Diaspora Yeshiva (ישיבת התפוצות) is a Charedi yeshiva for baalei teshuva operating primarily on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, among numerous satellite operations, providing shorter and longer term Torah learning programs for Jewish men, ages 18-35, from all over the world, who were not raised with an Orthodox Jewish Torah education. The current Rosh Yeshiva is Rabbi Yitzchak Goldstein, son of HaRav HaGao
n Mordechai Goldstein, z"l, who founded the Yeshiva. History and Significance
Diaspora Yeshiva was started in 1965 under the name Yeshiva Toras Yisrael as an Orthodox Jewish outreach yeshiva for baalei teshuva by Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, an alumnus of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in Queens, New York, and a colleague of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach . The Yeshiva originally operated out of the Chevron Yeshiva in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Geulah and later out the Diskin Orphanage in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem. Unlike traditional Rabbinic academies, the Yeshiva reached out to young Jewish men who had never been exposed to traditional Talmud study. It offered introductory and intermediate courses together with acclimation to an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle. Until that time, there was no such thing as a yeshiva for baalei teshuva regardless of background and un-affiliation. Diaspora Yeshiva paved the way for the many yeshivos for baalei teshuva that followed. Following the Six Day War, at the invitation of then Director-General of the Ministry of Religion of the State of Israel, Rabbi Dr. Shmuel Z. Kahane, who also served as the Chief Rabbi of Mount Zion, Diaspora Yeshiva moved to Mount Zion. Through Rabbi Dr. S.Z. Kahane, the Chief Rabbiship of Mount Zion was transmitted to Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, who established Diaspora Yeshiva atop the Chamber of the Holocaust, the original Holocaust memorial, adjacent to King David's Tomb, in order to elevate the souls of those who were murdered in the Holocaust. The Yeshiva's Approach
As a long-time student of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim under Rabbi Chenoch Leibowitz, Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein established the Diaspora Yeshiva according to the Derech (Way) of Chofetz Chaim, following in the footsteps of the Alter of Slabodka and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar movement, according to which the Diaspora Yeshiva continues to operate to this day.
* Externals are less important than what’s inside, meaning it is more important to work on oneself and to become a mentch than it is to adopt a particular dress-code, so students are not required to wear black and white, but may come as they are and feel comfortable to grow at their own pace.
* A rigorous approach to Biblical texts, commentaries, and ethical texts, in which, ideally, deductions from these texts should be “logically and textually compelling”.
* The study of Mussar (Jewish “ethics”) through regular lectures in addition to individual study of Mussar texts. As Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz would continually remind his students, it is even more important to become a mentch (“a good person”) than it is to become a lamden (analytical scholar) and a great pedagogue.
* Talmud B’Iyun (in-depth Talmud study), emphasizing the need to fully unfold and understand the subject being studied, from the hava amina (initial thought process) of the Talmud to the maskana (final thought process).
* Seeking to inspire complete subservience to Daas Torah (Torah knowledge), knowing that the Torah includes everything, and that Talmudic reasoning is a window into the mind of G-d, so that a person who spends years of dedicated in-depth Talmud study (Talmud actually means “study”) has his mind shaped to “think like G-d,” and thereby becomes empowered to do the right thing in all manner of situations.
* Inculcating in alumni that, having become Torah scholars, the highest of goals is to enter the field of Harbatzos HaTorah (Jewish education), in order to promulgate the ideals and values of Torah Judaism not only among the Jewish people but among all nations. The Evolution of the Yeshiva's Name
Diaspora Yeshiva was originally started with the name Yeshiva Toras Yisrael. In 1967, a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation was established in Brooklyn, NY to raise money for the Yeshiva under the same name, which remains in existence to this day. Following the Six Day War and the Yeshiva's move to Mount Zion, Jerusalem, with the Old City of Jerusalem in the hands of the State of Israel and so many Jewish students from abroad attending the Yeshiva, the Yeshiva became known as "The Diaspora Yeshiva" (ישיבת התפוצות), as it is famously known in across the world in English to this day. This evolution in the Yeshiva's name is reflected in the naming of the famous Diaspora Yeshiva Band, which was started at the Yeshiva in 1975, as well as in Yeshiva's 1983 charitable registration in Israel in Hebrew, with the additional of the Hebrew word התפוצות (Diaspora), becoming ישיבת התפוצות תורת ישראל (Diaspora Yeshiva Toras Yisrael). Nevertheless, as the large name on its main international study hall indicates, the Yeshiva is famously known simply as Diaspora Yeshiva, which is reflected in Hebrew (ישיבת התפוצות) on the National Library of Israel page dedicated to the Yeshiva and its publications.
