|
|
| |||
|
IN-DEPTH FEATURES
Eighty years ago during Aseres Yemei Teshuva was the opening
of Yeshivas Chevron in the City of the Patriarchs. The first
Lithuanian yeshiva to be established in Israel, it created a
revolution in the Torah world at large and in Eretz Yisroel
in particular. Gedolei Olom who stood at the helm,
imprinted their stamp upon this illustrious yeshiva in
particular, and over Yiddishkeit in general.
The terrible massacre of TaRPaT (5689-1929) failed to
extinguish the flame of Torah, and the yeshiva was relocated
from the City of the Patriarchs to Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh.
Yeshivas Chevron Knesses Yisroel continues in its full vigor
and vitality.
*
Motzei Shabbos. Midnight. The yeshiva beis midrash
begins filling up. From the floor below, from the libraries,
from every side they converge -- close to a thousand students
fill the hall. They say "Ashrei" and begin humming the
tune of "Lishmo'a el horino."
Yeshivas Chevron, located on a campus in the Givat Mordechai
section of Yerushalayim, is now eighty years old. Actually,
we would find it to be older if we examined its `birth
certificate,' but its life span here in Eretz Yisroel is now
just eighty years.
Slobodka Instead of Volozhin
The seed of the gigantic beis medrash which is filled
from wall to wall lies buried in Lithuania, in the village of
Slobodka, a suburb of Kovna. Here lies the inception of the
yeshiva which raised high the banner of Torah scholars.
The period of its founding was a bleak one; Yeshivas
Volozhin, the very hub of Torah activity in all of Europe,
had just been shut down. The year was 5642 (1882), a year in
which the foundations for Yeshivas Chevron, which stepped in
to fill the lacuna, were laid.
"After the closing of Volozhin by the wicked government of
the Czar," wrote a student of the yeshiva, R' Yechiel Yaakov
Weinberg zt'l, "Slobodka inherited the prime place and
name in the Torah world. Henceforth, all of the iluyim
in the Jewish world and all of the gifted scholars gathered
in Yeshivas Knesses Yisroel. Maran the Alter of Slobodka
ztvk'l, who was at the height of his powers, opened up
the yeshiva doors wide to let in anyone who sought to enter,
regardless of his being talented or only mediocre. All that
was required was a fervent desire to study Torah."
They pushed their way in. Thus can we see the essence of the
revolution that Yeshivas Knesses Yisroel effected, for to be
a yeshiva student in the times before Slobodka was a
difficult challenge. It was this selfsame yeshiva that
undertook to establish the fact that Torah scholars
constitute an elite corps, an aristocracy, and this was duly
accomplished by Maran HaGaon Hatzaddik R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel
ztvk'l.
Maran the Alter, disciple of R' Yisroel Salanter, founder of
the Mussar movement, disseminated its teachings, but with his
own slant, the Slobodka path, which raised the self-image of
the yeshiva student up high. R' Nosson Tzvi aspired to
establish a yeshiva that would express gadlus ho'odom,
the vast potential of man. He aimed to create a mussar
yeshiva that would combine scholastic study with a program of
self-improvement, that is, work on one's middos.
At this pivotal time, Hashem opportunely provided two
philanthropists to assist R' Nosson Tzvi: R' Ovadia Lachman,
a Jew from Berlin, and R' Yaakov Eliezer Chavas. These men
were instrumental in establishing the first kollel in
Slobodka.
This was the core. After the kollel, a yeshiva ketanoh
was established under the name "Ohr HaChaim." The alumni of
this yeshiva founded, together with other young students who
came from all over Lithuania, the main yeshiva, Yeshivas
Knesses Yisroel, whose main heir today is what is known as
Chevron Yeshiva. This took place in 1882 (5642). To this day,
the yeshiva bears that name [though it has fallen somewhat
into disuse], after the founder of the Mussar movement, HaRav
Yisroel Salanter zt'l.
