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| Rav Shraga Feivel ztvk"l at his beloved Bais Medrash Elyon |
The idea of post-elementary Torah education might have been
new in America, but the idea of a mesivta that would offer
also a full range of secular studies was unheard of in the hallowed yeshivos of Eastern Europe.
Rav Shraga Feivel believed this type of
yeshiva was necessary in order to save Yiddishkeit in America
and produce true bnei Torah. But was it permissible, was it
Torahdig, to create a mesivta according to this model?
Rav Shraga Feivel would not rely on his own thinking for such
a monumental decision. Instead, he wrote to four of the leading
gedolim of that time: Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky of Vilna,
Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz of Kamenitz, Rabbi
Yosef Rosen, the Rogatchover Gaon of Dvinsk,
and Rav Elchonon Wasserman of Baranovitch.
Three out of the four responded that it was
difficult to issue a definitive ruling without being
in America to fully grasp the situation there.
However, citing the urgent need for post-elementary Torah education as well as American laws that made secular education compulsory,they felt Mesivta Torah Vodaath should include secular studies in its curriculum.
Rav Shraga Feivel then presented his idea for a mesivta to the
yeshiva’s board of directors. He was met with stiff opposition.
It was difficult enough to finance an elementary school, most
of them argued. To take on the additional burden of a mesivta
that would be staffed with both rebbeim and secular studies
teachers was unimaginable.
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