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Hebrew, pl. yeshivos or yeshivot) is an institution for Torah study and the study of Talmud.
See also Torah study
Traditionally, every town rabbi had the right to maintain a number of full-time pupils in the town's study hall (beth 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 full-time Torah study.
Organised Torah study was revolutionised by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon (an influential 18th century leader of Orthodox Judaism). In his view, the traditional arrangement did not cater for those who were looking for more intensive study.
With the support of his teacher, Reb Chaim gathered a large number of interested students and started a yeshiva in the (now Belarusian) town of Volozhin. Although this institution was closed some 60 years later by the Russian government, a number of yeshivot opened in other towns and cities, most notably Ponovezh, Mir, Brisk and Telz (note: these are the Yiddish names of the Lithuanian and Polish towns). Many prominent contemporary yeshivot in the USA and Israel are continuations of these institutions and often bear the same name.
While most of the early yeshivos originated in Lithuania, by the early 1900s there existed many yeshivoth in Poland. The first yeshivah in Poland was started by Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, and was known as the Bobover Yeshivah. His work was continued by his son Rabbi Benzion Halberstam, originally in the town Bobov itself but later branching into as many as sixty satellite yeshivoth. Chassidic youth in Poland flocked to Bobov have the opportunity to speak with Rabbi Halberstam in private.
The yeshivoth ceased operation during the Second World War, and Rabbi Halberstam died at the hands of the Nazis. His son, Rabbi Solomon Halberstam, however recreated Bobov in Brooklyn, New York, with less than hundred of the thousands of followers that perished in Poland. At the time of his death in 2000, the Bobov institutions had educated thousands of students, and continued under the leadership of his sons Rabbi Naftali and (later) Rabbi Benzion.
There are four types of yeshivoth:
The largest yeshivos currently include Beis Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, NJ, The Mirrer Yeshiva of Jerusalem, the Ner Israel Rabbinical College of Baltimore, MD, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanon Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, and The Pononvezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
The year is divided into three periods called zmanim. Elul zman starts from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul and extends until the end of Yom Kippur. This is the shortest (approx. six weeks), but most intense semester as it comes before the high holydays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Winter zman starts after Sukkot (the festival of booths) and lasts until just before Passover, a duration of six months (seven on a Jewish leap year).
Summer semester starts after Passover and lasts until either the middle of the month of Tammuz or the beginning of the Jewish month of Av, a duration of three months.
They following is a typical daily schedule for Beis Medrash students
This schedule is generally maintained Sunday through Thursday. Fridays afternoons are free and Saturdays have a special Sabbath schedule.
Studying is usually done together with a partner called a chavrusa (Aramaic: "friend"), or in a shiur (lecture).
In the typical yeshiva, the main emphasis is on Talmud study and analysis. Generally, two parallel Talmud streams are covered during a zman (trimester). The former is study in-depth (be-iyun) with an emphasis on analytical skills and close reference to the classical commentators; the latter emphasises general knowledge (bekiyuth) of the Talmud; see Talmud.
Works generally studied to clarify the Talmudic text are the commentary by Rashi and the analyses of the Tosafists. Various other meforshim (commentators) are used as well.
Generally, a period is devoted to the study of practical halakha (Jewish law). The text most commonly studied is the Mishna Berura written by Yisrael Meir Kagan. The Mishna Berura is a compilation of Halachic opinions rendered after the time of the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh.
The preeminent ethical text studied in yeshivoth is the Mesilas Yesharim ("Path of the Just"). It was written by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato. Other works studied include:
The weekly Torah portion is usually read together with Rashi's commentary and the Targum of Onkelos.
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