The degree that a yeshiva of this kind was lacking can be
seen from the rapid pace at which it developed. The first
stage produced gedolei Yisroel whose names have become
famous, such as R' Eliezer Shulevitz, founder of Yeshivas
Lomzha; R' Yitzchok Meltzen of Kelm, and famous Mussar
exponents such as R' Itzele Blazer-Peterburger, R' Naftoli
Amsterdam, R' Avrohom Sheinker -- all of them famous
disciples of HaRav Yisroel Salanter.
Students streamed to the yeshiva from all corners of the
world. From Lithuania, of course, but also from Galicia,
Germany, Eretz Yisroel and even the United States.
The Alter of Slobodka stood at the helm of the yeshiva and
guided it during its flourishing period. At his side served
such Torah masters as HaRav Itzele Ponevezher who was a
ram in the yeshiva for three years until he was
appointed rabbi of Gorzed. At that time, two brothers-in-law
entered to fill the gap: HaRav Isser Zalman Meltzer and HaRav
Moshe Mordechai Epstein, zt'l. These two had been
chosen by the wealthy talmid chochom R' Shraga Feivel
Frank as sons-in-law, and they began delivering
shiurim in the beginning of 5654 (1894).
The two jointly assumed the administration of the yeshiva
until HaRav Yaakov Dovid, the Ridvaz, approached the Alter
and asked for assistance. He said that he wished to found a
yeshiva in his own city, Slutsk, and R' Isser Zalman Meltzer
was chosen for the challenge at the head of a group of
promising students which formed the core of this new yeshiva.
R' Isser Zalman did not return to Slobodka, though his
brother-in-law, R' Moshe Mordechai, remained in Slobodka as
rosh yeshiva and later, in the city of Chevron, as the
proponent of the teachings of his master, the Alter.
In time, the two were to become related through marriage: The
daughter of R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein married the son of the
Alter, R' Moshe Finkel.
When the World Shakes
HaRav Moshe Mordechai Epstein was of gigantic scholastic
stature. He was a brilliant Torah scholar who also grappled
with the impossible challenge of the upkeep of the yeshiva
through various very trying periods. Indeed, many
tribulations overtook the yeshiva in differing forms and it
was his capable guidance which navigated it through
treacherous waters and made a rich contribution to its
growth.
Thus did Yeshivas Slobodka become a major Torah center in
Lithuania, a yeshiva which every serious student with
aspiration for true Torah greatness dreamed of attending.
The yeshiva hoped to continue in serenity but along came
World War I to disrupt its smooth progress. Today, after
having survived the Second World War which was devastating
beyond compare, it is difficult to reconstruct the terrible
difficulties that faced Jewry during that period.
War broke out in 5674 (1914) and caused a veritable
earthquake amongst European Jewry. Great unrest, upheaval,
distress, suffering, wandering. People who lived through that
era, such as Maran HaRav Shach zt"l spoke of it as a
watershed: life after the disruptions of that war never
returned to the way it had been before. The yeshiva could no
longer function in those wartime days, yet it was not
dismantled.
It is difficult to describe the place of the yeshiva in the
lives of those students of yore. It was their very family,
since vast distances and poverty prevented many of the
students from returning home for years on end, even during
good times.
War had erupted? Chaos reigned in the world? One had to move
on, everyone, together with the entire yeshiva. The first
station was Minsk.
The yeshiva continued to operate for several years in Minsk
but as the battle front drew nearer and nearer, they finally
had to relocate. In 1916, the yeshiva moved to the Crimean
peninsula.
Here, too, it resumed its full study regimen, but life was
not easy. Hunger was a constant companion among the Jews, as
well as epidemics and pogroms. One of these pogroms was
vividly described by Rebbetzin Tzila Cohen, daughter of HaRav
Moshe Mordechai. She told how the goyim rioted,
storming from house to house, while the Jews barricaded
themselves inside as best they could.
At this time, a small child became ill and required medicine
urgently. But who would dare poke a head outside the house at
such a treacherous time?
HaRav Moshe Mordechai chose his daughter, Tzila, who was a
clever and very resourceful girl. She ventured forth and
experienced a series of adventures before reaching the
pharmacist, who was amazed to see her.
She obtained the medicine and started for home. Surely, her
parental merit enabled her to reach it unscathed and the
child's life was saved.
