Yeshivas in World War II
After the
Background
Before the Second World War, there were many yeshivas in Eastern Europe, mostly in what is present-day
Escape to Vilnius
At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Nazis overran Poland before partitioning it with the
Although the
Attempts to escape Europe
The refugees in Lithuania knew that staying where they were in Europe was not a permanent solution, as they were situated between two warring nations, with
The nasi (president) of the Mir yeshiva, Rabbi
The many students who remained in Lithuania continued their escape efforts, attempting to travel to America. Although Vilnius had originally been given by the Soviets to Lithuania, the Soviets soon took over the entire region in 1940. When the Russian government found out that the yeshiva students were attempting to leave for America, they began to view the students as anti-Communist and against the Soviet Union. They therefore did not want them so close to the war front, lest the Germans invaded Russia and the yeshiva students joined sides with them (as the Nazis were intent on wiping out European Jewry, the yeshivas would not have joined them anyway). They therefore made plans to deport the students to Siberia. However, Russian soldiers had been commandeering Jewish homes in Lithuania, and when the hosts got wind of the situation, they warned the yeshiva students of the government's plans. Many of the students went into hiding to avoid the deportation, while other felt it would be safer for them in Siberia than to be so close to the Nazi front. In the end, many of the yeshiva students, including those from the Kaminetz, Radin, and Bialystok yeshivas, were sent to Russia, although not all to Siberia. While some, including students from Novardok and their teacher, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Nekritz,[17] and future-rabbi Yaakov Galinsky,[10] were indeed sent to Siberia, others (as published in the book Tales of Devotion in the name of a student) were taken to the remote Komi Republic at the foot of the Ural Mountains where they were subjected to forced labor.[14]
The Holocaust
According to the book Tales of Devotion, mere days after the yeshiva students' deportation to the Komi Republic, the Nazis invaded Lithuania. The students who had stayed behind hoping for safety were ultimately killed by the Nazis.[7]
The Telshe yeshiva was located in the city of
The members of the
In the town of
Outside of Europe
While the yeshivas affected the most were located in Europe, the yeshivas in
The United States was also affected by the war. In 1940, Zeirei Agudath Israel founded a night yeshiva for young Jewish refugees from Europe. Headed at first by Rabbi Gedalia Schorr and later by Rabbi Shlomo Rottenberg, its teachers included Rabbi Berel Belsky (father of Rabbi Yisroel Belsky), Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, Rabbi Shachne Zohn, and Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Shurkin.[26]
Reestablishment
Despite the destruction of the yeshivas in Europe, many of these institutions were re-established in the United States and/or Israel during or after World War II. The Mir yeshiva, likely the only Eastern European yeshiva to continue operating during the Holocaust, divided after World War II between a location in
The Telshe yeshiva was reopened in
In Israel, the Kaminetz yeshiva was reestablished by Rabbi Moshe Bernstein and Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Leibowitz in Jerusalem, while the Ponovezh yeshiva was reestablished in
References
- ^ Wolff, Ben Zion (January 20, 2019). "Part 3-Yeshiva Torah Vodaath at 100: Talmidim of the Mesivta Speak". Hamodia. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
My mother's father, Rabbi Chaim Feldberg, was also a talmid of Torah Vodaath [in the United States], and was a classmate of Harav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, zt'l. Rav Scheinberg went on to learn in Mir in Europe, while my grandfather went to Radin to learn from the Chofetz Chaim zt'l.
- ^ "Rabbi Shimon Schwab". Kevarim.com. July 3, 2009. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- ^ "How I Got To The Mir: A conversation with Mr. Bert Lehmann, a"h". The Circle (30). May 13, 2019.
- ^ "Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe". Breslev.com. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- ISBN 1-4226-1514-6.
- ^ "Yeshiva.pdf - Swiss Banks Settlement" (PDF). swissbankclaims.com. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
many of the students and townsfolk escaped to Vilna...
- ^ a b Eliach, Rabbi Dov (2016). "Suffering and Miracles". Tales of Devotion.
- ^ Shapiro, Chaim (October 1980). "The Kamenitzer Partnership: Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibowitz (40 years since his passing) and Rabbi Reuvain Grozovsky" (PDF). The Jewish Observer. XV (1): 24. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4226-0229-4.
- ^ a b Eliach, Rabbi Dov (2016). Tales of Devotion.
- ISBN 1-4226-1514-6.
Supported by the hospitality of the poor Jews of Lithuania and the generosity of the American rabbinate and the Joint Distribution Committee....
- ^ "Holocaust hero Chiune Sugihara's son sets record straight on his father's story". Timesofisrael.com. The Times of Israel. May 23, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
Chiune Sugihara, who died in 1986, ignored orders from Tokyo while posted to Kaunas (then Kovno) in 1940 and helped Jews flee the Nazis...
- ^ "Jan Zwartendijk. - Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum".
- ^ a b Eliach, Rabbi Dov (2016). "You Kept Me from Death; You Rescued Me from the Pit". Tales of Devotion. pp. 361, 362.
- ^ Mirrer Yeshiva Central Institute.
- ISBN 9781422613122.
- Shafran, Rabbi Avi (September 16, 2020). "Trembling with Joy: We're Here and Our Lives are Meaningful". Ami Magazine(485). Mehulol Publications LLC.: 50.
- ISBN 1-57819-496-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4226-0229-4.
- ^ "Telshe Yeshiva". case.edu. Case Western Reserve University. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
With the German invasion of Soviet Union during World War II, the yeshiva closed and many of its students and teachers were killed.
- ISBN 978-1-4226-0229-4.
- ^ Suissa, Dr. Michal Rachel. "History of the Slobodka Yeshiva: World Famous Talmudic Academy, the Knesset Israel – Slobodka Yeshiva - Between the Pogroms and the Holocaust". hebron.org.il. Hayishuv Hayehudi Chevron (Jewish Settlement of Hebron). Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4226-1666-6.
[R]abbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman...who replanted his illustrious yeshiva of Ponovezh, Lithuania to the city of Bnei Brak after the original yeshiva and community were destroyed in the Holocaust.
- ^ Fendel, Rabbi Zechariah (2003). Charting the Mesorah: VOL. IV - The Era of the Later Acharonim. Brooklyn, NY: Hashkafah Publications. p. 88.
In 1940, while he was in Eretz Yisroel on a fundraising trip, he learned that his entire yeshiva had been destroyed, and his wife and children slain.
- ISBN 9781680252705.
- ISBN 978-1-4226-1951-3.
- ISBN 978-1422611937.
In 5704/1944, Rav Leizer Yudel was finally ready to establish the yeshiva... Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer who had asked Rav Leizer Yudel to send his talmidim to shore up various yeshivos in Europe was now the Rosh Yeshiva of Eitz Chaim, and he returned the favor by sending a group of his top talmidim to help Rav Leizer Yudel rebuild the Mirrer Yeshiva.
- ^ Hamodia Staff (August 17, 2020). "BD"E: Hagaon Harav Chaim Dov Keller, Zt"l, Rosh Yeshivah, Yeshivas Telshe Chicago". Hamodia. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
When the Telshe Yeshiva was established by Harav Eliya Meir Bloch and Harav Mottel Katz, zichronam levrachah, in Cleveland in 1940....
- ISBN 9781422618592.
- ISBN 1-57819-496-2.
The name of the yeshiva perpetuated at Shaar HaTorah in Queens, under the leadership of Reb Shimon's grandson-in-law, Rabbi Zelik Epstein.
- ^ ISBN 1-57819-496-2.