The Students of the Great Lithuanian Yeshivas

Before the First World War, young men from Western European countries or the United States were a rarity in Lithuanian yeshivas. These Talmudic institutions were located in areas under the control or protection of the Russian Empire, whose attitude toward Jews, particularly after the murder of Czar Alexander II in 1881, made this region an insecure place to live. Even if these yeshivas gained renown and respect among Jewish communities overseas, their members did not consider it a good idea to endanger their sons and send them to this “wilderness” to study. A significant change took place in this attitude after the war, and even the Hafetz Hayim himself was moved by this phenomenon: