Beth Hatalmud Rabbinical College, or in short known as Bais Hatalmud, is a Rabbinical college located in the

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...

section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Founding and mission

Background

Bais Hatalmud was founded in 1950 by students of the Mir Yeshiva in Belarus, which survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

by escaping to Japan and ultimately found refuge in Shanghai where the yeshiva spent the war years. One of the deans of the Mir Yeshiva in Poland, Rabbi

Avraham Kalmanowitz Avraham Kalmanowitz (also Abraham; ; March 8, 1887 – 15 February 1964) was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Mir yeshiva (Brooklyn), Mir yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York from 1946 to 1964. Born in Russian Empire, he ...

, managed to escape to America in 1940 and established a yeshiva in

in 1946 that he called the Mir yeshiva. However, when the Mir student body arrived in the U.S. from Shanghai, they did not join the yeshiva founded by Rabbi Kalmanowitz. Some of the most distinguished students of the yeshiva held that while the yeshiva established by Rabbi Kalmanowitz was called the Mir Yeshiva, that yeshiva was not the Mir yeshiva that existed in Poland, and that the actual Mir Yeshiva was the one that went to Shanghai and arrived in America after World War II. This was because the institution of the Mir Yeshiva was based on the student body and that a yeshiva was based on the culture and values that were established by the yeshiva and that the yeshiva demanded its students abide by. In fact the idea that the basis of a yeshiva are the values and way of life it demanded of its students was how the original Mir yeshiva in Poland defined itself as what it gave it its identity.

Within the walls

It was therefore decided by the students of the original Mir yeshiva to establish a new institution in America that would serve as the continuation of the original Mir yeshiva. The fact that the Mir yeshiva was the only yeshiva in Europe to survive the Nazi destruction of European Jewry in its entirety was a primary reason they held that there should be a continuation of the original yeshiva in Europe in America after World War II. They called this Yeshiva Bais Hatalmud, which means ''The House of the Talmud''. The mission of this yeshiva was to have it be to continue the ideals and values of the Mir yeshiva was in Poland, and to preserve and uphold the way that things were in the original yeshiva. A very important aspect of the original yeshiva was a concept that was called living within the proverbial "walls" of the yeshiva. The concept of the "walls" of a yeshiva is that a yeshiva is its own world and culture separate from the world outside it. What is held to be important and what is respected and strived for within the yeshiva, is completely different than that of the outside world. Thus the proverbial "walls" of the yeshiva separate the world of the yeshiva, and those within it, from the world outside.

Academics

Bais Hatalmud has an undergraduate division and a post graduate division. In the post graduate division students eventually move on from the subjects that are being studied in the yeshiva, which are limited to civil jurisprudence, and form groups where they study other parts of the Talmud. The school's accreditation is from the

Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools The Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools (AARTS) is a faith-based national accreditation association for Rabbinical and Talmudic schools. It is based in New York, NY and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accre ...

History

A month after Rabbi

Aryeh Leib Malin Aryeh Leib Malin (1906–1962) was a Polish-born American Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, ...

's marriage in 1948, a meeting was held in his home to establish Yeshivas Beis Hatalmud.Part 2: Rabbi Aryeh Leib Malin, along with Rabbi Chaim Wysokier served as the Roshei Hayeshiva. After the passing of Rabbi Malin, Harav Chaim Wysokier remained alone at the helm of the Yeshiva. Later, after Rabbi Wysokier died, the Yeshiva was led by its three remaining elders, including Harav Shalom Menashe Gotlieb, Harav Yisroel Perkowski and Harav Binyomin Zeilberger. After the passing of the Rosh yeshivah Rav Chaim Wyoskeir, there was a din torah to decide who will lead the Yeshiva. Many years of confusion and controversy followed. Today the hanhala is led by Rabbi Naftali Kaplan along with Rabbi Yehuda Zeilberger and Rabbi Chaim Leib Perkowski.

References

External links

about the Yeshiva and R'Aryeh Leib Malin
{{Yeshivas in New York (state) 1950 establishments in New York City Belarusian-Jewish culture in New York City Universities and colleges established in 1950 Jewish seminaries Men's universities and colleges in the United States Mir Yeshiva Orthodox yeshivas in Brooklyn Seminaries and theological colleges in New York City Universities and colleges in Brooklyn