[If you scroll down to the names of the Prominent Rabbis you will recognize names that we read in the news, voices supporting Torah, Bnei Torah, standing tall for HKB”H and our Mesora, fighting for the Torah community, and hear some making bombastic statements that reach into every Israeli Neshoma. These Lions of Torah are responsible for the continuation of our way of life in a sometimes hostile world.] (please leave your comments)
JUST LIKE RABBI KOTLAR CARRIED THE TORAH TO AMERICA AND CREATED THE MIGHTY YESHIVA IN LAKEWOOD TO BRING THE WORD OF HASHEM PLANTED IN THE NEW WORLD, THE LIONS OF SLABODKA BROUGHT THE DVAR HASHEM TO ERETZ YISRAEL.
Yeshivas Slabodka (Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael) was a legendary Torah academy founded in 1881 in Slabodka (Vilijampol臈), a suburb of Kovno, Lithuania, by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel (the "Alter of Slabodka"). It became famous for pioneering the Mussar Movement (moral introspection), fostering elite analytical Talmudic study, and raising a generation of preeminent rabbinic leaders. [from an ai overview]
Foundation and Philosophy in Lithuania
- Creation: Established in 1881 by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel under the spiritual influence of the Kovno Kollel and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter's ethical framework.
- The Mussar Approach: Integrated rigorous, high-level Talmudic analysis with deep, daily character refinement (mussar).
- Greatness of Man (Gadlus HaAdam): Promoted a unique philosophy emphasizing the supreme dignity, nobility, and potential of the human individual.
- The "Standard": Encouraged students to dress cleanly and maintain an elevated, dignified external appearance to reflect internal greatness.
The Move to Hebron (1924)
- Draft Pressures: Relocated a branch to Palestine in 1924 when Lithuania stopped exempting full-time yeshiva students from military conscription.
- Establishment in Hebron: Led by Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein and joined later by the Alter of Slabodka, becoming the foundation of the Hebron Yeshiva.
- 1929 Tragedy: Hit hard by the 1929 Arab riots in Hebron where 25 students were murdered, forcing a permanent relocation to Jerusalem.
Destruction and Reestablishment
- European Remnant: The original Kovno/Slabodka branch under Rabbi Yitzchak Sher functioned until the Holocaust, when most remaining faculty and students perished.
- Post-War Rebirth: Reopened after World War II in Bnei Brak, Israel, by survivors, continuing its legacy as a prominent modern Lithuanian-style Torah academy
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This next section is from Wikipedia
From the second half of the 19th century onwards, Kovno became a hub of Jewish cultural activity in Lithuania. Prominent scholars included Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (the "Kovner Rav"; officiated 1864–96), Abraham Mapu, one of the first modern Hebrew writers, and Israel Isidor Elyashev, known as the "Ba'al Makhshoves," the first Yiddish literary critic. The yeshivot of Slobodka, particularly the Or HaChaim yeshivah founded by Tzvi Levitan around 1863 (also known as Yeshivas R' Hirschel), attracted students from other countries. Nosson Tzvi Finkel, also known as "Der Alter fun Slabodka" (The Elder of Slabodka), who had also founded several kollelim in the area, served as mashgiach ruchani (spiritual supervisor) and introduced Musar ideals there.
In 1882, Nosson Tzvi Finkel merged his kollelim and the Ohr Hachaim yeshiva to form the "Slabodka Yeshiva". Finkel oversaw the institution while Yitzchak Yaakov Rabinowitz was appointed rosh yeshiva, a position he held until 1893. After his departure, Finkel appointed two brothers-in-law, Moshe Mordechai Epstein and Isser Zalman Meltzer, as rosh yeshivas. Meltzer left three years later to lead the Slutsk Yeshiva of the Ridvaz.
Division
In 1897, opposition to the Musar method emerged among the students, leading to a split in the yeshiva. The Musar movement followers moved to a separate building, while the opponents established the Knesses Beis Yitzchak yeshivah, named after Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor. Finkel, a strong proponent of the Musar movement, led the Knesses Yisrael faction. Epstein, who remained loyal to Finkel, continued his role at Knesses Yisrael despite being offered the position of rosh yeshiva at Knesses Beis Yitzchak.