Interestingly, it was these four years in the Crimea that
were most productive for the yeshiva. Despite -- or perhaps
because of -- the trials of fear, hunger and tribulation, the
studies flourished to great heights and are remembered to
this day as a golden period of Yeshivas Knesses Yisroel.
In 1920, the yeshiva was permitted to return to Slobodka,
after a six-year exile and wandering. In 1921, it returned to
its mother city, during the Aseres Yemei Tshuva. R' Eliyohu
Meir Feivelson zt'l described the atmosphere in the
yeshiva that year. He, himself, spent the war years in the
Ukraine and when he returned to Lithuania, he experienced a
deep disappointment.
"It was not the Lithuania of before the war," he writes. "I
was besides myself with anguish, to find myself amidst such
ruins, and in such a time as this.
"Therefore, when I was forced to remain in Kovna for Yom
Kippur, I sought to calm the upheaval in my heart by staying
in the room I had occupied in my youth in Yeshivas Slobodka.
And like Columbus, who saw only water and more water -- when
he finally sighted land, exclaimed aloud, `Land! Land!' That
is how I felt when I left behind the alien surroundings and
crossed the bridge separating Kovna from Slobodka and entered
the yeshiva. `Ahoy! Heaven! Heaven!'
"The pillar of avodoh," writes R' Feivelson, "was
embedded in the ground of the yeshiva and its top reached the
very heavens. At the end of the fast, about half an hour
after ma'ariv, the beis medrash again filled
with students who returned to resume their usual study, many
of them remaining there that entire night."
Yeshivas Chevron
The yeshiva continued to flourish and develop in Slobodka.
Some five hundred students filled it, a huge number for those
days and under those conditions. Slobodka concentrated within
its walls the cream of the students, the most capable,
brilliant, promising students, and for three years, it kept
on growing qualitatively.
At that time, the Lithuanian government made a critical
decision: to draft yeshiva students. It was prepared to go
halfway, it said, and give the students an exemption on
condition that they take up secular studies in the yeshiva as
well.
Neither of these two choices even came into question. What to
do? Where to take the yeshiva now?
R' Moshe Mordechai was in the United States at the time of
the announcement. R' Nosson Tzvi contacted him and asked his
advice. What to do in the face of these decrees?
"I replied that in my opinion, it was time to establish a
yeshiva in Eretz Hakodesh. There was hope that
benevolent Jews in America would lend their hand to this
project which really affected all of Jewry."
It was clear, and only natural, that if the yeshiva was
destined to pick itself up and move once more, it should make
its final stop in Eretz Yisroel. R' Moshe Mordechai's
son-in-law, R' Yechezkel Sarna, was sent to Eretz Yisroel to
scout out the possibilities and suggest the most suitable
place for the yeshiva.
Meanwhile, in America, R' Moshe Mordechai was laying the
groundwork for transferring the yeshiva to its new venue. He
approached men of means, "the big guns," and they were able
to raise the huge sum of $20,000 to cover the expenses of
relocating the students from Slobodka to Chevron proper.
Chevron was the city chosen by R' Yechezkel Sarna as the most
suitable, convenient place for the yeshiva transplanted from
Lithuania.
The first guard sent there were those who had been served a
draft notice. However by the time they reached Chevron, the
decree in Slobodka had been annulled. R' Moshe Mordechai saw
this as a sign that "Heaven willed that a new yeshiva be
founded in Chevron, a central, prominent yeshiva that would
attract all kinds of students to Eretz Yisroel, for `there is
no Torah like that of Eretz Yisroel.' "
To transport a fully established and famous yeshiva like
Knesses Yisroel to Eretz Yisroel was an astonishing decision
which had no precedent whatsoever! Even the British High
Commissioner of the British Mandate noted the event of the
"emigration of the yeshiva from Slobodka to Palestine," in a
report he sent to the Mandate committee.
The organization and preparation spread across the whole
summer of 1924. The first wave was accompanied by the
menahel ruchani, HaRav Avrohom Grodzensky Hy'd,
who later returned to Kovno where he met his death in the
Holocaust.
The first ten students reached Chevron in Elul, and for the
Yomim Noraim of 5685 (1924) they already held services
there.
