Branch of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Hebron, relocated afterward to Jerusalem
The Hebron Yeshiva, Knesses Yisrael (Hebron)
Hebron Yeshiva, also known as Yeshivas Hevron, or Knesses Yisroel, is a yeshiva (school for Talmudic study). It originated in 1924 when the roshei yeshiva (deans) and 150 students of the Slabodka Yeshiva, known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas", relocated to Hebron.
A 1924 edict requiring enlistment in the military or supplementary secular studies in the yeshiva led a large number of students in the Slabodka yeshiva to relocate to the Land of Israel, at that time Palestine under the British mandate. Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, also known as "Der Alter fun Slabodka" (The Elder of Slabodka), sent Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski to head this group and establish the yeshiva in Hebron.[1] Upon Grodzinski's return to Slabodka, the Alter transferred the mashgiach ruchani responsibilities to him, and the rosh yeshiva duties to Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Sher, and he moved to Hebron to lead the yeshiva there together with Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein.[2] Hebron was chosen over Jerusalem to avoid the influence of the conservative Old Yishuv.[citation needed] The Slabodka yeshiva in Europe ceased operation during the Holocaust. A branch was also established in Bnei Brak.
1929 Hebron massacre and relocation to Jerusalem
Hebron yeshiva students, circa 1920s. All but one of these students was murdered in the pogrom.
Twenty-four students were murdered in the 1929 Hebron massacre, and the yeshiva was re-established in the Geula neighbourhood of Jerusalem.
On the day of the 1929 massacre, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide, who was appointed Rosh Yeshiva in 5721 (1960/61),[4] was not in Hebron.[4]
The yeshiva moved into a new and larger campus in the south-central Givat Mordechai neighbourhood in 1975. It has about 1500 students and is one of the most prestigious and influential haredi non-hassidic yeshivahs in Israel. The current roshei yeshiva (deans) are rabbis Dovid Cohen[5] and Yosef Chevroni.
