The Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary was a controversial

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

state-sponsored institution to train

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish teachers and rabbis, located in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The school opened in 1847 with two divisions: a

rabbinical school A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish education, Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in par ...

and a teachers' seminary. The Rabbinical School was closed in 1873 and the Teachers' Seminary closed in 1914. The school taught secular studies, unlike the traditional

cheder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...

s and

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; 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 studied in parallel. The stu ...

s. This new curriculum, as well as the government control, made the school "unpopular."

Curriculum

The school taught

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The fiel ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

, world history, Russian history, Russian language, geography, and handwriting and drawing.

History

Rabbi

Yisroel Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809 – February 2, 1883), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. The epithet ''Salanter ...

, a major figure of the Mussar movement who then lived in Vilna, was pressured to lead the seminary. Rather than accept the position, Salanter fled to

Kovno Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, even though Rabbi Yitzhak of Volozhin encouraged him to take the position. In 1872, a secret

Narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

study group was formed by Aaron Zundelevich. Vladimir Jochelson was a member of this group.

Faculty and students

Many prominent

maskilim The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

studied or taught in the school. Notable faculty included: * Leibele Antokolier (a.k.a. Arieh-Leib b. Akiba Luria, "The Keidan Genius") * Shmuel Yosef Feunn (author, maskil, and educator) * Aaron Samuel Liebermann * Solomon Salkind (1806 – March 14, 1868), author of Shirim li-Shelomoh, Kol Shelomoh, and Shema Shelomoh. Notable students included: * Vladimir Jochelson, Russian

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

References

External links

* Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary 1847-187
''The Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections'' Original documents (Russian) on vilnacollections.yivo.orgThe Jews of Vilna at the Beginning of the 20th Century
on the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

website Defunct schools in Vilnius Jewish seminaries Orthodox Jewish educational institutions Haskalah Judaism-related controversies Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire Judaism in Vilnius Educational institutions established in 1847 Educational institutions disestablished in 1914 1847 establishments in the Russian Empire Defunct Jewish schools {{Judaism-org-stub