Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim

Last updated
Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim
Rabbinical Seminary of America.jpg
Address
Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim
76-01 147th St

Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
,
New York

United States
Information
TypePrivate elementary, middle school, high school, and beis medrash
Established1933
Founder Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz
PrincipalRabbi Dovid Harris, Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt
Number of students~450

Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim (also known as the Rabbinical Seminary of America) is an Orthodox yeshiva based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, United States. It is primarily an American, non-chasidic Haredi Talmudic yeshiva. [1] The yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) but is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim as that was the nickname of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. It has affiliate branches in Israel and North America.

Contents

History

Brooklyn

The Yeshiva was established in 1933 by Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz, a great-nephew of the Chofetz Chaim. Leibowitz was a disciple of Nosson Tzvi Finkel and he also studied under Naftoli Trop at the Yeshiva in Radun, Belarus.

The yeshiva was named for Leibowitz's great uncle, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, who had died that year. It is officially named Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen, but is often referred to simply as Chofetz Chaim [2] (Hebrew : חָפֵץ חַיִּים), which is commonly used as a name for Kagan, after his book with the same title. Chofetz Chaim means "desires life" in Hebrew.

The Yeshiva's first building was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Queens

In December 1955 it relocated to Forest Hills, Queens. Most recently, at the start of the 2003 academic year, the Yeshiva relocated to Kew Gardens Hills, Queens. [3] [4] [5] [1]

Leadership

After Leibowitz died in December 1941, he was succeeded as head by his son, Henoch Leibowitz, a role held in the 21st century by Dovid Harris [6] and Akiva Grunblatt. [7]

The yeshiva houses a boys' secondary school or Mesivta, Yeshiva Preparatory High School, headed for many years by Rabbi Zechariah Fendel, an undergraduate yeshiva, and a rabbinical school that grants Semicha (ordination). Rabbinical students at the yeshiva often spend a decade or more there, studying a traditional yeshiva curriculum focusing on Talmud, mussar ("ethics"), and halakha ("Jewish law").

Characteristics

The yeshiva is known for six primary characteristics that distinguish it from other schools:

  1. It places an emphasis on unpacking the latent processes of reasoning within the steps of the Talmudic sugya (section of text) being studied. It understands that the initial assumptions of the Talmud must have already been made after a highly rigorous process and therefore that the progression from that initial thought process (known as the hava aminah) to the final conclusion (known as the maskana) must be fully unfolded and understood. [8]
  2. It emphasizes rigor in its approach to ethical and Biblical texts and commentaries with the idea that a deduction from these texts should ideally be "logically and textually compelling." [9]
  3. It places a strong emphasis on the study of Mussar ("ethics"), both by attending and reviewing bi-weekly lectures and through daily individual study. This emphasis began with Dovid Leibowitz, who founded the yeshiva based on the doctrine of his rebbe, the Alter of Slabodka, and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement. The head of the yeshiva, Henoch Leibowitz would continually remind his students that as important as it is to become a lamden ("analytical scholar") and a great pedagogue, it is even more important to become a mentch ("a good human being").
  4. It places a premium upon involvement in Jewish education and on the propagation of the ideals and values of Judaism amongst the greater Jewish population. Upon completion of a rigorous term of study, students are encouraged to seek employment, and they have built institutions, such as schools and synagogues, in communities like Orlando, Florida and Henderson, Nevada that are distant from the major Jewish communal centers in the United States.
  5. The yeshiva is very committed to its students’ subordination to "Daas Torah," as defined in the introduction to the six-volume collection of Henoch Lebowitz's mussar lectures, "Chidushei Halev." It subscribes to the belief that all things are in some way included within the Torah and perforce, one who has spent years dedicated to in-depth study of the Torah is able to appropriately apply its logic to all plausible situations. [10]
  6. It has adopted a philosophy that views as external factors as being of far less significance to internal factors, i.e. an individual should actually work on internal growth rather than on appearances. [11]

Affiliates and branches by location

The network of affiliated schools was selectively built over many decades by Henoch, [6] including, in 1964, the first Israeli branch. [7]

United States

Canada

Israel

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yisrael Meir Kagan</span> Polish rabbi (1838–1933)

Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan was an influential Lithuanian Jewish rabbi, Halakhist, posek, and ethicist whose works continue to be widely influential in Orthodox Jewish life. He was known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin</span> Yeshiva school in the United States

Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin is an American Haredi Lithuanian-type boys' and men's yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. The school's divisions include a preschool, a yeshiva ketana, a mesivta, a college-level beth midrash, and Kollel Gur Aryeh, its post-graduate kollel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivas Ner Yisroel</span> Yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland, US

Ner Israel Rabbinical College, also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a disciple of Rabbi Ruderman and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America, became its head in 2001.

