Yeshivat Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; Hebrew: ישיבת הר עציון), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced Torah study in the world and with a student body of roughly 480, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivot in Israel and the West Bank.[1][2]

Yeshivat Har Etzion
ישיבת הר עציון‎
Yeshivat Har Etzion's main Bet Midrash building
EstablishedNovember 24, 1968 (November 24, 1968), 3 Kislev 5729
FounderRav Yehuda Amital, Rav Hanan Porat, Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, Moshe Moskowitz
Religious affiliation
Religious Zionism / Modern Orthodoxy
Students480
Address
HaYeshiva St 1
,
Alon Shvut
,
Israel

Websiteharetzion.org

The current Roshei Yeshiva are Rav Yaakov Medan, Rav Baruch Gigi and Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein. Most of the students are Israelis in the hesder program, which integrates intensive yeshiva study with at least 15 months of active service in the Israel Defense Forces, an idea developed by the founding Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Yehuda Amital. There is a post-high school overseas program which receives students from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France. There is also a Southern Hemisphere program for students from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia under Bnai Akiva's MTA program. Several of the overseas students join the Israeli Hesder program and make Aliyah. Most return to university outside of Israel. Some students eventually come back to Yeshiva to study for the rabbinate in the yeshiva's Semicha Program (Semicha given by the Israeli Rabbanut) and affiliated Herzog College. Many alumni, both overseas and Israeli, have gone on to become Roshei Yeshiva or other positions in the rabbinite, both in Israel and abroad. Over 550 alumni from overseas have made aliyah and a high percentage are involved in Jewish education. Others have gone on to prominent academic careers in fields such as science, law, medicine, engineering and mathematics.

Yeshivat Darkaynu, a yeshiva program for students with special needs is housed on the YHE campus.[3]

History

In 1968, shortly after the Six-Day War, a movement was founded to resettle the Gush Etzion region. Yehuda Amital, a prominent rabbi and Jewish educator was asked to head the yeshiva. In 1971, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein moved from the United States to join Rav Amital as Rosh Yeshiva. First established in Kfar Etzion, it moved to Alon Shvut, where it developed into a major institution.[4] The current yeshiva building was finished in 1977.[5]

In 1997 a women’s beit midrash was established for Israeli and overseas students as a sister school in Kibbutz Migdal Oz, which goes by the name Migdal Oz.

On January 4, 2006, Rabbis Yaakov Medan and Baruch Gigi joined Rav Amital and Rav Lichtenstein as roshei yeshiva in anticipation of Amital's upcoming retirement. Amital's involvement in the yeshiva effectively ended due to illness in the later months of 2009, and he died in July 2010. Rav Mosheh Lichtenstein, son of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, was appointed as Rosh Yeshiva alongside and to eventually replace his father in 2008; Rav Aharon Lichtenstein died in April 2015.

Educational and religious philosophy

Yeshivat Har Etzion, YHE, advocates a combination of Torah study and a love of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel,[6] while its embrace of spirituality and religious striving is tempered with a message of moderation and openness. YHE encourages serious study, creative thought, intellectual rigor, fellowship with all Jews regardless of level of observance or political outlook, and a universal, humanistic outlook. While the intense study of Gemara - analytic Talmud - is the central focus of the learning,[7] other areas, especially Tanach (Bible), Mussar (ethics and character development), Machshava (Jewish Thought / Hashkafa), and Halakha LeMaaseh (practical Jewish law), are integral as well.[8]

The yeshiva is known in Israel and abroad for its rigor and standards in Talmud.[9] The study of Gemara at YHE "trains talmidim to analyze, explore and evaluate differing opinions in the hope that they will grow to be discerning individuals [and] sophisticated thinkers..."[8] In particular, the Yeshiva emphasizes lomdus, the Brisker method of Talmud study, a method innovated by Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik; see Yeshiva § Talmud study. This highly conceptual approach to learning - along with the broad knowledge of Talmud gained - then underpins and informs all other areas of study at the Yeshiva.

Here it is noted [10] that the complexity with which its students regard both Jewish and global matters, can be seen as a product of this particular methodology: emphasizing as it does, the compounded and dichotomous nature of many issues and subjects, and that "the world is complex, full of tensions of conflicting values". In fact, the Yeshiva's often (relatively) liberal and open worldview, is seen a product of this 'Brisker' approach, viewing the world as complex, a composite of many different 'dinim' (a Brisker Halakhic term for "principles at play"), and thus requiring balance and a recognition of this inherent tension. Its embrace of modernity, similarly, is driven by the recognition of the complexity within Creation, as opposed to any ‘rationalistic’ take on the world, per se.

As above, the Yeshiva actively encourages the learning of Mussar and Machshava, [11] both academically, and especially so as to cultivate the student's love of Torah and religious commitment and identity. "Gush" is known for its graduates' breadth and depth in these areas: mirroring the parallel goals here, numerous formal shiurim are offered in these areas daily, [7] and students are encouraged to also establish dedicated private study-time ("sedarim"), for content and internalization. See Yeshiva § Ethics, mysticism and philosophy. Note however, that what separates Gush from a classic Mussar yeshiva, and casts it in the mold of a Brisker institution, is that there is no formal Mussar seder (a study session set aside for learning moral-ethical texts).[12]

