Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a Hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. 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 the second largest hesder yeshiva in Israel.

History

In 1968, shortly after the Six-Day War, a movement was founded to resettle the Gush Etzion region, from which Jews had been expelled following the Kfar Etzion massacre. Yehuda Amital, a prominent rabbi and Jewish educator, was asked to head a yeshiva in the region. In 1971, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein moved from the United States to join Amital as rosh yeshiva. First established in Kfar Etzion, it moved to Alon Shvut, where it developed into a major institution. The current yeshiva building was finished in 1977.

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 Amital and Lichtenstein as rashei 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. Mosheh Lichtenstein, son of Aharon Lichtenstein, was appointed as rosh yeshiva alongside and to eventually replace his father in 2008; Aharon Lichtenstein died in April 2015. The current rashei 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 Bnei Akiva's MTA program. Yeshivat Darkaynu, a yeshiva program for students with special needs is housed on the YHE campus.

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 the 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 rashei yeshiva or to take on other rabbinical positions 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.

In 2022 the Yeshiva opened a high school in Alon Shevut, Yeshivat Har Etzion Latze'irim headed by Rabbi Amichai Gordin, who left his position as a ''Ram'' in the Yeshiva to take on this position. The high school was established to promote excellence in Gemara learning already from the high school age.

Educational and religious philosophy

Yeshivat Har Etzion advocates a combination of Torah study and a love of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. It is known for a more moderate and open approach to the role of religion in the modern world; the Yeshiva's slogan is "Immersed in Torah – Engaged with the World." The yeshiva encourages serious study, creative thought, intellectual rigor, and a universal, humanistic outlook.
The Yeshiva's core philosophy is illustrated by two key works by its founding Roshei Yeshiva: ''Jewish Values in a Changing World'' by Rav Amital (Hebrew: והארץ נתן לבני אדם) and ''By His Light: Character and Values in the Service of God'' by Rav Lichtenstein (Hebrew: באור פניך יהלכון).

The central focus of study is the Gemara or Talmud and the yeshiva is known in Israel and abroad for its rigorous standards of Talmud learning. The Yeshiva in parallel emphasizes Tanach