Rosh yeshiva is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and the Torah, and halakha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dovid Leibowitz</span> Lithuanian rabbi

Dovid Leibowitz was a Russian-born American rabbi. A disciple of Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania, he went on to found Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in the United States, where he served as rosh yeshiva (dean).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henoch Leibowitz</span> American rabbi (1918–2008)

Alter Chanoch Henoch Hakohen Leibowitz was an Orthodox rabbi who was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen, which was founded by his father Rabbi Chaim Dovid Hakohen Leibowitz in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dovid Harris</span>

Rabbi Dovid Harris is an Orthodox rabbi who, along with Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt and Rabbi Shaul Opoczynski, serves as Rosh Hayeshiva (deans) at the Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen. He is a prominent figure in the yeshiva world and speaks annually at the Torah Umesorah - National Society for Hebrew Day Schools convention. He also serves on the rabbinic advisory committee of Torah Umesorah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshiva Torah Vodaas</span> American Haredi yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York

Yeshiva Torah Vodaas is a yeshiva in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomchei Tmimim</span> Chabad Lubavitch yeshiva network

Tomchei Tmimim is the central Yeshiva of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Founded in 1897 in the town of Lubavitch by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, it is now an international network of institutions of advanced Torah study, the United Lubavitcher Yeshivoth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elchonon Wasserman</span> Belarusian Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (1874–1941)

Elchonon Bunim Wasserman was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) in prewar Europe. He was one of the closest students of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan and a noted Talmid Chacham. In the interwar period, he served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich. He was murdered during the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naftoli Trop</span>

Rabbi Naftoli Trop was a renowned Talmudist and Talmid Chacham. He served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Radun, Poland.

Yeshiva Gedola and Mesivta of Carteret informally, "YGOC", also called Yeshiva Tiferes Yehuda Aryeh, is a yeshiva and non-profit organization located in Carteret in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.

Rabbi Binyomin Luban is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Toras Chaim Toras Emes in North Miami Beach, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael (Slabodka)</span> Former yeshiva in Vilijampolė, Lithuania

Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael was a yeshiva located in the town of Vilijampolės Slabada in the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire. It operated from the late 19th century until World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shachne Zohn</span>

Rabbi Sholom Shachne Zohn (1910–2012) was a former dean of the Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, who later lived in Jerusalem, Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeshivas Itri</span> Yeshiva school

Yeshivas Itri is an Orthodox yeshiva in southeast Jerusalem. Founded in 1968 by Rabbi Mordechai Elefant, the yeshiva has several branches in Israel and the United States, and spawned several educational programs for Diaspora Jews.

Shmuel Halevi Schecter was a Canadian–American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, educator, and author. Born in Quebec and raised in Baltimore, he traveled to Eastern Europe to study at the Mir Yeshiva as a teenager and at the Kelm Talmud Torah as a young married man. In 1940 he returned to the United States, where he was a co-founder of the first kollel in America, Beth Medrash Govoha, in White Plains, New York. He was a Torah educator in New York and Boston for more than 50 years, and served as dean of Mesivta Toras Emes in Brooklyn. He published a commentary on Orchot Chaim LeHoRosh, a musar work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grodno Yeshiva</span> School in Belarus

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Suri Kasirer, Bruce Teitelbaum". New York Times . April 6, 1997. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Petira of Alter Chanoch Henoch Leibowitz ZT"L". Beyond BT. 15 April 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Horowitz, Rebbetzin Faigie. "Jewish Forest Hills: Resilient and resurgent". Hamodia Magazine. December 13, 2012, pp. 8–11.
  4. ↑ "More Police Near Seminary Asked". New York Times . June 29, 1979. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  5. ↑ "If You're Thinking of Living In/Middle Village, Queens; Where Generation Follows Generation". New York Times . April 23, 2000. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, dies.,Shlomo Greenwald, Jewish Press Staff Reporter". 2009-06-18. Archived from the original on 2009-06-18. Retrieved 2024-02-24.
  7. 1 2 "A Life of Sanctity". www.5tjt.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  8. ↑ Tiferes Dovid pp. 28-29 and particularly footnote 14
  9. ↑ Pinnacle of Creation "Anatomy of a Shmuess" pp. 17-19.
  10. ↑ "Chofetz Chaim: It's not just a Yeshiva. It's a way of life". theyeshivaworld.com. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  11. ↑ https://cross-currents.com/2008/04/17/moreinu-rav-henoch-leibowitz-zt%e2%80%9dl-reflections-from-outside-the-inner-circle/

40°43′23″N73°49′2.03″W / 40.72306°N 73.8172306°W / 40.72306; -73.8172306

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.