The beginning was not easy, but the yeshiva was welcomed
cordially and joyfully. "The poor city simply came to life,"
says Rebbetzin Rochel Chevroni, daughter of R' Moshe
Mordechai Epstein. "Trade began to develop and the whole city
experienced a renaissance, thanks to the yeshiva. The Arab
dignitaries of the city even hosted welcoming ceremonies and
declared forthwith that they would pray for the welfare of
the yeshiva. One time, when a rumor began spreading that the
yeshiva was thinking of moving, a special delegation was
formed which officially came and requested that the Rosh
Yeshiva change his mind and remain in Chevron."
"Who Allocated of His Wisdom..."
The Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Moshe Mordechai Epstein
ztvk'l, joined the yeshiva in the winter of 5685.
He received a royal welcome. In Jerusalem, where he first
arrived, some five thousand residents, headed by revered
rabbis, came to pay him their respects at the train station.
They lined up in two long rows, esteemed rabbis and scholars,
between which walked R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, chief rabbi
of Jerusalem, to be the first to give him his hand in
welcome.
With full pomp and ceremony, he uttered the blessing, saying
Hashem's name, declaring "Shecholak michochmoso . . .
-- Who allocated of His wisdom to those who fear Him." And
the entire assemblage thundered a rousing "Amen."
On the following day, R' Moshe Mordechai continued on to
Chevron, with many accompanying him all the way to Chevron.
The entourage stopped at Kever Rochel, where they all prayed
amidst tears and great devotion.
At the outskirts of Chevron, an impressive Gateway of Honor
had been erected and all the Jews of the city, Ashkenazic and
Sephardic alike, turned out to show him a grand welcome.
Maran the Alter of Slobodka only came in the ensuing summer
and was accorded a similar show of effusive respect and
welcome. A year later, HaRav Yehuda Leib Chasman immigrated
as well. He served in the capacity of the yeshiva's
menahel mussar. The yeshiva, so it seemed, was
becoming firmly established and ready to continue
flourishing.
Then the yeshiva suffered a drastic setback. Its founder and
head, HaRav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, suddenly passed away. R'
Moshe Mordechai, who was again raising funds in America on
behalf of the yeshiva, was heartbroken. He sent a most moving
letter to the yeshiva bewailing the terrible and painful
loss. "My spirit is dulled, my hands are weak."
Nonetheless, HaRav Moshe Mordechai conveyed a very clear
message. Unnatural reasons had brought the yeshiva to
Chevron, he writes, "It is clear to me that Divine Providence
willed a Torah center to be established in the Holy Land, to
raise the banner of Torah and yir'oh, to demonstrate
before all of Israel that only Torah and its designated
leaders can build up the Land and its people."
Yeshivas Chevron experienced five years of growth in Chevron,
up till 5689 (TaRPaT-1929). The date will go down in history
as an infamous one: The eighteenth of Av, which fell on a
Shabbos. The day of the brutal massacre, so typical of the
barbaric Arabs. Dozens of yeshiva students were slaughtered
in cold blood on that ignominious day. The pogrom came to a
final halt only at the very doorstep of HaRav Moshe
Mordechai.
This was the end of the yeshiva in Chevron and the beginning
of its years in Jerusalem. Since then, Yeshivas Knesses
Yisroel has been known to one and all as Yeshivas Chevron, or
simply, "Chevron," with the accent on the first syllable
[contrary to proper Hebrew pronunciation], though its full
official name is "Yeshivas Chevron Knesses Yisroel."
Destiny could have easily positioned the yeshiva in Bnei
Brak. The mayor then, R' Yitzchok Gerstenkorn, approached the
rosh yeshiva R' Moshe Mordechai, to relocate the yeshiva
there and even sent him a Writ of Rabbinate, offering him the
official position of Chief Rabbi of Bnei Brak. Why the rosh
yeshiva declined the offer, no one really knows.
The yeshiva had suffered a terrible blow, almost a critical,
mortal one. Just like that, in the very midst of its
productive expansion and development, without any
forewarning, this devastating stroke. It now had to lift
itself up from the ruins and begin all over again to rebuild
and reestablish itself with renewed vigor and effort.
