Shanghai, China

 

Tomchei Temimim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tomchei Temimim (תומכי תמימים = "supporters of the pure ones") is the central Yeshiva (Talmudical academy) of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Founded in 1897 in the town of Lubavitch by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, it is now a worldwide network of institutions of advanced Torah study.[1]



History

Towards the late 1800s, the position of traditional Orthodox Judaism was declining. Various new movements eroded the traditional fabric of Jewish life, notably the Haskalah and Zionism. Many students were being lured away from a traditional yeshiva education to gymnasiums and universities. Even within the yeshiva framework, times had changed; no longer was the atmosphere one of exclusive devotion to Judaism, according to which Torah study has traditionally been not simply an acquisition of another science, but an end in itself. The winds of Enlightenment were blowing; students were reading books considered heretical by the yeshivot, and were for the first time exposed to ideas at odds with Orthodox Judaism. It was not uncommon for students to flagrantly violate basic Jewish laws, and ultimately join these secular movements.

Against this backdrop, Rabbi Sholom DovBer believed it necessary to found a new type of yeshiva, one which would regularly study Hasidic philosophy (Chassidus) according to the Chabad tradition, and thereby inoculate its students against the heretical views spreading through the Orthodox Jewish world.[2][3] Moreover, he expressed his confidence that the students of this yeshiva (whom he termed "temimim" תמימים; sing. "tamim" תמים = pure, perfect[4]) would be suitably prepared to overcome the problems plaguing the yeshiva community and Jewry in general.

Chaotic times

In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution took place in Russia; within a short time, virtually any kind of formal Jewish education was outlawed by the new Communist rulers. The yeshiva took to operating underground,[5] with teachers facing harsh penalties if caught: sentences of ten or more years of hard labor in Siberia, or a merciful death at the hands of a firing squad. Dozens of young rabbis paid the ultimate price for continuing the survival of Judaism in the Soviet Union, at any cost.[6]

When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rayatz) exited the Soviet Union in 1927, the yeshiva reestablished itself in Warsaw and later in Otwock, Poland. When in the course of World War II the Rebbe was safely evacuated to New York. The yeshiva first escaped to Shanghai, along with some other yeshivot like Mir, and then was reestablished in America, where it remains to this day.

Today

The central Yeshiva is housed today in Lubavitch World Headquarters, at 770 Eastern Parkway, with approximately six hundred students. Branches of the yeshiva, formally independent but recognized to be part of one global network, are to be found in major cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia, and the former Soviet Union, and a distinct network of yeshivot in Israel. Many of the branches also perform the functions necessary to grant ordination to their students. A significant number of graduates of Tomchei Temimim continue working within Chabad as religious functionaries, whether as shluchim in Chabad Houses or as teachers in schools.

About the yeshiva

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson asserted that the impact of studying in Tomchei Temimim is everlasting:

“

Anyone who once learned in Tomchei Temimim remains a Tamim, a student of Tomchei Temimim, forever.[7]


Global locations

In North America

  1. •Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch, Brooklyn, New York

  2. •Talmudical Seminary Oholei Torah, Brooklyn, New York

  3. •Yeshiva Kol Yaakov Yehuda Hadar Hatorah Rabbinical Seminary, Brooklyn, New York

  4. •Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

  5. •Yeshivas Lubavitch Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  6. •Yeshiva Or Menachem, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

  7. •Rabbinical College of America, Morristown, New Jersey

  8. •Lubavitch Educational Center – Klurman Mesivta, Miami Beach, Florida

  9. •Yeshivas Lubavitch of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland

  10. •Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad, Los Angeles, California

  11. •Oholei Yosef Yitzchok Lubavitch-Mesivta, Oak Park, Michigan

  12. •Yeshivas Menachem Mendel Lubavitch of Monsey, Monsey, NY

  13. •Yeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo, New Haven, CT

  14. •Yeshiva Boys’ High School, Pittsburgh, PA

  15. •Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago, Chicago, IL

  16. •Chovevei Torah, Brooklyn, NY

  17. •Lubavitch Rabbinical College of Minnesota, S. Paul, MN

  18. •Mesivta of Postville, Postville, IA

  19. •Mesivta of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, FL

  20. •Albany Mesivta, Albany, New York

  21. •HaMesivta, Brooklyn, NY

  22. •Mesivta Oholei Torah, Brooklyn, NY

  23. •Yeshiva Mesivta Menachem, Staten Island, NY

  24. •Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Miami Rabbinical College, Miami, FL

  25. •Yeshivas Menchem Mendel Lubavitch, Oak Park, MI

  26. •Rabbinical College of Quebec-Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Bais Medrash, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

In Israel

  1. •Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, Lod

  2. •Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, Kfar Chabad

  3. •Yeshivas Tzeirei Hashluchim, Tzfas

  4. •Yeshivas Chasidei Chabad Beis Levi Yitzchak, Tzfas

  5. •Ohr Simcha, Kfar Chabad

  6. •Beis Sefer Lemelacha, Kfar Chabad

  7. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Kiryas Gas

  8. •Yeshivas Toras Emes, Yerushalayim

  9. •Yeshivat Beis Haram, Kiryas Malachi

  10. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Migdal Ha'emek

  11. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Or Yehuda

  12. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Elad

  13. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimimm, Be'er Sheva

  14. •Yeshivas Ohel Menachem, Beis Shemesh

  15. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Beisar Ilis

  16. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim-Beis Menachem, Bnei Brak

In other locations

  1. •Yeshivas Oholei Yosef Yitchak Lubavitch, S. Kilda East, Australia

  2. •Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand, East S. Kilda, Victoria, Australia

  3. •Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College of Sydney, Bondi, New South Wales, Australia

  4. •Yeshiva College Cheder Chabad-High School Division, Bondi, New South Wales, Australia

  5. •Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Brunoy, France (suburb of Paris)

  6. •Yeshiva Gedolah Lubavitch London

  7. •Lubavitch Mechinah L'Yeshiva, London, England

  8. •Yeshivas Lubavitch Manchester, Manchester, England

  9. •Boys High School Mesivta, Moscow, Russia

  10. •Yeshiva Ketana Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch, Moscow, Russia

  11. •Yeshivah Tomchei Tmimim Luabvitch, Moscow, Russia

  12. •Torah Academy Boy's High School, Orchards, Johannesburg South Africa

  13. •Rabbinical College of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

  14. •Buenos Aires, Argentina

  15. •Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Ohel Menachem, S. Paulo, Brazil

References

  1. 1
    ^ [1]

  2. 2
    ^     Tog News and All Jewish info - Rabi Shalom Dovber Schneerson ztz”l

  3. 3
    ^     Stories of the Rebbe Rashab - Shmais

  4. 4
    ^     HaYom Yom, Elul 15

  5. 5
    ^     Historical Background - The Man Who Mocked the KGB

  6. 6
    ^     Links in the Chassidic Legacy

  7. 7
    ^     Public address of 13th Tishrei, 5742