The brit milah or bris is the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to the Book of Genesis, God commanded the biblical patriarch Abraham to be circumcised, an act to be followed by his male descendants on the eighth day of life, symbolizing the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Today, it is generally performed by a mohel on the eighth day after the infant's birth and is followed by a celebratory meal known as seudat mitzvah.
Moshe Mordechai Epstein was rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century. He is also one of the founders of the city of Hadera.
A mohel is a Jewish man trained in the practice of brit milah, the "covenant of male circumcision". Women who are trained in the practice are referred to as a mohelet.
Ruzhin is the name of a Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Yisroel Friedman (1796–1850) in the town of Ruzhyn, Ukraine, today an urban-type settlement in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine.
Sadigura is a Hasidic dynasty named for the city of Sadhora, Bukovina, which was part of the Austrian Empire. The dynasty began in 1850 with Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, a son of Rabbi Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhyn, and was based in Sadigura until 1914. During the interwar period the dynasty was led by rebbes in Vienna and Przemyśl, Poland, and just before World War II moved to Israel.
Avraham Yaakov Pam was the rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn, New York.
Sholom Mordechai Hakohen Schwadron was a Haredi rabbi and orator. He was known as the "Maggid of Jerusalem" for his fiery, inspirational mussar talks. Some of the stories he told about the character and conduct of Torah leaders and tzadikim of previous generations were incorporated in the "Maggid" series of books by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, whom Rabbi Schwadron mentored.
Chaim Yehuda Leib Auerbach was a haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which he helped found in 1906. He was the father of the posek Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
Yaakov Yosef Herman (1880–1967) was an Orthodox Jewish pioneer in the United States in the early 20th century. A native of Slutsk, Belarus, he immigrated with his parents and younger sister to New York City at the age of 8 and was left on his own five years later after his family returned to Russia. Following his marriage, Herman became known for feeding and lodging dozens of people in his home, including visiting European rabbis seeking kosher meals. He displayed a staunch commitment to mitzvah observance at a time that many abandoned their faith, and urged promising young Jewish men to pursue advanced Torah study in the great yeshivas of Europe, including his son-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg (1910–2012). For his promulgation of Torah values to his co-religionists, Herman was called the "Chofetz Chaim of America" by Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, the Kaminetz rosh yeshiva, who lived with the Hermans for two years while he was fundraising in the United States. Herman's youngest daughter, Ruchoma Shain (1914–2013), immortalized his exploits in All For The Boss: The life and impact of R' Yaakov Yosef Herman, a Torah pioneer in America: An affectionate family chronicle, first published by Feldheim in 1984.
Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah-Grodno is an Orthodox yeshiva and high school in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. It was founded in 1974 by Rabbi Kalman Epstein and Rabbi Sholom Spitz. It has programs for high school boys, as well as undergraduate and graduate programs that result in Talmudic law degrees.
Avrohom Yaakov Friedman was the first Rebbe of the Sadigura Hasidic dynasty. He lived in the palatial home constructed by his father, Rabbi Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhyn, who fled to the Austrian town of Sadhora due to persecution by the Russian Tsar. He maintained his father's extravagant lifestyle while immersing himself in Torah study and mysticism. He was considered the greatest Rebbe of his era, attracting hundreds of thousands of Jews as well as prominent Christian leaders to his court.
Shraga Moshe Kalmanowitz was a Polish-American Orthodox rabbi. He was a rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York, from 1964 to 1998.
Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon is a Lithuanian-style Orthodox yeshiva in Jerusalem. The yeshiva was initially established in 1953 in Los Angeles, California, by Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, who named it in memory of his father, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, rosh yeshiva in Baranowicz, who was murdered in the Holocaust in Lithuania. The yeshiva operated in Los Angeles from 1953 to 1977, when it was sold to the Chabad movement. After Wasserman immigrated to Jerusalem, he established another Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon in the Ezrat Torah neighborhood in 1979. A second branch was opened in the Romema neighborhood in 1993. Ohr Elchonon enrolls hundreds of boys in yeshiva ketana and yeshiva gedolah, and close to 100 married men in its kollel. Additional yeshiva ketana branches have been established in the Israeli cities of Modiin Illit, Rishon Letzion, and Tiberias.
Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich, commonly referred to as the Baranovich Yeshiva or simply as Baranovich, was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Baranavichy, Belarus. Established circa 1906 by Rabbi Yosef Yoizel Horowitz, the Alter of Novardok (Navahrudak), it attracted leading rabbis such as Rabbi Yisroel Yaakov Lubchansky and Rabbi Avraham Yoffen as instructors, but was forced to disband with the outbreak of World War I. After the war, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, a student of the Radin Yeshiva who had been forced into exile in Smilavičy during the hostilities, agreed to serve as rosh yeshiva (dean) upon the recommendation of the Chofetz Chaim. In the interwar period, the yeshiva gained widespread fame and a large student body. Wasserman's style of teaching emphasized the simple meaning of the Talmudic texts and students advanced to the point that they were able to study independently. The yeshiva went into exile and disbanded a second time during World War II, and Wasserman and many of the students were murdered by Lithuanian Nazi sympathizers. Torah institutions named after the Baranovich Yeshiva and Wasserman were later established in the United States and Israel.
Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah – Grodna, often referred to as the Grodna Yeshiva or simply as Grodna, was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in the Belarusian city of Grodno, then under Russian rule. Founded during World War I, Shimon Shkop became rosh yeshiva (dean) in 1920.
After the German invasion of Poland in World War II and the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union, many yeshivas that had previously been part of Poland found themselves under Soviet communist rule, which did not tolerate religious institutions. The yeshivas therefore escaped to Vilnius in Lithuania on the advice of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. In Lithuania, the yeshivas were able to function fully for over a year and many of the students survived the Holocaust because of their taking refuge there, either because they managed to escape from there or because they were ultimately deported to other areas of Russia that the Nazis did not reach. Many students, however, did not manage to escape and were killed by the Nazis or their Lithuanian collaborators.
Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva in Telshe (Telšiai), Lithuania.
Rabbi Chaim Yehudah Leib Tiktinsky was a prominent 19th century Eastern European rabbi. He served as rosh yeshiva of the Mir Yeshiva in Russia, the third of the Tiktinsky family to serve the position.
Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, often referred to as Rav Elya Meir Bloch, was a leading Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the United States in the years after World War II. He founded the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio together with Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz, and served as its first rosh yeshiva.
