- Slabodka yeshiva
Slabodka yeshiva, also known as Knesses Yisroel, and later as Hebron Yeshiva or "Yeshivas Hevron", was known colloquially as the "mother of
yeshiva s" and was devoted to high level study of theTalmud . The yeshiva was located in theLithuania n town of Slabodka, adjacent to Kovno (Kaunas), nowVilijampolė , a suburb of Kaunas. It functioned from the late 19th century untilWorld War II .From the second half of the 19th century, Kovno became a center of Jewish cultural activity in Lithuania. Prominent there were Isaac Elhanan Spector (the "Kovner Rav"; officiated 1864-96);
Abraham Mapu , one of the first modern Hebrew writers; and the literary critic Ka'al Makhshoves (Israel Isidor Elyashev ). The yeshivot of Slobodka became celebrated, in particular the Or Chayyim yeshivah, founded by Tzevi Levitan about 1863, which attracted students from other countries and was headed by noted scholars. Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, also known as "Der Alter of Slabodka", ("The Elder of Slabodka") introduced Musar ideals there. Itsrosh yeshiva was RabbiMoshe Mordechai Epstein ; from 1881 it was known as the Slobodka yeshivah. Subsequently there was opposition among the students to the Musar method, and in 1897 the yeshivah was divided into two; the followers of Musar established the Keneset Israel yeshivah, named afterIsrael Lipkin (Salanter), while its opponents founded the Keneset Bet Yitzchak yeshivah, named afterYitzchak Elchanan Spektor . [Encyclopaedia Judaica]Relocation to Palestine
A 1924 edict requiring enlistment in the military or supplementary secular studies in the yeshiva led a large number of its students to relocate to
Hebron under Rabbi Finkel's leadership, and the yeshiva was then headed by RabbiYitzchok Isaac Sher . Hebron was chosen overJerusalem to avoid the influence of the conservativeold yishuv . The Slabodka yeshiva ceased operation duringthe Holocaust .1929 Hebron massacre
24 students were murdered in the
1929 Hebron massacre , and the yeshiva was reestablished in theGeula neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Despite a delay after the death of Rabbi Moshe Hebroni, the last of the previous generation, the yeshiva moved into a new and larger campus in the south-central Giv'at Mordechai neighbourhood in 1975.Prominent alumni
*Rabbi
Alter Polack
*RabbiMoshe Yakkov Mendelowitz ee also
*
1929 Hebron massacre
*Kovno Kollel References
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