Lithuanian Yeshivas of the Nineteenth Century: Creating a Tradition of Learning

433 Pages·2014·8.779 MB·English

by  Shaul Stampfer

lithuanian yeshivas of
the nineteenth century
THE LITTMAN LIBRARY OF
JEWISH CIVILIZATION
Dedicated to the memory of
Louis Thomas Sidney Littman
who founded the Littman Library for the love of God
and as an act of charity in memory of his father
Joseph Aaron Littman
and to the memory of
Robert Joseph Littman
who continued what his father Louis had begun
Get wisdom, get understanding:
Forsake her not and she shall preserve thee
PROV. 4: 5
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization is a registered UK charity
Registered charity no. 1000784
LITHUANIAN
YESHIVAS OF THE
NINETEENTH
CENTURY
u
Creating a Tradition of Learning
u
shaul stampfer
Translated by
lindsey taylor-guthartz
London
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
in association with Liverpool University Press
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
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First published in Hebrew 1995© The Zalman Shazar Centre for Jewish History
Revised and expanded Hebrew edition 2005 © The Zalman Shazar Centre for Jewish History
English translation first published in hardback 2012
First published in paperback 2014
English translation © The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization2012
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ISBN 978–1–906764–60–9
Publishing co-ordinator: Janet Moth
Copy-editing: Tamar Berkowitz,Connie Webber, and Mark Newby
Proof-reading: Philippa Claiden
Index: Christine Headley
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by
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This book is dedicated to the memory of
Aryeh Toeg
1938–1973
u
He was a brilliant biblical scholar, a person whose observance of
ritual was punctilious but who never forgot the search for meaning.
In his life he taught that faith has nothing to fear from truth—
and that without truth there is no faith.
He would have been the teacher of an entire generation,
but he fell on the first day of the Yom Kippur War. Those who lived
lives of hubris remained with us. Those that were pure
were among the first to go.

Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History and especially
Zvi Yekutieli and Yekhezkel Hovav for their support in the preparation of the
original Hebrew edition. This book would not have been published without
the generous grants given both to the Hebrew edition and this English one by the
Bollag Stiftung (Basel). The process of translating this book into English was not at
all simple—and I am afraid that my main role was to complicate matters. I am
very grateful to Connie Webber, Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz, Tamar Berkowitz,
Mark Newby, George Tulloch, Philippa Claiden, and Janet Moth for their
immense contribution. Vinyamin Lukin, of the Central Archives of the History of
the Jewish People, and Volodya Levine went out of their way to help me with
archival materials. My teacher Jacob Katz initially rejected the draft of the first
chapter of the thesis on which this book is based. He said that if I have something to
say, I don’t have to hide behind jargon or big words. I have tried to remain his
student in this—and in other—ways.
When I first approached the Littman Library I proposed a translation of my
book Hayeshivah halita’it behithavutah (The Formation of the Lithuanian Yeshiva),
which had appeared in two editions in Israel, in 1995 and in 2005. As the work
of translation proceeded I was the beneficiary of queries and comments from
exceptional translators and editors. This led me to make innumerable corrections. I
also added many sources and tried to sharpen my argument. Thus this is not a
simple translation but a revised and expanded edition of the book.
Corrections to the Hardback Edition
Page 150
My discussion of the Purim rabbi in Volozhin omits to mention that Yirmiyahu
Flensberg is known to have been honoured with this position in 1859. My thanks to
Dan Rabinowitz for pointing this out (http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2010/01/r-
flensberg-donkeys-antelopes-and-frogs.html). R. Flensberg appears, in a different
context, on page 156; his name should be spelled thus, and not ‘Felsenberg’, as it
appears there and in the bibliography and index. Yehoshua Mondshine critically
reviews some of the sources I employed on the Purim rabbi in his article ‘Gilgulo
shel sipur: rav shel purim’ (http://www.shturem.net/index.php?id=1446&section=
artdays).
Page 152
Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin’s second wife, Batya Miryam, was the daughter
of Rabbi Yehiel Michel Halevi Epstein, rabbi of Novogrudok and author of Arukh
hashulh.an. I am grateful to Rabbi Ben Hecht for suggesting to me that these facts
should be mentioned.
Page 163
I mention that Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin read newspapers. Eliezer Brodt’s
article, ‘The Netziv, Reading Newspapers on Shabbos, in General & Censorship’
(http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2014/03/the-netziv-reading-newspapers-on.html),
offers a careful examination of my comment, with additional sources and some
important clarifications.
Page 379
Some of the works attributed in the bibliography to Hayim Berlin should in fact be
credited as follows:
Ha’amek davar [Biblical commentary] (Vilna, 1879); Meshiv davar [Responsa],
2vols. (Warsaw, 1904; Jerusalem, 1993) are by Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin.
‘To Those Who Research the Past’ (Heb.), Hapeles, 2/15(1902), 140–3is by Rabbi
Hayim of Volozhin.
H.ut hameshulash[The Threefold Cord] (Vilna, 1882) was edited by Rabbi Hayim
Fried.
Page 380
The description of David Bunimovitsh’s Mikhtav me’eliyahu(Vilna, 1901) as related
to the writings of Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler is incorrect.
Yisra’el Hayim Deiches: the surname should be Daiches.
My thanks to Graham Morris for pointing out these errors.
Contents
List ofTables xiii
Note on Transliteration and Conventions Used in the Text xv
Introduction 1
PART I
THE VOLOZHIN YESHIVA
1. Origins and Early Years of the Volozhin Yeshiva 15
1. R. Hayim of Volozhin 15
2. R. Hayim’s Motives for Founding the Volozhin Yeshiva 21
3. The Choice of Location 30
4. Funding the Yeshiva: Methods and Consequences 31
5. The Framework of Study 36
6. The Students 39
7. The Curriculum 42
8. The Role of the Rosh Yeshivah 43
9. Volozhin as a Model for Other Yeshivas 45
2. The Volozhin Yeshiva in the Second Generation 48
1. R. Yitshak as Rosh Yeshivah 48
2. Change and Continuity in the Yeshiva under R. Yitshak 53
3. The Role of the Volozhin Yeshiva in Lithuanian Jewish Society 57
4. R. Yitshak’s Successor: R. Eliezer Yitshak Fried 59
5. R. Naftali Berlin and the Question of Leadership 66
6. The Dispute between R. Naftali Berlin and R. Yehoshua Heshel 68
Levin over the Leadership of the Yeshiva
7. The Dispute between R. Naftali Berlin and R. Yosef Dov 75
Soloveitchik over the Leadership of the Yeshiva
8. The Restoration of Tranquillity 78