THE YESHIVAS that developed in nineteenth-century Lithuania offered a completely new structure for the study of Talmud—that is, for studying the texts that lie at the core of traditional Jewish elite literary culture. Their development reflected twomajor characteristics of Jewish society at that time: a conservative reaction to the modernizing trends that were confronting the traditional Jewish world of eastern Europe, and faith in the importance of educational institutions. These characteristics were in themselves a reflection of more general historical phenomena, which is what makes them so significant.

Although the yeshivas of nineteenth-century Lithuania represented amajor attempt on the part of traditional Jewry to cope with the challenges ofmodernity, there has been no comprehensive study of the subject.Much of the existing literature was written by former students by way of tribute: accordingly, such sources present the yeshivas as worthy models, perhaps discuss specific aspects of their history, and provide snippets of information on the famous rabbis associated with them, but that is all. This study, in contrast, is a first attempt at a comprehensive history. It considers the role and functioning of the yeshivas; presents various aspects of their organization and administration, including their funding and the personalities at their helm; and discusses different perspectives of the students’ experience, while at all times paying close and critical attention to documentation and sources.

When Jews speak of ‘the Lithuanian yeshivas’, the borders of the Lithuania they have in mind are not the same as those of the independent state of Lithuania of the interwar period, nor those of modern Lithuania. Jewish geography is a historical geography, so the term is generally used to refer to the region that constituted the duchy of Lithuania when the Polish– Lithuanian Commonwealth was established in 1569. This region included areas that later became part of the neighbouring Baltic states, Belarus, and Poland.

The Jews of nineteenth-century Lithuania thus defined had several distinguishing characteristics. In religious terms,most were traditional, in the sense that they had withstood the innovations of hasidism; in fact, the strength of the opposition to that movement in Lithuania was such that they came collectively to be known as mitnagedim (‘opponents’)—that is, opponents of hasidism.