Novardok Yeshiva

The Novardok yeshiva in Navahrudak, then the Russian Empire, was one of the biggest and most important yeshivas in pre-World War II Europe, and a powerful force within the Mussar movement.

The yeshiva was established in 1896, together with a Kollel for married men, under the direction of Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz, an alumnus of the Kovno Kollel and pupil of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. In the footsteps of his mentor, he was a staunch advocate of the Mussar approach. He was known as the Alter fun Novardok, a Yiddish term meaning "the elder of Novardok".

It was the first of hundreds of yeshivas of Musar, which were created subsequently. They all assumed the name of Novardok yeshivas.

Novardok established yeshivas all over the region, in major cities such as Kiev, Kharkov, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Zhitomir, Berditchev, Tsaritsyn, Saratov, Plogid, and Chernigov. Influenced by the Alter, his students also created Yeshivas in Kherson, Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Kamieniec-Podolski, Berdichev, Nikolaev, Bălţi, Odessa and other places. The Alter sent young scholars to lead the yeshivas.

The directors of the yeshivas were in constant contact with The Alter, who guided and visited them, spending nearly every Shabbos in a different town.

One of the highlights of the yeshiva's mussar program was its daily "mussar hour." During these sessions, students engaged in fiery soul-searching.