Days of Hunger and Want
Gloomy days descended upon the yeshiva in Jerusalem. Despite
the fact that it had no permanent quarters, the sound of
Torah did not cease. The yeshiva was first located in the
Achva shul in Geula and the students studied there, hoping
for better times around the corner. But these were delayed.
The Chevron massacre had claimed an additional toll: the Rosh
Yeshiva, R' Moshe Mordechai, was so devastated that he was
unable to rally. His heart broke and he fell ill.
With the situation being as tenuous as it was, the Rosh
Yeshiva was unable to go abroad to raise funds. But he sent
his son-in-law, HaRav Yechezkel Sarna, in his stead. R' Sarna
stayed in the U.S. for a full year, with nothing to show for
his efforts. A very serious blow was the passing of R' Moshe
Mordechai on the tenth of Kislev, 5694 (1933).
Without a captain, without a ship, in surroundings that
looked upon the yeshiva students as invaders, the yeshiva
struggled dearly for its existence. The residents of the Old
Yishuv, a different breed altogether, looked askance at the
yeshiva boys who dressed like Europeans and were very
particular about an immaculate, groomed appearance.
It was HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, meticulous as he was
about traditional garb, who broke the ice. He showed great
deference towards the yeshiva and its heads and made it
possible for the students to become accepted in the
Jerusalemite Torah society on an equal footing.
After the passing of the Rosh Yeshiva, R' Sarna took over.
The leadership of the yeshiva was also shared by the other
sons-in-law, namely, R' Moshe Chevroni and R' Aharon Cohen
ztvk'l. Bogged down deeply in debt, the yeshiva
succeeded, somehow, in surviving. It had, as in the past, a
great measure of Heavenly assistance.
A place was soon found: the old building on Rechov Chagai
(now known as "Chevron-Geula"). On both sides were buildings
that housed the yeshiva office and the residences of the
roshei yeshiva and their families but the lot between was, as
yet, unbuilt. The construction was undertaken by the Weizman
brothers, owners of the Nur match factory, who had formed an
attachment to the Rosh Yeshiva.
In 5699 (1939), ten years after the Chevron massacre, Knesset
Yisroel celebrated the dedication of the beis medrash,
dining room, kitchen and dormitory. And from thereon in,
things were much brighter for Yeshivas Chevron, except for
another shaking event, the demise of the mashgiach,
HaRav Leib Chasman zt'l. HaRav Meir Chodosh
zt"l was appointed in his place.
The yeshiva was in dire financial straits at this point. The
Second World War was raging at the time. Both daughters of R'
Moshe Mordechai Epstein and their families in Europe were
killed. The financial and defense situation in Eretz Yisroel
was very shaky as well, and the yeshiva teetered at the brink
of collapse.
It seemed as if every single day was a new struggle for mere
survival. Numerous times, R' Yechezkel was served an order of
confiscation and even orders of imprisonment for not paying
the yeshiva's growing debts. "Only one whose sleep evades him
at night for worry of what the yeshiva students will eat on
the morrow is worthy of the title `Rosh Yeshiva,' " he once
noted.
Every penny that came in was earmarked for food. The Rosh
Yeshiva himself, and his family, were lowest on the scale of
priorities. It's said that R' Moshe Chevroni would sit and
study in those difficult times without budging from his seat,
and sometimes he did not even taste as much as a
kezayis in twenty-four hours.
Whoever was then in the yeshiva on Rechov Chagai cannot help
remembering R' Shleime most fondly. R' Shleime was the Geula
grocer, a most righteous Jew, who lent his shoulder to the
suffering of the yeshiva and its survival.
The students would come to his store with the strangest means
of payment: promissory notes from the yeshiva. R' Shleime
would give them bread and half or a quarter of a margarine.
Didn't he know that those notes were worthless, without any
backing? Surely he knew. But he was also well aware for what
purpose he was providing the bread, and what he was getting
in return. "Can I possibly bear the responsibility of denying
them and stilling the voice of Torah?" he once said.
The one who prevented the total collapse of the yeshiva for a
long time was this local grocer, a unique tzaddik.
