Kovno Kollel also known as Kollel Perushim of Kovno or Kollel Knesses Beis Yitzchok, [1] was a kollel located in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was founded in 1877 [2] by Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter [3] when he was 67.
Kovno Kollel's purpose was the furtherance of hora'ah (expertise in deciding matters of Jewish law) and musar - by supporting and guiding exceptional Torah scholars in their development as authorities.
In 1877, Rabbi Yisroel ben Ze’ev Wolf Lipkin – also known as Yisroel Salanter – founded a Kollel (a yeshiva for young, mostly married, men) in the city of Kaunes (Kovno), Lithuania. [4]
The purpose of this Kollel was to teach aspiring scholars the ways of the Musar movement (of which Lipkin was the founder), a non-Hasidic Orthodox movement that sought to emphasize ethical conduct and spiritual devotion.
The project received the blessings, and eventually the name, of the Kovno Rav and posek hador (the generation's outstanding authority in Jewish law), Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, the rabbi of Kovno.
Over the course of several decades the Kovno Kollel grew in size as well as reputation and came to be closely associated with the Musar movement – all of which was possible in a city with as vibrant a Jewish community as that which was found in Kovno before the Second World War.
When the Nazis invaded and occupied Kovno the Kollel suffered the same tragic fate as most of the city’s Jewish residents. [5]
Until 1877, yeshivas only subsidized students until they got married (at an early age). When the Kollel was established, Rabbi Salanter was attacked by many, precisely for this point. He instituted the practice of paying a small salary to married students to continue their advanced Talmudical studies. He defended this innovation because he said that he was training leaders. His argument was that the need for well-trained communal leaders mandated this drastic action. The justification was that these individuals would eventually serve the community, and it was not that because they sat and learned that they should be supported.
By 1877-1878, ten scholars [4] had begun their full-time studies, following a curriculum which included the study of musar literature. In 1879, Rabbi Spektor became its head. Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel served as the mashgiach of the kollel. Rabbi Spektor's son, Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Rabinowitz [6] accepted the administrative responsibilities and was one of the roshei kollel (heads of the kollel), while Rabbi Avrohom Shenker and Rabbi Finkel conducted the internal affairs. Under the latter's guidance, the book Eitz Pri was published, featuring essays by Rabbis Salanter and Spektor - including a foreword by the then lesser-known Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen (the "Chafetz Chaim").
In 1880, Finkel left the kollel so he could devote himself to establishing more kollelim throughout Eastern Europe. In 1880, Spektor also left the Kollel, and Salanter's student Yitzchak Blazer [7] became its new head. Under Blazer's direction, the kollel came to be "considered by its contemporaries as a bastion of the Mussar movement," and was attacked by the Mussar movement's opponents. [8]
The Kovno Kollel was later transferred to Slabodka, a suburb of Kovno, where Rabbi Shimon Zvi Dubiansky was appointed rosh kollel and served there until the outbreak of World War II.
A kollel or colel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning sedarim (sessions); unlike a yeshiva, the student body of a kollel consists mostly of married men. A kollel generally pays a regular monthly stipend to its members.
The Musar movement is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Lithuania, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term Musar, is from the Book of Proverbs (1:2) describing moral conduct, instruction or discipline, educating oneself on how one should act in an appropriate manner. The term was used by the Musar movement to expand the teachings further regarding ethical and spiritual paths. The Musar movement made significant contributions to Musar literature and Jewish ethics. The movement has been revived in the 21st century amongst Jews of all denominations, particularly in the United States.
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Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter", was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. The epithet Salanter was added to his name since most of his schooling took place in Salant, where he came under the influence of Rabbi Yosef Zundel of Salant. He was the father of mathematician Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin.
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Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor or Isaac Elhanan Spector was a Russian rabbi, posek and Talmudic sage of the 19th century.
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A mashgiach ruchani – or mashgiach for short – is a spiritual supervisor or guide. He is usually a rabbi who has an official position within a yeshiva and is responsible for the non-academic areas of yeshiva students' lives.
Yechezkel Sarna (1890–1969) was a disciple of Nosson Tzvi Finkel,, spiritual mentor of the Slabodka yeshiva. He was sent by Finkel to move the yeshiva from Europe to Hebron in 1925, and following the 1929 Hebron massacre, to Jerusalem. In 1934, he assumed the position of rosh yeshiva. Over the years, he produced thousands of students, many of whom became prominent roshei yeshiva and rabbis in Israel and abroad.
Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman was a prominent Talmudic scholar and rabbi who founded and served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore.
Eliezer Gordon also known as Reb Laizer Telzer, served as the rabbi and rosh yeshiva of Telz, Lithuania.
Chaim Shalom Tuvia Rabinowitz, also known as Reb Chaim Telzer, was an Orthodox Lithuanian rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Telshe yeshiva. He developed a unique method of Talmudic analysis which became renowned throughout the yeshiva world as the Telzer Derech.
The Novardok Yeshiva in Navahrudak, then the Russian Empire, was one of the biggest and most important yeshivas in pre-World War II Europe, and a powerful force within the Mussar movement. It was the first of hundreds of a network of Musar yeshivas, which were created subsequently. They all assumed the name of Novardok yeshivas.
Naftoli Trop was a renowned Talmudist and Talmid Chacham. He served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Radun, Poland.
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Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Ferber was a renowned Talmudic and Torah scholar, gifted orator, prolific author and tireless community builder. A man of outstanding knowledge and talent, he was an exemplar of old-world Lithuanian Torah scholarship and sagacity.
Yitzchak Blazer (1837–1907) was an early important leader of the Musar movement.
Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael was a yeshiva located in the Lithuanian town of Slabodka (Vilijampolė), adjacent to Kovno (Kaunas). It was known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high-level study of the Talmud. It functioned from the late 19th century until World War II.
Yeshivas Knesses Beis Yitzchak was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva, founded in Slabodka on the outskirts of Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1897. The yeshiva later moved to Kamyenyets, then part of Poland, and currently in Belarus, and is therefore often referred to as the Kaminetz Yeshiva or simply Kaminetz. The yeshiva was famously led by Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz.
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The Kovno Kollel also known as Kollel Perushim of Kovno or Kollel Knesses Beis Yitzchok, was ...
Kollel Kovno was the first kernel of the yeshivah, established in 5637 (1877).
Yitzchak Elchanan Yeshiva is also known as the Kovno Kollel (also known as ... It was founded in 1877 by Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter)
... the Kovno Kollel, the "Kollel Perushim" founded in Kovno (Lithuania) in 1877. The ten students were required to separate from their families, except for the Sabbath, and devote themselves to studying for the Rabbinate.
On 12 Tamuz. 5701 (1941), Rav Elchonon was murdered in Kovno along with ... Within six months of the German occupation, half of all the Jews of Kovno ...
... Kovno, 1877, ... joined by Rabbi Yitzchak Blaser
Coordinates: 54°54′30″N23°53′30″E / 54.90833°N 23.89167°E
