The World of Emanation: Reflections on the Volozhin Yeshiva

On Reforms in the Yeshiva

The yearning to modernize the yeshiva and give it the appearance of a seminary grew considerably in the hearts of our scholars; but, regretfully, they used whatever filth they could scavenge. All who desired these reforms were building castles in the sky, heedless to whether the people called for it or if it was even necessary at that time. If they had considered the matter thoroughly, they would have known that their generation was not fit, and that the Jews of Russia would have no need of a rabbi who had studied in a modern seminary. When I asked the gaon, the Netsiv [Rabbi Naphtali Tsvi Yehuda Berlin] about reforms, he spoke truly, saying: “When we want to institute something new, we must find something comparable in this world, to see what it achieved and what came out of it. When we see that this sort of thing brought no benefit, but on the contrary caused harm, would it not be folly to follow its example? We see with our own eyes the fruit of the seminaries in Vilna and Zhitomir; how could we follow their examples!?”¹

Although these words were true for the most part, and it was evident that they came from the heart of one who cared about his people and its Torah, from one who could simultaneously envision the past and the future, nevertheless, they were not entirely true. For the pitfall of those seminaries was that they had gone overboard in their reforms: their directors had treated the Talmud as a minor subject, which is why what happened came to pass. However, had our teacher Rabbi Israel Salanter agreed to serve as superintendent and head teacher, then they would undoubtedly have produced excellent talmudists, masters of Torah and science. In that case, it was a flawed comparison!

Indeed, so! We could not give the Volozhin yeshiva the appearance of a seminary. But how would he [the Netsiv] justify his position if we were to ask him why he won’t teach the yeshiva students the spirit of the people, the spirit of Torah and Judaism? Why should he lock the doors of this learning in their faces? Is this not Torah too, and as such they need to learn it [see b. Berakhot 62a]? We could not place blame for this on the former heads of the yeshiva because we could not require of them something that felt unnatural. But he had already started to note the concepts of Judaism and [the spirit of] the people; he knew how to study the Talmud and of its profound principles (of which he spoke about in each class); why wouldn’t he teach his students what he felt in his heart? He makes every effort to have his students excel in their thorough knowledge of the details of the Talmud; why would he not set his heart to implant in them the principles of the nation and of Judaism? He teaches them the details, but not the general concepts required of every rabbi and leader! And why not teach them Jewish history, showing them the difference between the Jewish spirit and that of other nations? [ . . . ] By studying history, the students will come to genuinely understand their people and their needs. Can you believe this terrible thing!? That these people [rabbis], the leaders of the nation and Judaism, would hardly know about Israel and Judaism! [ . . . ]

Come and see—how much work, how much money, how many great deeds, and so forth, need to be performed before an advanced yeshiva can be established, a yeshiva that can provide room and board for four hundred students; how long will we have to labor before we can bring such an ambitious project from vision to reality—how many ordeals and hard times the yeshiva of Volozhin had to endure. Many times it was nearly closed down by villains; and how often was it visited by fire? But despite these disasters that blocked its way, it fought back valiantly with shining glory, standing on strong pillars. A yeshiva like this, if one studied there in proper orderly fashion, would truly achieve much of spiritual and moral value. But the great men who stand at its head forgot their great mission and went to graze in other pastures—to write articles on the idea of “settling the Land of Israel”—and our writers who devote themselves to nationalism, not only do they not moralize them on their errant ways, rather, they acknowledge and support them. The Jewish people are such shlimazls!