Beyond the basic patterns that began to characterize the Lithuanian yeshivot, a special identity evolved that was plainly reflected in their cohesion and attempts at survival under the extremely difficult conditions at the onset of WWI. Though their sizes shrank drastically, the nucleus, which included the yeshiva heads and older students, continued to function even when they were forced to wander across Russia and the Ukraine for extended periods. This conduct distinguished many of the yeshivot, not merely an isolated few, though they all acted independently. The sense of solidarity continued over the next two decades, when the yeshivot suffered great hardships during the economic crisis in Europe and the Great Depression of the 1930s in the United States. Despite the extremely difficult conditions and lack of food, most of the students remained in their yeshivot, while their elderly leaders journeyed to foreign lands to raise desperately needed funds. This sense of commonality and determination was manifested more powerfully still at the outbreak of WWII. Faced again with an emergency situation similar to that of the previous war, the heads and most of the students of the yeshivot—now perhaps better organized—fled the townships of Poland for Vilna. In this city—and later in the towns of Lithuania—the yeshivot continued to function as organic and independent units, and remained so, regardless of the harsh circumstances following the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, until their destruction in the Holocaust.

 

The yeshiva world of Eastern Europe, which was obliterated scarcely less than three generations ago, accumulated a treasury of traditions, stories, myths and anecdotes that the graduates and survivors passed on to the next generations, some orally and some in writing. Even if we accept them as historical facts, they are likely to provide a fragmented picture of the yeshivot at best. It is remarkable that despite the impressive rehabilitation of the Lithuanian yeshivot in our time and their extraordinary dynamism, not one piece of critical research has been produced on the history of even one yeshiva during the interwar period, and what is more—nor has a critical biography of any of their leaders been published. Thus, this book on the Lithuanian yeshivot gedolot (senior yeshivot) in Eastern Europe between the wars is the first systematical research effort to fill that gap.

 

The book offers a lateral approach to the world of Lithuanian yeshivot, through historical, economic, educational, social and statistical-quantitative perspectives, from the years preceding WWI up to their demise, three decades later, based on a study of each individual Lithuanian yeshiva gedola in Eastern Europe. Understanding of the fixed as well as variable aspects inherent in them enables examination of the joint processes they underwent and revelation of their uniqueness. Though space prohibits the inclusion of individual monographs of the various yeshivot, this book does provide a glimpse of their inner-workings, depicting the processes and some irregularities in those institutions, which to this day are still considered the shining beacon of yeshivot throughout the Jewish world.