The yeshiva is also well known for its pioneering and continuing role in the study of Tanach. From the Yeshiva’s conception it was desired that Tanach would have an important role, something uncommon for Yeshivot at the time, [13] [14] and the Yeshiva thus pioneered the "Bible Revolution", "מהפכת התנ״ך", a change in the status of Tanach study in the Religious Zionist (and broader religious) public.[14] The Yeshiva is described as having "resurrected and revolutionized the study of the Torah [Shebichtav]."[15]

Led by Rabbi Yaakov Medan and Rabbi Dr. Yoel Bin-Nun, Tanach-study emphasizes Peshat - the “simple”, literal meaning of the verses and overall structure - while simultaneously incorporating the numerous commentaries and Midrashim. The approach is referred to as "תנ"ך בגובה העיניים", or "Bible at Eye Level", [16] and is similar to that of the Rashbam, Iben Ezra and Radak who favored and promoted Peshat over Midrashic methods. [17] [18] In the past, Rabbi Mordechai Breuer, the founder of the Shitat Habechinot ("The Examination Approach"), also taught at the yeshiva. See further under Yeshiva § Torah and Bible study.

The yeshiva as a whole - as well as individual Rabbis and many alumni - has published many Sefarim on Tanach. For example, the "Torah MiEtzion" series presents essays on the five books of the Bible from the rabbis of Yeshivat Har Etzion. The approach of the series is "centered on learning the 'simple meaning' of the text but also incorporating the disciplines of literary theory, geography, archeology and history in order to better understand the text."[19] Together with Herzog College, the Yeshiva produces several formal publications in the field, including the Journal Megadim.[14]

Libraries

The Yeshiva operates two libraries. The Torah Library, overseen by Aharon Bejell, has over 90,000 volumes, as well as CDs, microfilms, a collection of rare Judaica and an antique book facility, including Rav Yisachar Tamar’s personal Sefarim collection and a four-hundred year-old collection from the Etz Chayim community of Amsterdam known as “The Amsterdam Room.” Yeshivat Har Etzion's Torah library is the largest of any Yeshiva in Israel.[20] The state-of-the-art Pedagogic Resource Center of the Herzog College supplements the central Torah library, providing audio-visual material for teachers of Judaic studies in Israel and worldwide.

Virtual Beit Midrash

YHE established the Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash, which provides yeshiva-style courses and shiurim (lectures) in Torah and Judaism to students of all ages outside the Yeshiva walls, in an effort to open to the greatest extent possible a window into the Beit Midrash. Over 18,000 subscribers in every continent throughout the world subscribe to weekly shiurim, in English, Hebrew and Russian covering subjects such as Tanakh, Gemara, Halakha, Jewish philosophy and various other Jewish topics.[21]

KMTT

KMTT is a daily Torah study Podcast, from Yeshivat Har Etzion which is sent out every day of the week.[22]

Notable faculty

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "Yeshiva University". yu.edu. Archived from the original on 2010-06-12. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  2. "Yeshivat Har Etzion Rabbis". Koren Publishers Jerusalem. Retrieved 14 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Home". Darkaynu. Retrieved 2020-02-12.
  4. "Lonely man of faith", Larry Derfner, Jerusalem Post, December 22, 1995
  5. Gush, In The (April 5, 2017). "in The Gush: הספרייה התורנית של ישיבת הר עציון - הנצחת זכרון הנופלים".
  6. "Mission Statement". haretzion.org.
  7. "Vision of the Yeshiva", etzion.haretzion.org
  8. Prospective Students FAQ, haretzion.org
  9. See "Har Etzion" Listing under Yeshiva University's Men's Schools - S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program
  10. For further discussion, see for example, pp. 37-65 in Haim Sabato and Aharon Lichtenstein (2016). Seeking His Presence: Conversations with Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Yedioth Ahronoth Books, 2016. ISBN 978-9655456738.
  11. "Har Etzion": Listing on S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program site at yu.edu
  12. Kaplan, Lawrence J. (2007-06-04), "Joseph Soloveitchik and Halakhic Man", The Cambridge Companion to Modern Jewish Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, pp. 209–233, retrieved 2022-03-01
  13. See description at, "Torah MiEtzion", Bereshit volume, Koren Publishers Jerusalem
  14. רייס, יהושע; Ziegler, Reuven; Lichtenstein, Mosheh; Marcus, Yoseph (2013). היא שיחתי (PDF) (in Hebrew). Israel: Koren Publishers Jerusalem. ISBN 9789655261455.
  15. Drazin, Israel (August 30, 2012). "A Deeper Examination of the Bible". Booksnthoughts.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. The book Hi Sichati: Al Derech Limmud HaTanach (Hebrew: היא שיחתי: על דרך לימוד התנ״ך), which was published jointly by Yeshivat Har Etzion and Michlelet Herzog in 2013, comprises an analysis of the methodology of studying Tanach and deals at length with the discussion surrounding the Eye Level Approach
  17. Lockshin, Martin I. "Lonely Man of Peshat." Jewish Quarterly Review 99.2 (2009): 291-300. Print.
  18. Berger, Yitzhak. "Peshat and the Authority of Ḥazal in the Commentaries of Radak." Association for Jewish Studies Review 31.1 (2007): 41-59. Print.
  19. Jotkowitz, Alan. "Book Review: Torah MiEtzion". Jewish Press Book Supplement.
  20. "Yeshivat Har Etzion: Har Etzion Library". Retrieved 18 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. "vbm haretzion". etzion.org.il.
  22. "KMTT - The Torah Podcast". kimitzion.org.
  23. "Roshei Yeshiva". Archived from the original on March 20, 2012.
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