Sadly, he was forced to close down his store in the end.
These were days of outright hunger. The menu of the main meal
at the yeshiva was no more than one slice of bread with a bit
of orange marmalade. From where did they obtain such a luxury
item as marmalade? From orange peels that were cooked up in
the yeshiva kitchen!
Post War
The Second World War was over by 1945. Refugees began coming
to Eretz Yisroel, which did not improve the general economic
situation at all. Food was scarce, and with new mouths to
feed at the yeshiva from the influx of refugee students, the
debts kept on mounting.
The War of Independence was also brewing. The British Mandate
still ruled Palestine, imposing a curfew upon the streets. To
go forth into the Jerusalem streets spelled danger, but the
hunger was so stark and rampant that there was no choice.
R' Avrohom Moshe, the Rosh Yeshiva, great masmid that
he was, was forced to travel to the U.S. to try to find some
source of income to keep the yeshiva going.
Leaving the country also entailed danger. One first had to
arrange for a visa at the U.S. consulate, on Rechov Mamila,
which can only be compared today to a stroll in the Arab
quarter in Hebron or Shechem. R' Moshe was accompanied by the
one who would later be the administrative head of the
yeshiva, R' Avi Zeloshinsky, who spoke English. They had to
walk clandestinely, hugging the houses, walking down narrow
alleys, hiding as best they could until they reached their
destination and, fortunately, they arrived home safely,
mission accomplished.
R' Moshe traveled to the U.S., leaving his family behind in
wartime, with Jerusalem under heavy and continuous shelling.
Alone and unprotected.
In the U.S., however, he was received warmly by yeshiva
alumni. The Rosh Yeshiva, so removed from worldly things,
found himself in the fleshpots of America -- but he succeeded
admirably. There was something about his stature and demeanor
that opened up and softened hardened hearts. He drove himself
tirelessly and traveled from city to city, going from door to
door.
True, he received much assistance from friends but it was not
his `style' to descend to the common level. A Torah scholar
through and through, this is what he remained throughout. And
as incredible as it sounds, his solid stance found its way to
the hearts of wealthy American businessmen. They recognized
the truth which he represented. He enjoyed a great measure of
siyata deShmaya and succeeded in this first trip to
mobilize a huge sum of money. He was thus able to establish a
solid economic basis for the yeshiva.
Today
There is much more that could be told along these lines but
we will concentrate upon the bottom line: Yeshivas Chevron
today is flourishing and expanding upon its own territory.
Many yeshivos were founded as offshoots of Yeshivas Chevron,
and with its outright help. Many gedolei Torah were
produced from the small building in Geula, which it
eventually outgrew by far. And so the time for the yeshiva to
begin preparing for the big move to its new spacious quarters
in Givat Mordechai, in southern Jerusalem. Geula had become
too central, too busy and distracting a place for a
yeshiva.
Certain changes were to take place before they reached their
new domain. R' Aharon Cohen, the great tzaddik, passed
away first of the three brothers-in-law. Afterwards, R'
Yechezkel was summoned by Heaven to join him. R' Moshe stood
at the helm of the yeshiva for six years but just half a year
short of the major move he, too, passed away.
Then, simultaneously, two great geonim served in
tandem: R' Simcha Zissel Broide zt'l and R' Avrohom
Yehuda Farbstein zt'l.
They like to boast that Yeshivas Chevron had some very
special people upon whom the yeshiva virtually stood. To whom
were they referring? To all kinds of hidden figures whose
very home was the yeshiva.
Take, for example, R' Moshe Mesh. R' Moshe was one of the
original students of the yeshiva founded in Chevron. During
the disastrous pogrom, he vowed that if he survived, he would
dedicate his life to the yeshiva without receiving any
recompense.
He was spared and he fulfilled his vow. R' Moshe, a Jew of
small stature, served the yeshiva in every capacity he could,
doing whatever was needed. He and his wife lived only to do
good for others. They were not blessed with children and
truly, the yeshiva was their very home.
When R' Moshe passed away, very quietly, in the same humble
way as he had lived, something very significant disappeared
from the yeshiva scene.
| ||
| All material
on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted. |
|||