Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
Yeshiva Torah Vodaas (or Mesivta Torah Vodaas) is a yeshiva in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
History
The yeshiva was conceived in 1917 by friends Binyomin Wilhelm and Louis Dershowitz to provide a yeshiva education centering on traditional Jewish sacred texts to the children of families then moving from the Lower East Side to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The two friends contacted prominent local Rabbi Zev Gold of Congregation Beth Jacob Anshe Sholom [1][2] and together they formed a board and established the yeshiva in Williamsburg as an elementary school. The Yeshiva later moved to 452 and 425 East 9th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11218, where it is located today. Rabbi Gold was elected as the yeshiva's first president; he suggested the name Torah Vodaas after the yeshiva founded in Lida in 1905 by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines, which combined secular studies with Jewish studies and traditional Talmud study.[3] During this first period in the yeshiva's history, all classes were taught in Hebrew.[4]
The founding members of the yeshiva soon offered the principalship of the institution to Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz, who headed the yeshiva from 1922 to 1948. Under Mendlowitz's leadership, a mesivta (yeshiva high school) was opened in 1926.[5] Later he opened a Yeshiva Gedola as well. The yeshiva was modeled after those in Europe, with religious studies in Yiddish and Talmud taught in the Hungarian style of the European yeshivas.
Rabbi Dovid Leibovitz, a notable torah scholar from Europe was brought in to head the yeshiva's beit midrash (study hall) in 1929 but left after only four years to start his own yeshiva after personal conflicts with Rabbi Mendlowitz. Two years later, in 1935, Rabbi Shlomo Heiman became rosh yeshiva (head of the yeshiva), a position he held until his death in 1944.[6]
When Rabbi Mendlowitz's died in 1948, he entrusted the yeshiva to Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky and Rav Reuven Grozovsky as roshei yeshiva, Rav Alexander Linchner as the financial rosh yeshiva and secular studies principal, Rav Gedalya Schorr as menahel of the yeshiva, and Rav Nesanel Quinn as the principal of the high school.[7]
The yeshiva has since expanded to include a beit midrash in Monsey, an elementary school division in nearby Marine Park, and two summer camps all serving a student body, from nursery to postgraduate kollel, that numbers nearly 2,000 students.[8]
Philosophy
"Torah im Derech Eretz" historically influenced the yeshiva's philosophy,[9] but today it is strongly influenced by the haredi or, ultra-orthodox philosophy. However, Torah Vodaas is one of the many major haredi yeshivas that allow its students to attend college while studying at the yeshiva. The great majority of the yeshiva's graduates go on to work in fields that are not related to the torah education that they received in yeshiva.[10]
Rosh Yeshiva
The current roshei yeshiva are Rabbi Yosef Savitsky, a prominent student of Rabbi Berel Soloveitchik, and Rabbi Yisroel Reisman, Rabbi of Agudath Israel of Madison and author of several sefarim, including The Laws Of Ribbis. Previous roshei yeshiva include Rabbis Yisroel Belsky, Avraham Yaakov Pam, Shlomo Heiman, Dovid Leibowitz, Yaakov Kamenetsky, Shachne Zohn, Zelik Epstein, Gedalia Schorr, Elya Chazan, Reuvain Fein, Simcha Sheps, Moshe Rosen, and Reuvain Grozovsky.[11]
Notable alumni
- Rabbi Aaron Brafman, Menahel of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway
- Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (musician)
- Judge Noach Dear
- Rabbi Zvi Dershowitz
- Rabbi Shmuel Fishbain, Chief Rabbi of White Lake, NY
- Rabbi Dr. Fred Gross, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Maryland
- Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe
- Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
- Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Jewish thinker and author
- Rabbi Sholom Klass, publisher of The Jewish Press
- Rabbi Shua Krasner, founder of Shmecklickavitch
- Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Kulefsky, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel
- Rabbi Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University
- Rabbi Bernard Levy, head of OK Labs
- Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, a Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, New Jersey
- Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Pam, later Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva (see above)
- Rabbi Nesanel Quinn, later Menahel of the Yeshiva
- Harav Yisroel Reisman, today Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva, and rav of Agudath Yisroel of Madison
- Rabbi Sholom Rivkin, Chief Rabbi of St. Louis, Missouri
- Rabbi Yitzchok Scheiner, rosh yeshiva of the Kamenitz yeshiva of Jerusalem
- Rabbi Nosson Scherman, owner and general editor of Artscroll
- Rabbi Yitzchak Schnitzler founder of the gym.
- Rabbi Gedalia Schorr, later Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva (see above)
- Rabbi Elya Svei, Rosh Yeshiva of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia
- Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel
- Gene Simmons (Chaim Witz), co-founder of the rock group Kiss
- Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, Rabbi of Congregation Emunas Yisrael in Boro Park, and Mashgiach Ruchani of Yeshivas Torah Vodaas
References
- ↑ Bunim, Amos (1989). A Fire in His Soul: Irving M. Bunim, 1908-1980. Feldheim Publishers. p. 250. ISBN 0-87306-473-9.
- ↑ Sherman, Moshe D. (1996). Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-313-24316-6.
- ↑ "Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines" (PDF).
- ↑ Helmreich, William B. (2000). The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 9780881256420.
- ↑ Rosenblum, Reb Shraga Feivel, p. 76.
- ↑ Helmreich, William B. (2000). The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9780881256420.
- ↑ Mendlowitz, Paul (2009-08-27). "Unorthodox-Jew A Critical View of Orthodox Judaism: The Battles That Brought Down Yeshiva Torah Vodaath - The Mother Of American Yeshivas. Part One". Unorthodox-Jew A Critical View of Orthodox Judaism. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
- ↑ Tannenbaum, Rabbi Gershon. "My Machberes". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
- ↑ Ben Zion Weberman (1896-1968): Life and Legacy of an Orthodox Jewish Attorney in New York City During the Interwar Period and Beyond, Moshe Rapaport, University of Hawaii
- ↑ Helmreich, William B. (2000). The World of the Yeshiva: An Intimate Portrait of Orthodox Jewry. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. p. 268. ISBN 9780881256420.
- ↑ Tannenbaum, Rabbi Gershon. "My Machberes". The Jewish Press. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
External links
Coordinates: 40°38′17.56″N 73°58′9.54″W / 40.6382111°N 73.9693167°W