A kollel 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 most yeshivot, the student body of a kollel typically consists mostly of married men. A kollel generally pays a regular monthly stipend to its members.
Aharon Kotler was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and the United States; the latter being where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey.
Isser Zalman Meltzer, was a Jewish rabbi, rosh yeshiva and posek. He was known as the "Even HaEzel", after the title of his commentary on Rambam's Mishneh Torah.
Yosef Chaim Shneur Kotler was an Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbi from the Lithuanian movement and rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey from 1962 to 1982. During his tenure, he developed the Lithuanian-style, Haredi but non-Hasidic yeshiva into the largest post-graduate Torah institution in the world. He also established Lakewood-style kollels in 30 cities, and pioneered the establishment of community kollels in which Torah scholars study during the morning and afternoon hours and engage in community outreach during the evenings. Upon his death, he had served as the Lakewood rosh yeshiva for exactly the same amount of time as had his father, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, the founding rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha: nineteen years, seven months, and one day.
Aryeh Malkiel Kotler is a Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, one of the largest yeshivas in the world. He is a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America.
Yeshiva Toras Chaim (YTC) is an all-male, Lithuanian (Litvish)-style Talmudic academy in the West Colfax neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. YTC was founded in Denver in 1967. It is headed by the Roshei Yeshiva, Rav Yisroel Meir Kagan, and Rav Yitzchok Wasserman, both students of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, founder and Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Matisyahu Chaim Salomon was an English-born American rabbi, author and public speaker. He served as the mashgiach ruchani of Beth Medrash Govoha, one of the world's largest yeshivas, located in Lakewood, New Jersey, United States. An opponent of unrestrained internet access in the Orthodox Jewish community, he spearheaded a campaign to have internet filters installed on all computers and smartphones.
The Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia is a Haredi Litvish yeshiva in the Overbrook neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its heads of school are Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rabbi Shimon Yehudah Svei and Rabbi Sholom Kaminetsky.
Beth Medrash Govoha is a Haredi Jewish Lithuanian yeshiva in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. It was founded by Rabbi Aharon Kotler in 1943 and is the second-largest yeshiva in the world, after Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. As of 2019, it had 6,715 students, 2,748 regular and 3,967 in Kollel status. The principal Rosh yeshiva since 1982 is Rabbi Malkiel Kotler. Talmud and halakha studies in the institution are carried in the form of over 200 small groups, Chaburos, which consist of several students mentored by a veteran, each pursuing its own specific curriculum with an emphasis on individual learning.
Dov Schwartzman, also called Berel Schwartzman, was a Russian-born American Haredi Jewish rabbi, educator, Talmudic scholar, and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Bais Hatalmud, which he founded in the Sanhedria Murhevet neighborhood of Jerusalem and led for over 40 years. He also founded and led the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia together with Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky, and co-founded the first yeshiva in Israel for baalei teshuva. He taught tens of thousands of students, many of whom received semicha from him.
Lakewood East, officially Beth Medrash Govoha of America in Eretz Yisroel, is a yeshiva in East Jerusalem, headed by Rabbi Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman, son of Rabbi Dov Schwartzman and the eldest grandson of Rabbi Aharon Kotler, founder of the Lakewood Yeshiva. It is officially a branch of the American yeshiva.
Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Lakewood East yeshiva in Ramot, Jerusalem, Israel.
Yerucham Olshin is an Orthodox rabbi and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. He is one of the four roshei yeshiva (deans) of Beth Medrash Govoha, an Orthodox yeshiva located in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Nosson Meir Wachtfogel, known as the Lakewood Mashgiach, was an Orthodox rabbi and long-time mashgiach ruchani of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. He was one of the primary builders of that yeshiva into a world-class institution, enacting the goals and direction set forth by its founding rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Aharon Kotler. He also helped establish "branches" of the Lakewood Yeshiva in dozens of cities, and pioneered the community kollel concept with the opening of combination Torah learning/outreach centers in the United States and other countries. A revered mentor and guide to thousands of students over a career that spanned more than 50 years, he was a strong advocate and prime example of musar study and working on one's spiritual self-development.
Dovid Tzvi Schustal is an Orthodox rabbi and one of the four roshei yeshiva (deans) of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. He shares this post with Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, and Rabbi Yisroel Neuman.
Yisroel Tzvi Neuman is an Orthodox rabbi and one of the four roshei yeshiva (deans) of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. He shares this post with Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, and Rabbi Dovid Schustal. He is married to the daughter of Rav Dov Schwartzman, who is a granddaughter of the founder of the yeshiva, Rabbi Aharon Kotler.
Yosef Yitzchok Lerner is a Hareidi, American-born, Rabbi in Jerusalem who is known for writing several popular books on Jewish law and custom. He also heads Beis Midrash L'Horaah Toras Shlomo, a Kollel for rabbinic ordination.
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.
Rabbi Yehudah Jacobs was a mashgiach ruchani in Beth Medrash Govoha, the largest yeshiva located outside of Israel and the second to largest yeshiva in the world, second only to the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Elyakim Getzel Rosenblatt was an American Orthodox rabbi. He was the founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Kesser Torah in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.