Although there was initial rivalry between the two institutions, they eventually achieved a peaceful coexistence. This was largely due to Epstein becoming a posek in Slabodka under Moshe Danishevky, who served as Knesses Beis Yitzchak's rosh yeshiva, facilitating cooperation between the two rosh yeshivas.
World War I
Shortly after World War I began in 1914, some members of the yeshiva, including Finkel, Epstein, and the mashgiach ruchani Ber Hirsch Heller, fled Slabodka for Minsk, which was farther from the front lines. When the Germans started bombing Minsk, most of the yeshiva moved to Kremenchug, though a small group remained in Minsk under the leadership of Finkel's son, Moshe Finkel. The yeshiva in Kremenchug had approximately 40 to 50 students, in addition to the teachers and their families. In 1920, the yeshiva was prepared to return to Slabodka. They traveled through Minsk and Vilnius, and had to pay smugglers to cross the Russian-Lithuanian border.
Partial relocation to Palestine
The Alter of Slabodka surrounded by students in Hebron
Main article: Hebron Yeshiva
A 1924 edict mandating military enlistment or supplementary secular studies in the yeshiva prompted many students from the Slabodka yeshiva to relocate to Mandatory Palestine. The Alter of Slabodka sent Avraham Grodzinski and Yechezkel Sarna to Palestine to find a suitable location for the yeshiva, and they chose Hebron. The staff of the yeshiva in Lithuania was divided between the original Lithuanian yeshiva and the new Hebron branch, known as the Hebron Yeshiva. Epstein was appointed rosh yeshiva in Hebron, while Finkel and Yehuda Leib Chasman served as mashgiachs. In Lithuania, Finkel's son-in-law Yitzchak Isaac Sher became rosh yeshiva, with Ber Hirsch Heller and Grodzinski serving as mashgiachs. Following the 1929 Hebron massacre, which resulted in the murder of twenty-four students, the yeshiva was re-established in the Geula neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
Holocaust and relocation to Israel
Slabodka yeshiva (Bnei Brak)
After World War II, the original yeshiva building was confiscated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The building, with its unique design—shaped like a Torah scroll—is still visible today in Lithuania. The yeshiva was reestablished by Sher in Bnei Brak, Israel as Slabodka yeshiva Bnei Brak.
Alumni
Pominent Rabbis: The Lions of Slabodka that brought Lithuanian Torah to Eretz Yisrael and to Bnei Brak:
- Israel Bettan, American rabbi and professor
- David Cohen, rabbi, talmudist, philosopher and kabbalist
- Tzvi Hirsch Ferber, rabbi in Soho, London
- Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Mir yeshiva in both Poland and Jerusalem
- Tzvi Pesach Frank, halakhic scholar and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem
- Avraham Grodzinski, mashgiach ruchani, Slabodka yeshiva
- Reuven Grozovsky, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
- Yosef Zvi HaLevy, Israeli rabbi and head of the rabbinical court for Tel Aviv-Yafo
- Yitzchok Hutner, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin
- Meyer Juzint, American Talmudic scholar
- Avraham Kalmanowitz, rosh yeshiva, Mir yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York
- Yaakov Kamenetsky, rosh yeshiva, Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
- Avraham Elya Kaplan, rosh yeshiva, Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
- Aharon Kotler, rosh yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha
- Dovid Leibowitz, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen
- Yehuda Levenberg, chief rabbi and rosh yeshiva in New Haven, CT
- Yeruchom Levovitz, mashgiach ruchani, Mir yeshiva (Belarus)
- Avigdor Miller, mashgiach ruchani, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, and the Rabbi of his shul, Beis Yisroel in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY
- Ephraim Oshry, Lithuanian-born posek, rabbi of Beth Hamedrash Hagodol and Holocaust survivor
- Eliezer Palchinsky, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Beis Aryeh, Jerusalem
- Shlomo Polachek, Talmudic scholar and one of the earliest rosh yeshivas in America
- Pesach Pruskin, rabbi and rosh yeshiva in Kobrin
- Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Ner Yisroel, Baltimore
- Yechezkel Sarna, rosh yeshiva, Hebron yeshiva
- Elazar Shach, rosh yeshiva, Ponovezh yeshiva
- Moshe Shatzkes, Polish-born rabbi and rosh yeshiva, Yeshivas Grodno
- Zalman Sorotzkin, Polish-born rabbi
- Isaac Stollman, rabbi, author and religious Zionist leader
- Naftoli Trop, rosh yeshiva, Radu艅 Yeshiva
- Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, rosh yeshiva, Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
One of Our Famous Rabbis
Rabbi Avigdor Miller often shared vivid memories of his transformative years studying at the famed Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania from 1932 to 1938
Rabbi Miller describing spending Elul in Slabodka:
I’d like to speak about it at length. But briefly, in Slabodka on Rosh Chodesh Elul they began saying a shmuz every day; instead of three times a week now it was every day. And we spoke constantly about the Yom Hadin. As Rosh Hashanah was approaching the air was saturated with gravity, a seriousness. They were serious. All of our thoughts were, “We’re approaching the Day of Judgment.” The entire month was spent in preparation for Rosh Hashanah. All Elul.
