Ponevezh Yeshiva, often pronounced as Ponevitch Yeshiva (
Hebrew: ישיבת פוניבז׳), is a
yeshiva founded in 1908 in
Panevėžys (Ponevezh),
Lithuania, and located today in
Bnei Brak,
Israel since 1944. The yeshiva has over three thousand students, including those of affiliated institutions, and is considered one of the leading
Litvish yeshivas in Israel.
The main study hall has an original 16th-century Italian wooden aron kodesh (Torah scroll ark), brought to the yeshiva in the early 1980s, and restored and re-gilded with 22 carat gild leaf.
Rabbi Steinman with students of Little Yeshiva Ponevezh on
Purim, 1960
Header of official stationery of Yeshiva Ponevezh in Panevėžys, Lithuania, ca. 1920
Loan certificated for 100 Israeli shekels issued by Yeshiva Ponevezh, 1953
Plate in Bnei Brak with a description of Yeshiva Ponevezh's history
Video from the Yeshiva in 1960
Split into two factions
During the 1990s, leadership of the yeshiva was the subject of a public disagreement between two of its leaders. Since then, the yeshiva has split and resulted in two yeshivas in the same building, with the students occupying different dormitories, though studying in the same learning hall and eating in the same dining room.
The Kahaneman faction of the yeshiva was led by rabbi
Gershon Eidelstein and is led by rabbis
Berel Povarsky (son of Dovid Povarsky), Dovid Levy (son-in-law of Rabbi Eidelstein[4] and Chaim Peretz Berman (a grandson of
The Steipler, and a son-in-law of Povarsky ). The Markovitz faction of the yeshiva is led by rabbis Shmuel Markovitz, Asher Deutch, and Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler.
Kollel Avreichim — located on the grounds of the yeshiva in the Ohel Kedoshim building; intended for married students who have graduated from the yeshiva
Batei Avot —
sheltered accommodation established by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman for children rescued from the Holocaust and orphans and children from broken homes; donated by Henry Krausher
Grodno Yeshiva - Beer Yaakov — an additional yeshiva located in
Beer Yaakov
Grodno Yeshiva - Ashdod, also known as Ponevezh Ashdod — an additional yeshiva located in
Ashdod