Kol Torah

Main entrance to Kol Torah

New wing of Kol Torah

Bet Midrash

Kol Torah is a yeshiva in the Bayit Vegan area of Jerusalem, founded in 1939. It is famous for its high standards in Talmudic teaching and quality of students, who are recognised as being some of the foremost Talmudists in the world.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

Yeshivas Kol Torah was founded in 1939 by Yechiel Michel Schlesinger (1898–1948), born in Hamburg, Germany and Boruch Kunstadt, a dayan from Fulda, Germany. It was the first mainstream Haredi yeshiva to teach in Hebrew, as opposed to Yiddish, as was accepted at the time. This innovation had the crucial support of the Chazon Ish.

Tombstone of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach; the inscription reads in part: "From a young age he spread Torah among the public, and had many students in Yeshivas Kol Torah".

After Schlesinger's death in 1949, Kol Torah was headed by Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, until his death in 1995.

Moshe Yehuda Schlesinger, eldest son of the founder, is currently serving as rosh yeshiva. Kol Torah is separated into two parts, the rabbinical college and the high school. The number of students in both combined reaches around 1000 students.

Notable faculty members[]

• Gavriel Bollag (1911–2007), member of the Mir Yeshiva – Shanghai.
• Yitzchok Yerucham Bordiansky, son in law of Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
• Boruch Shmuel Deutsch, chief disciple of Elazar Shach and Jerusalem Faction leader.^[1]
• Shimon Moshe Diskin (1932–1999).
• Avrohom Erlanger, author of Birkas Avrohom.
• Dovid Hecksher (1943–1997).
• Yitzchok Lorincz, son of Knesset Member Shlomo Lorincz; married the granddaughter of Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.
• (1900–1980), former rabbi of Darmstadt, Germany, and chief editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia.
• Yehoshua Neuwirth (1927-2013), author of Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah.
• Sholom Povarsky (d. 2020), son of Dovid Povarsky.^[2]
• Yosef Yehuda Reiner
• Yaakov Steinhouse, author of Dvar Yaakov.

Notable alumni[]

Israel Meir Lau

• Avi Berkowitz (born 1988), American attorney and political adviser
• Pinchas Biberfeld (1915–1999), Chief Rabbi of Munich
• Yehoshua Erenberg, the rosh yeshivot of "Kneses Yitzchok" -Chadera and Kiryat Sefer
• Benyamin Goldstein, current Chief Rabbi of Modena and Reggio Emilia
• Meir Kessler, rabbi of Modi'in Illit
• Rabbi Ephraim Klyne, dean of Torah Temimah School, London
• Israel Meir Lau (born 1937), Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (1993–2003)
• Norman Lebrecht (born 1948), British commentator on music and cultural affairs, and novelist
• Nachum Neriya (born 1941), son of Rabbi Moshe-Zvi Neria and founder of Torah Betziyon
• Yehoshua Neuwirth (1927 - 2013), author of Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah
• Shmuel Rabinovitch (born 1970), rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel
• Shmuel Reiner (born 1954), established Yeshivat Maale Gilboa; later a student of Meir Schlesinger at Yeshivat Shaalvim
• (born 1935), founder of Yeshivat Shaalvim; nephew of Yechiel Michel Schlesinger
• Don Segal, mashgiach ruchani of Mir Yeshiva – Brooklyn and Yeshivas Tifrach
• Daniel Sperber (born 1940), Professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University.
• , rebbe at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh
• Chaim Walder, bestselling author of Haredi children's literature^[3]
• Yechezkel Yaakovson (born 1954), rosh yeshiva emeritus of Yeshivat Shaalvim
• Yitzhak Shlomo Zilberman (1929-2001), founder of Yeshivat Aderet Eliyahu; pioneer of the Zilberman Method in Jewish education

References[]

External links[]

• KOL TORAH RABBINICAL COLLEGE.
• HaRav Yechiel Schlesinger zt"l Part 1
• HaRav Yechiel Schlesinger zt"l Part 2
• HaRav Yechiel Schlesinger zt"l Part 3

Coordinates: 31°46′0.79″N 35°10′57.69″E / 31.7668861°N 35.1826917°E / 31.7668861; 35.1826917