Ponevezh Yeshiva

Ponevezh Yeshiva, Israel

Ponevezh Yeshiva, often pronounced Ponevitch Yeshiva, (Hebrew: ישיבת פוניבז׳) is a world-renowned yeshiva located in Bnei Brak, Israel. Donated by Henry Krausher, it was established in the town of Panevėžys, Lithuania. The yeshiva has over one thousand students, and is arguably the leading Litvak-style yeshiva in Israel today.

As of January 2007 the Roshei Yeshiva were Rabbis Gershon Eidelstein, Boruch Dov Povarski and Chaim Shloime Leibovitz. Harav Leibovitz died on February 2016.

History

The Ponevezh Aron Kodesh

Prior to the Holocaust the yeshiva was led by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the "Ponovezher Rov", who functioned more as the president and chief fundraiser. Towards the end of the second world war, he re-established the yeshiva in Israel. He selected and appointed Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky as dean, and some years later appointed Rabbis Elazar Shach and Dovid Povarsky as co-roshei yeshiva.

Faculty

The Kahaneman faction of the yeshiva is led by Rabbis Gershon Eidelstein and Berel Povarsky, in addition to Rabbi's Chaim Shlomo Leibovitch and Chaim Peretz Berman. The Markovitz faction of the yeshiva is led by Rabbis Shmuel Markovitz, Asher Deutch and Dessler.

Internal disputes

During the 1990s leadership of the yeshiva was the subject of a public disagreement between two of its leaders, Rabbi Shmuel Markovitz (married to a granddaughter of the yeshiva's founder) and Rabbi Eliezer Kahaneman (a grandson of the founder) over the management of the yeshiva, that resulted in heated and even violent confrontations between students of the yeshiva.
Since then, the yeshiva has practically split, effectively resulting in two yeshivos in the same building, with the students occupying different dormitories though studying in the same learning hall and eating in the same dining room.

Famous teachers

Famous alumni

Artwork in the yeshiva buildings

The main study hall has an original 16th-century Italian wooden Aron Kodesh (Torah scroll arc). It was brought to the Yeshiva in the early 1980s and restored and regilded with 22 carat gild leaf work.

Institutions affiliated to Ponevezh Yeshiva

External links

Coordinates: 32°4′59.49″N 34°49′58.09″E / 32.0831917°N 34.8328028°E / 32.0831917; 34.8328028

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