Keser Torah Radomsk ( he, כתר תורה רדומסק), also transliterated Keter Torah Radomsk, is the name of

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

s and

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

s in Israel and the United States affiliated with the

Radomsk Radomsk ( he, רדומסק) is a Hasidic dynasty named after the town of Radomsko in Łódź province, south-central Poland. The dynasty was founded in 1843 by Rabbi Shlomo Hakohen Rabinowicz (the ''Tiferes Shlomo''), one of the great Hasidic mast ...

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

dynasty. The name was originally coined for a network of 36 yeshivas in pre-war

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

founded by the fourth Radomsker

rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...

Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowicz Shlomo Chanoch Hakohen Rabinowicz (also spelled Rabinowitz, Rabinowich, Rabinovitch) (1882 – 1 August 1942) was the fourth and last rebbe of the Radomsk hasidic dynasty. He was the eldest son of the third Radomsker rebbe, Yechezkel Rabinowicz ...

, and led by his son-in-law David Moshe Rabinowicz.

Establishment in Poland

In 1926

announced his plan for a network of Radomsker yeshivas. Soon afterwards eight yeshivas were opened in

Będzin Będzin (; also ''Bendzin'' in English; german: Bendzin; yi, בענדין, Bendin) is a city in the Dąbrowa Basin, in southern Poland. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza River (a tributary of the Vistula). Even though par ...

Podgórze Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right (southern) bank of the Vistula River, at the foot of Lasota Hill. The district was subdivided in 1990 into six new districts, see present-day districts of Kraków for more details. ...

Chrzanów Chrzanów () is a town in southern Poland with 35,651 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and is the seat of Chrzanów County. History History to 1809 It is impossible to establish ...

Wolbrom Wolbrom (german: Wolfram) Wojciech Blajer: ''Bemerkungen zum Stand der Forschungen uber die Enklawen der mittelalterlichen deutschen Besiedlung zwischen Wisłoka und San''. n:Późne średniowiecze w Karpatach polskich. red. Prof. Jan Gancarski. ...

Oświęcim Oświęcim (; german: Auschwitz ; yi, אָשפּיצין, Oshpitzin) is a city in the Lesser Poland ( pl, Małopolska) province of southern Poland, situated southeast of Katowice, near the confluence of the Vistula (''Wisła'') and Soła rive ...

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

and

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. In

Sosnowiec Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Silesian Metropolis municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industria ...

Rabinowicz also founded Kibbutz Govoha, a high-level study group exclusively for advanced students and ''avreichim'' (married students). He appointed his son-in-law and first cousin, David Moshe Rabinowicz to head it. He also served as

rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...

of the Keser Torah network. By 1930, nine yeshivas and the kibbutz were functioning. On the eve of World War II there were 36 Keser Torah yeshivas enrolling over 4,000 students in Poland. Though Hasidic in nature, the yeshivas did not promote Radomsker Hasidism, nor were students and staff exclusively Radomsker Hasidim. (In Sosnowiec, for example, the rosh yeshiva was a Ger Hasid.) Each yeshiva had its own rosh yeshiva and initially studied its own ''masechta'' (section of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

); later, all the yeshivas studied the same ''masechta'' at the same time. With the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

in 1939, the yeshivas disbanded. Shlomo and David Rabinowicz were both imprisoned in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

. Shlomo Rabinowicz and his family, including his only daughter and son-in-law and their infant son, were murdered by Nazis who shot them to death on 1 August 1942.

Rebirth in Israel

After World War II, Radomsker Hasidim and Keser Torah yeshiva students who had survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

founded Kollel Keser Torah in

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq ( he, בְּנֵי בְּרַק ) is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an are ...

, Israel. In 1965 they asked

Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain (11 October 1934–10 August 1969), also spelled Borenstein, Bornstein, or Bernstein, was the fifth Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He acceded to the position of Rebbe following the death of his father, Rabb ...

, son of the Sochatchover rebbe and a nephew of David Moshe Rabinowicz, to head the kollel. Bornsztain, who became known as the Sochatchover-Radomsker rebbe, died in an automobile accident in 1969.Growise, Yisroel Alter. ''"The Sochatchover Rebbe, Harav Menachem Shlomo Bornstein, zt"l, 40 Years Since His Tragic Passing"''. ''

Hamodia ''Hamodia'' ( he, המודיע – "''the Informer''") is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Jerusalem. A daily English-language edition is also published in the United States, and weekly English-language editions in England and Israe ...

'' Features section, 27 August 2009, pp. C4-5. After Bornsztain's death, his eldest son, Shmuel Bornsztain, became head of Kollel Keser Torah.

Locations

, Israel: Kollel Keser Torah opened in the 1940s. *

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, Israel:

Yeshiva Gedola Yeshiva gedolah, known in the United States as bais medrash, is a type of yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution, which is aimed at post-secondary students in their later teens or younger twenties. This contrasts with a Yeshiva Ketana/Mesivta w ...

Keser Torah Radomsk opened in the

Bayit Vegan Bayit VeGan ( he, בית וגן, lit. ''House and Garden'') is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat HaYovel and Givat Mordechai. History Bronze Age A 4,0 ...

neighborhood in 1996. Like its namesake in pre-war Poland, the yeshiva includes a ''kibbutz govoha'' (high-level study group) for advanced students and ''avreichim'' (married students). *

Lakewood, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5% ...

: Kollel Keser Torah Radomsk, an evening kollel, opened in 2000. *

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada: Kollel Keser Torah Radomsk opened in 1986. Its founding president was Pinhas Hirschprung, the

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

of Montreal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keser Torah Radomsk

Kollelim Orthodox yeshivas in Jerusalem Hasidic Judaism in Israel Hasidic Judaism in the United States Pre-World War II European yeshivas