Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim
Address
76-01 147th St

Kew Gardens Hills, Queens
,
New York

United States
Information
Type Private elementary, middle school, high school, and beis medrash
Established 1933
Founder Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz
Principal Rabbi Dovid Harris, Rabbi Akiva Grunblatt
Number of students ~450

Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim (also known as the Rabbinical Seminary of America) is an Orthodox yeshiva based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York, United States. It is primarily an American, non-chasidic ultra-orthodox Talmudic yeshiva. The yeshiva is legally titled Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) but is often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim as that was the nickname of its namesake, Yisroel Meir Kagan. It 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 Nosson Tzvi Finkel and he also studied under Naftoli Trop at the Yeshiva in Radun, Belarus.

The yeshiva was named for Leibowitz's great uncle, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan, who had died that year. It is officially named Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen, but is often referred to simply as Chofetz Chaim (Hebrew: חָפֵץ חַיִּים), which is commonly used as a name for Kagan, after his book with the same title. Chofetz Chaim means "Seeker/Desirer [of] Life" in Hebrew.

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 Leibowitz died in December 1941, he was succeeded as head by his son, Henoch Leibowitz, a role held in the 21st century by Dovid Harris and Akiva Grunblatt.

The yeshiva houses a boys secondary school or Mesivta, an undergraduate yeshiva, 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

The yeshiva is known for six primary characteristics that distinguish it from other schools:

  1. It places an emphasis on unpacking the latent processes of reasoning within the steps of the Talmudic sugya ("section") being studied. It understands that the initial assumptions of the Talmud must have already been made after a highly rigorous process and therefore that the progression from that initial thought process (known as the hava aminah) to the final conclusion (known as the maskana) must be fully unfolded and understood.
  2. It emphasizes rigor in its approach to ethical and Biblical texts and commentaries with the idea that a deduction from these texts should ideally be "logically and textually compelling."
  3. It places a strong emphasis on the study of Mussar ("ethics"), both by attending and reviewing bi-weekly lectures and through daily individual study. This emphasis began with Dovid Leibowitz, who founded the yeshiva based on the doctrine of his rebbe, the Alter of Slabodka, and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement. The head of the yeshiva, 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").
  4. It places a premium upon involvement in Jewish education and on the propagation of the ideals and values of Judaism amongst the greater Jewish population. Upon completion of a rigorous term of study, students are encouraged to seek employment, and they have built institutions, such as schools and synagogues, in communities like Orlando, Florida and Henderson, Nevada that are distant from the major Jewish communal centers in the United States.
  5. The yeshiva is very committed to its students’ subordination to "Daas Torah," as defined in the introduction to the six-volume collection of Henoch Lebowitz's mussar lectures, "Chidushei Halev." It subscribes to the belief that all things are in some way included within the Torah and perforce, one who has spent years dedicated to in-depth study of the Torah is able to appropriately apply its logic to all plausible situations.
  6. It has adopted a philosophy that views as external factors as being of far less significance to internal factors, i.e. an individual should actually work on internal growth rather than on appearances.

Affiliates and branches by location

United States

Canada

Israel

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

Notable alumni