Do you understand what that means? When Rosh Hashanah finally came, it was a sight to see. I can’t forget the sight. We’re sitting there at nighttime. And the chazan said “Borchu” and a roar rose from the yeshivah people, raising the roof. “Boruch Hashem hamevorach li’olam va’ed!” Then they sat down quietly.
When they sat down it was quiet. And then all together they started the first bracha before kriyas shema, the word boruch. “Boruch, oy yoy yoy oy yoy oy yoy.” And they were weeping and shouting. Boruch means blessed, but you have to put all that you can into these words now. Boruch means, “We’re thanking You. We bless You. We love You Hashem.” And then “Atah – You! You! You!” And so every word they said took a long time. And finally it quieted down. It quieted down, and the shatz said like this, “Boruch atah Hashem hama’ariv aravim,” and then there was an amen, a roar of an amen! It was an experience. You davened ma’ariv in the yeshivah on Rosh Hashanah, and you were a new person when you came out. No question about it.
And then aseres yemei teshuvah and then Yom Kippur, oh wah!
I remember motzaei Yom Kippur in the morning, the rosh yeshivah gave a little shmooze. Some boys were going home for Sukkos, and he said “You have built up a tower, an edifice of yiras shamayim, of daas, but be careful. You go home and sometimes, you can ruin it. Simchas Torah, other times, there’s leitzanus. 诇讬爪谞讜转 讗讞转 讚讜讞讛 诪讗讛 转讜讻讞讜转 – one leitzanus can overthrow a hundred edifices of daas. Even the great tower that you built up in yiras shamayim, one day of kalus rosh, lightheaded gaiety – like in some small synagogues they become a little wild on Simchas Torah – it throws everything down and you ruin that building.”
And so when you build up an edifice of yiras shamayim, see to it that it remains standing. Always keep your mind on it. You can always be cheerful. You don’t have to be sad; no, sadness is also the same as leitzanus. Sadness is leitzanus too. Atzvus is leitzanus too. But don’t be gay and don’t be wild. Don’t kibitz; don’t joke around. That building was erected with great effort. It took a whole month of shmuzen, mussar learning, yiras shamayim to raise that edifice. Just by listening to the davening we were changed; they all davened together. It was a tremendous sight to see them davening together. So whatever you built up, make sure that building remains until next year. Then you’ll add some more stories to that building again.
I wish I could speak to you at length about what it was like in the yeshiva during Elul.
This Article is from TAPE # E-29 on Toras Avigdor, https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-elul-in-slabodka/
More from Rabbi Miller:
Rav Avigdor Miller on the Greatness o the Alter of Slabodka. LINK: https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-alter-of-slabodka/
Rav Avigdor Miller on the Day After Yom Kippur
LINK: https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-day-after-yom-kippur/
Rav Avigdor Miller on Emunah and Daas
In Slabodka I had two rebbes, zichronom livrocha, and boruch Hashem they were both inspirations to me. I will describe to you how different their behavior was on Purim.
On Purim it was a minhag of the bnei hayeshiva to go to all the roshei yeshiva and menahalim of the yeshiva. We went to the homes of the roshei yeshiva and to the mashgiach and we went to all the important people of the yeshiva. And these two rebbes of mine were different in the way they behaved on Purim. Pay attention, because the ways of tzaddikim we have to learn; both of them are ways in avodas Hashem.
One rebbe—I won’t tell names—when he sat at the head of the table and the yeshiva people were dancing around the table, he was watching to see who was a little wild, and those were the ones he gave wine or a glass of schnapps to. He poured fuel on the fire in order it should burn more brightly!
The other rebbe was an old misnaged type; a cold misnaged. When we were dancing around his table, he looked at the boys suspiciously to see if somebody was ungeshikert, intoxicated, and anyone who was drunk and a little wild, his face turned unhappy and sour. That was the other rebbe.
Now, which rebbe I followed you can understand yourself! The rebbe’s face that was sour, that’s the one I followed. And this rebbe said two separate schmoozen. One schmooze was that you shouldn’t get drunk on Purim; you should drink but don’t get drunk. Because gedolah deiah – how great it is to have daas! It means Awareness of Hashem. It’s always good to have daas. You drink 注讚 讚诇讗 讬讚注 – until you don’t know. 注讚 means 注讚 讜诇讗 注讚 讘讻诇诇; it means just before you lose your deiah, that’s when you stop. You should drink 注讚 讚诇讗 讬讚注 – until you don’t know. When you reach that stage, you’re yotzei already the mitzvah, more than that – stop. That was one schmooze; that whatever you do, you shouldn’t lose your deiah on Purim.
Because Purim is a time of deiah; Purim is time to gain Daas Hashem, Awareness of Hashem. 谞讜讚注 讛砖诐 诪砖驻讟 注砖讛 讘驻注诇 讻驻讬讜 谞讜拽砖 专砖注 – Hashem becomes known when He does justice; when the wicked is ensnared in the work of his hands. So when Haman was hung on the same eitz that he made for Mordechai, it was 讘驻讜注诇 讻驻讬讜, it was the work of his own hands, 谞讜拽砖 专砖注, that ensnared the rasha, and that’s when 谞讜讚注 讛砖诐 – that’s when you get daas Hashem awareness of Hashem. That’s when you get real emunah. When you see 讘讜专 讻专讛 讜讬讞驻专讛讜 讜讬驻讜诇 讘砖讞转 讬驻注诇, that the wicked falls into the same pit that he himself made for somebody else, that’s when people get daas of Hashem.
So Purim is a time to recognize Hakodosh Boruch Hu from what happened on Purim and to be mifarseim the nes, to publicize what Hashem did for us. And therefore Purim is not a time to lose your deiah, no. On Purim you have to have deiah, you have to acquire deiah. Only you drink up till then, as we said before, in order to get more hislahavus in deiah; more enthusiasm in this knowledge of Hashem.
However, the other time we went to him he said as follows: Since Purim is a time for deiah, therefore we have to know that there’s a rule that the Mesillas Yesharim teaches us: 讛讞讬爪讜谞讬讜转 诪注讜专专转 讗转 讛驻谞讬诪讬讜转 – The outward acts of a person awaken up the inner thoughts. By doing certain outward actions, you stimulate your inner machshovos, your emotions.
“Therefore,” he said, “on Purim when we dance—we were dancing around his table—every stamp you make on the floor—the floor was shaking from that—every stamp you make, you have to know that you’re stamping emunah into your neshama.”
Don’t think it’s not so! You may be thinking also of a good time; why not? You like the exhilaration of dancing; you can let go on Purim. But if you’re doing it with a little bit of lisheim shomayim, you have to know that you’re imprinting emunah onto your neshama. That’s what you’re doing. “Every klop that you knock with your foot,” he told us, “you’re knocking the emunah into your neshama more clearly.”
From the Rav’s Purim Mesiba, 转砖诪״讛, March 7th 1985
See here an artist’s Charcoal on Paper/Canvas renditions:
Soul of the Shtetl > Yeshivot and Shtetl Life
Soul of the Shtetl > Religious Scenes from the Warsaw Ghetto
