Yeshivat Har Etzion

Yeshivat Har Etzion was founded in l968 by HaRav Yehuda Amital in Alon Shevut, Gush Etzion, 12 miles south of Jerusalem. In 1971, HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein joined him, and since then, they have served as co-Roshei Yeshiva, a shining example of mutual respect and successful joint leadership. With over 600 students, the Yeshiva is the largest of the Yeshivot Hesder, wherein Israeli students combine their army service with advanced yeshiva study in a five-year program. The Yeshiva sees the Hesder ideal - the balance between the active and the contemplative life - as treading closest to the highest traditions of Judaism.

In order for the study of Torah to become an integral part of a student's life, the Yeshiva believes that in these formative years, each student should strive to acquire tools in learning that will properly equip him for a lifetime of Torah study. Many of the rabbis are either Talmidim of the Rav, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt"l, or products of the Yeshiva itself. The yeshiva centers its daily schedule around the study of Gemara. Most of the day is spent learning be-iyun (in-depth), while opportunities to learn bekiut, acquiring breadth of knowledge, and to explore other areas of Torah exist as well. Through the classes, students learn to analyze the Gemara conceptually as well as acquiring wide-range knowledge in Talmud. Other classes, held late in the afternoon, concentrate on Tanach, Jewish Philosophy and machshava, and Halacha.

Students in the Yeshiva are educated to strike a balance between personal growth in Torah and public responsibility. A student's stay at Yeshiva is viewed as preparation for a life of service to the Jewish nation, in either a professional or lay capacity. The Yeshiva is committed not only to molding individuals but to developing communal leadership by stimulating both the ability and desire to serve.

Set on a hill two miles off the main highway, the central complex of the Yeshiva contains a Beit Midrash, classrooms, offices, dining hall and library. The architecture of Har Etzion's buildings, set against the hills and sky of the Judean Mountains, is audacious and deeply moving. Facing the central building stand well-designed one and two story dormitories embraced by floral paths. The overall physical impression one receives of Har Etzion is that of a fine academic campus, suffused with the rich atmosphere of a traditional Yeshiva.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The Etzion bloc of religious settlements, known as Gush Etzion, stands on a hilly perch 12 miles south of Jerusalem in the heart of Judea. Jewish settlers were forced to abandon it in 1929, then again in 1937, and yet a third time after a valiant defense in 1948 during Israel's War of Independence. At the time, David Ben-Gurion said of the settlers, "If a Jewish Jerusalem exists today, the thanks of Jewish history and the whole people must first go to the fighters of Gush Etzion."

After the region was recaptured in l967, many children of the original founders, along with other settlers, returned to establish the Etzion bloc as an integral part of the State of Israel. As part of this redemptive effort, Yeshivat Har Etzion was founded on September 27, 1967. It was conceived both as a memorial to the heroic sacrifices of the past and as a vehicle for creating and realizing a vision of the future.

Copyright (c) 1996 by Yeshivat Har Etzion. Please send comments or questions to: office@etzion.org.il