. These yeshivot allow religious Jews to fulfill the ideal of full and active participation in the defense of the Israeli people, while still engaging in intense Torah study during their formative years.

Israel, English-speaking

The popular yeshivos located in Israel that cater to the international Anglophone community include:

United Kingdom

United States

There are a handful of other prestigious yeshivas and dozens of smaller ones, including those affiliated with various Hasidic groups.

Australia


 

 

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