Yeshiva Chafetz Chaim

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim (also known as the Rabbinical Seminary of America) is an Orthodox Yeshiva in the United States, based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York. It is primarily an American, Lithuanian-style Talmudic Yeshiva. The Yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA), however, it is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim, as that was the sobriquet of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. The school has affiliate branches in Israel and North America.

History

The Yeshiva was established in 1933 by Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz, a great-nephew of the Chofetz Chaim. Leibowitz was a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel and he also studied under Rabbi Naftoli Trop at the Yeshiva in Raduń, Belarus.

The new Yeshiva was named for Leibowitz' great uncle, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, who had died that year. Although it's officially named Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen, the yeshiva is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim ( he, חָפֵץ חַיִּים), which was a popular name for the rabbi'','' after his book with the same title. (''Chofetz Chaim'' means "Seeker/Desirer fLife" in Hebrew. The book concentrates on the Jewish religious laws of proper speech.)

The Yeshiva's first building was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In December 1955 it relocated to Forest Hills, Queens. Most recently, at the start of the 2003 academic year the Yeshiva relocated to Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.

After its founder's death in December 1941, the Yeshiva was headed and developed by his son, Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz. Today, it is led by two of Liebowitz's close disciples, Rabbi Dovid Harris and Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt.

The Yeshiva houses a boys' secondary school or Mesivta. It also houses an undergraduate ashiva, and a rabbinical school that grants Semicha (ordination). Rabbinical students at the yeshiva often spend a decade or more there, studying a traditional yeshiva curriculum focusing on Talmud, '' mussar'' ("ethics"), and '' halakha'' ("Jewish law").

Characteristics

There are six primary characteristics of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim of Queens that distinguish it from other Yeshivos:

#An emphasis upon unfolding the latent processes of reasoning within the steps of the Talmudic ''sugya'' ("section") being studied. The methodology places emphasis on the notion that the initial assumptions of the Talmud must be highly rigorous, and that the movement between the initial thought process (known as the ''hava aminah'') of the Talmudic ''sugya'' to the final thought process (known as the ''maskana'') must be fully unfolded and understood.
#An approach to ethical and Biblical texts and its commentaries that emphasizes rigor. The yeshiva promotes the idea that ideally, a deduction from these texts should be "logically and textually compelling."
#The study of Mussar ("ethics"), both by attending and reviewing semiweekly lectures and through daily individual study of Mussar texts, is strongly emphasized. Dovid Leibowitz founded the Chofetz Chaim yeshiva in the footsteps of his rebbe, the Alter of Slabodka, and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement. Henoch Leibowitz would continually remind his students that as important as it is to become a lamden ("analytical scholar") and a great pedagogue, it is even more important to become a mentch ("a good human being").
#An emphasis on propagating the ideals and values of Judaism. Upon completion of a rigorous term of study, students are encouraged to seek employment, often building Torah institutions like schools and Shuls in communities far away from major Jewish cities like Orlando, FL or Henderson, NV. Going in the field of Jewish education (Harbatzos Hatorah) is the greatest of goals. Torah is not just ours for us. We need to share it.
#The omni-significance and complete subservience to "Daas Torah" as defined in the introduction to the 6-volume collection of Henoch Lebowitz's mussar lectures, "Chidushei Halev", as well as numerous public ethical discourses. This is the concept that everything is included in the Torah and the way that the Torah logic (i.e. Talmudic reasoning) works is the way that God's mind works; therefore one who has spent years dedicated to in depth Talmudic study has shaped his mind to think like the Torah/God and is thus able to apply the Torah's logic to all manner of situations.
# The Yeshiva Hashkafa (philosophy) is that externals don't matter as much as internals so rather than focusing on looking like a good person it's more important on working on oneself and becoming a good person.

Affiliates and branches by location

United States

* California:
** Valley Torah High School, Los Angeles
**Torah High Schools of San Diego, San Diego
**Yeshivas Ner Aryeh
**Chofetz Chaim of Los Angeles, Los Angeles
**Yeshiva Ketana of Los Angeles
* Florida:
**Yeshiva Toras Chaim Toras Emes, North Miami Beach- Rabbi Binyomin Luban, ''Rosh Yeshiva''
**JEC of South Florida, Boca Raton, Florida
**Torah Academy of Boca Raton
**Yeshiva Tiferes Torah of Boca Raton
**Orlando Torah Academy, Orlando, Florida
* Illinois:
**Torah Academy of Buffalo Grove (day school)
**Suburban Alliance for Jewish Education (outreach organization)
**Jewish Family Interactive Experience Hebrew School
*Kentucky
**Montessori Torah Academy, Louisville, KY
* Missouri:
** Missouri Torah Institute, St. Louis
* New Jersey:

Foxman Torah Institute
Cherry Hill serving the Greater Philadelphia region
* Nevada:
**Ahavas Torah Center
**Las Vegas Kollel
**Mesivta of Las Vegas
**Yeshiva Day School of Las Vegas
*New York:
** Huntington
** Yeshiva Zichron Yaakov, Monsey (closed 2013)
**Yeshiva Tiferes Yerushalayim, Brooklyn
**Kew Gardens Hills, Queens (main school, described in this article)
**Yeshiva Zichron Paltiel, Staten Island
** Talmudical Institute of Upstate New York, Rochester
**Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh, Bayswater (Far Rockaway)
**Mesivta Tiferet Torah, Kew Gardens
**Yeshivas Ma'ayan Hatorah, NY, Richmond Hill
* Ohio:
**Yeshiva of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
* Texas:
**Texas Torah Institute, Dallas
* Wisconsin:
** Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study, Milwaukee
* Washington:
** Torah Academy of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Washington

Canada

*British Columbia:
** Pacific Torah Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia (Moved to Las Vegas, 2019)
*Ontario:
** Ottawa Torah Institute, Ottawa, Ontario

Israel

* Jerusalem area
**Chofetz Chaim Jerusalem-CCJ
**Zichron Aryeh Yerushalayim
** Ramat Beit Shemesh - Yeshivas Nachalas Yisroel Yitzchok

Notable alumni

*Rabbi Solomon Sharfman, former rabbi of the Young Israel of Flatbush
*Rabbi Dovid Harris, serves as co-Rosh Hayeshiva (deans) at the Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen.
*Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt, serves as co-Rosh Hayeshiva (deans) at the Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen.
*Rabbi Baruch Chait, composer, and Rosh Yeshiva of Maarava, located in Moshav Matisyahu, Israel.
*Rabbi Elyakim Rosenblatt, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Kesser Torah
*Rabbi Binyomin Luban, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Toras Chaim in Miami
*Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein zt"l, founder o
Diaspora Yeshiva
the original yeshivah for ba'alei teshuva, on Mount Zion, Jerusalem

References

External links

Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim Official website

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Educational institutions established in 1933
Lithuanian-American culture in New York City
Lithuanian-Jewish culture in New York (state)
Men's universities and colleges in the United States
Chofetz Chaim
Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
1933 establishments in New York City
Jewish seminaries