History
Yeshivat Sha'alvim was founded in 1961 by Rabbi Meir Schlesinger, the rabbi of Kibbutz Sha'alvim. The yeshiva, like the kibbutz, was originally affiliated with Poalei Agudat Yisrael ("Agudat Israel Workers"), whose ideology can be described as somewhere between that of Agudat Israel and that of the Mizrachi.
Rabbi Schlesinger served as the rosh yeshiva for over 30 years. For over 20 years, the highest class was taught by Rabbi Shimon Zelaznik, a student of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer of Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem. A weekly shiur klali (general lecture) was delivered by Rabbi Yitzchak Dzimtrovski, one of the foremost students of Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky at Ponevezh yeshiva and maggid shiur at Yeshivat Kol Yaakov in Jerusalem. The first mashgiach was Rabbi Yitzchak Gittelman who had been a student of Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, Mashgiach at Mir yeshiva. A subsequent mashgiach was Rabbi Moshe Yechiel Tzuriel (Weiss), a prolific author. The period between c. 1970-c. 1985, during which time these rabbis served at Yeshivat Sha'alvim, may be regarded as the yeshiva's golden age. The current heads of the yeshiva (see below) all studied at Yeshivat Sha'alvim during this period.
In the early-to-mid-1990s many of the yeshiva's original rabbis began to retire and their positions were filled by graduates of the yeshiva and of other, more strictly Religious Zionist yeshivas. This change coincided with the demise of the Poalei Agudat Yisrael movement and with the growing divide between the National Religious and Haredi movements in Israel. In the following years the yeshiva grew significantly and became the center of a large and flourishing educational campus which includes a kollel (rabbanut and dayanut), a teachers college, a yeshiva high-school for boys, an ulpana high school for girls, an elementary school and a Talmud Torah. In the early 1990s a National Religious yishuv named Nof Ayalon was built around the Sha'alvim educational campus. Over 400 families live in the yishuv including many graduates of the yeshiva.
Graduates of the yeshiva have founded Hesder yeshivas in Karnei Shomron and in Sderot. In recent years the yeshiva has also opened a post-high-school seminary for girls from the United States and other countries in Jerusalem.
Today, the yeshiva is headed by Rabbi Yechezkel Yaakovson and assisted by Rabbi Aryeh Hendler. The kollel is headed by Rabbi Gidon Binyamin, Rabbi of Nof Ayalon. The Mashgiach is Rabbi Aryeh Ben Ya'akov. All four are former students of the Yeshiva. Other senior rabbis are Rabbi Moshe Ganz, a graduate of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav and a close personal student of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, and Rabbi Yoel Amital, a graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion and a close personal student of his father Rabbi Yehuda Amital.
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