Yeshiva
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yeshiva or yeshivah (IPA: [jəˈʃivə]) (Hebrew: ישיבה pl. yeshivot or yeshivos) is an institution for Torah study and the study of Talmud primarily within Orthodox Judaism and primarily attended by males. Yeshiva is the "generic" name for the entire system of schools that teach Torah, Mishnah and Talmud, to all ages.
Today, yeshiva gedolah ("greater/higher yeshiva") refers to the post-high school level while yeshiva katana (minor/lesser yeshiva") refers to the elementary grades in the United States or high school-level in Israel. In the United States, high school-level yeshiva is also called mesivta or metivta, the Aramaic translation for yeshiva. A yeshiva for male married students is known as a kollel ("gathering").
Traditionally, females 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.
Contents |
[edit] History
- See also: Torah study
[edit] Origins
Jewish tradition lays down that students should sit while learning from a master. The word yeshivah, 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.
[edit] 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 full-time Torah study.
[edit] Rav Chaim Volozhiner
Organised Torah study was revolutionised by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a disciple of the Vilna Gaon (an influential 18th century leader of 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 Volozhin gathered a large number of interested students and started a yeshiva in the (now Belarusian) town of Volozhin. Although the Volozhin Yeshiva 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.
[edit] Types of yeshivot
There are five types of yeshivot:
- Yeshiva Ketana ("small 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.
- 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.
- Mechina - For Israeli high school graduates who wish to study for one year before entering the army.
- 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.
- 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.
[edit] Prominent yeshivot
- Main article: List of yeshivas
[edit] Academic year
The year is divided into three periods called zmanim ("times" or "semesters"). 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 holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Winter zman starts after Sukkot ("Tabernacles") and lasts until just before Passover, a duration of six months (seven in 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 about three months.
[edit] Typical schedule
The following is a typical daily schedule for Beis Medrash students:
- 7:00 a.m. - Optional seder (study session)
- 7:30 a.m. - Morning prayers
- 8:30 a.m. - Session on study of Jewish law
- 9:00 a.m. - Breakfast
- 9:30 a.m. - Morning Talmud study (first seder)
- 12:30 p.m. - Shiur ("lecture") - advanced students sometimes dispense with this lecture
- 1:30 p.m. - Lunch
- 2:45 p.m. - Mincha - afternoon prayers
- 3:00 p.m. - Mussar seder - Jewish ethics
- 3:30 p.m. - Talmud study (second seder)
- 7:00 p.m. - Dinner
- 8:00 p.m. - Night seder - Review of lecture, or study of choice.
- 9:25 p.m. - Mussar seder - Jewish Ethics
- 9:45 p.m. - Maariv - Evening prayers
- 10:00 p.m. - Optional seder
This schedule is generally maintained Sunday through Thursday with an extra long night seder on Thursday nights, sometimes lasting beyond 1:00 am. On Fridays there is usually at least one seder in the morning and the afternoons are free. Saturdays have a special Sabbath schedule which includes some sedarim but usually no shiur.
[edit] Method of study
Studying is usually done together with a study-partner called a chavrusa (Aramaic: "friend"), or in a shiur ("lecture").
[edit] Talmud study
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 first is study in-depth (be-iyun) with an emphasis on analytical skills and close reference to the classical commentators; the latter seeks to cover ground more speedily, to build general knowledge (bekiyut) of the Talmud; see The Talmud in modern-day Judaism.
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.
[edit] Jewish law
Generally, a period is devoted to the study of practical halakha (Jewish law). The text most commonly studied is the Mishnah Berurah written by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan. The Mishnah Berurah is a compilation of halakhic opinions rendered after the time of the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh.
[edit] Ethics
The preeminent ethical text studied in yeshivot is the Mesillat Yesharim ("Path [of the] Just") by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. Other works studied include:
- Orchot Tzaddikim ("Paths [of the] Righteous") Its authorship and time of writing is uncertain, but as it quotes Maimonides, it was written some time after his works were disseminated.
- Chovot ha-Levavot, by Bahya ibn Paquda.
- Ma'alot ha-Middot ("Benefit [of good character] traits")
- Mishnat R' Aharon Mussar Lectures on many topics by Rabbi Aharon Kotler.
- Mikhtav me-Eliyahu, the works of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler.
Chasidic Yeshivot will study Hasidic philosophy (Chassidus). Chabad Yeshivot, for example, study the Tanya, the Likutei Torah, and the voluminous works of the Rebbes of Chabad for an hour and a half in the morning, before prayers, and an hour and a half in the evening. See Tomchei Temimim.
[edit] Weekly Torah portion
The weekly Torah portion is usually read together with Rashi's commentary and the Targum Onkelos.
[edit] See also
- Bais Yaakov
- Beth midrash
- Hesder
- Kollel
- List of yeshivas
- Mashgiach ruchani
- Mechina
- Rosh yeshiva
- Yeshivish
[edit] Further reading
- Helmreich, William B. The world of the yeshiva: an intimate portrait of Orthodox Jewry. Free Press, 1982, 412 pages. ISBN 0-88125-641-2.
