The Volozhin Yeshiva - the mother of yeshivahs as it is called, recently received a surprising visit: Ephraim Halevi, former head of the Mossad, and also the great-grandson of the Volozhin Netziv, arrived in White Russia to the mythical yeshiva, dreaming of reviving the famous yeshiva.
Ephraim Halevi was accompanied by 'Maariv-Hashavua' reporters Mordechai Haimowitz and Yossi Aloni, and together they documented his journey to the roots and his grandiose plans.
From Bialik to Levi
Ephraim Halevi was born the year Bialik died, 1934. Even after he retired from the head of the Mossad, he continues to spy. This time, after the past of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who made it difficult to prove their Jewishness. The "Roots" Center is a kind of international investigation office based in Jerusalem. Every year, it helps hundreds of women and men find documents essential to confirming their Jewishness in the rabbinical courts. The center is supported by a foundation owned by Jewish-Australian millionaire Hari Trigoboff.
Halevi is the chairman of the foundation. Now Haim Chesler, founder of "Limmud FSU," is trying to put Halevi at the head of a public committee to restore the Volozhin Yeshiva. The intention is not to resume studies at the yeshiva, but to open a Jewish cultural center. To show what life was like here before the Holocaust.
The greenery in Belarus threatens you. About a third of the country is forested, but you can't see the forest because of all the death. Hatyn, Luben, Vishneva. Hundreds of murder sites among lush trees, in peaceful fields, on hills with gentle slopes. The Volozhin yeshiva also ceased to exist after the Nazi invasion.
At the Governor of Minsk
Hundreds of students were deported to the ghetto and sent to extermination. The working meeting on the restoration of Volozhin opens after a visit to the death site "Yama" ("pit" in Russian), where 5,000 Jews were murdered. Israeli Ambassador to Minsk Yosef Chagal estimates that the restoration will cost about two million dollars. "It is important for Belarusians that this will be a tourist center for Israelis," he adds. Grigory Chaitovich, one of the leaders of the Jewish community, would like a yeshiva to be established again. If not for regular studies, then for cycles of a few days. Halevy is not enthusiastic about the idea of a yeshiva. In his opinion, it would be better to open a center in Volozhin that will demonstrate and commemorate the destroyed scholarship.
The next meeting is with the governor of Minsk region. The governor, Semyon Shapiro, is a man with the shoulders of Tyson and the rosy cheeks of Heidi the Mountaineer. He ran a collective farm until another collective farmer, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, pulled him off the tractor. "I need you to help me change the people," he told him. Shapiro asked how long it would take. Lukashenko replied: "40 years.".
We are sitting under a picture of another man who wanted to change the people. His name is Lenin. Under the father of the Bolshevik Revolution, photographs of Soviet "five-year plans." When the "former head of the Mossad" is presented to the governor, he responds: "There is no former person in this position." As the son of a Jewish father, he is open to hearing the members of the delegation. "Say what you want," he lets out a sentence devoid of verbal padding.
Chaim Chesler replies in his own language: "We mean business." Maybe after this visit we can do something about the yeshiva." Shapiro: "We are ready to talk about it. But be concrete." Chesler: "First of all, we want to take Mr. Halevy to Volozhin. Let him be a part of it. Volozhin was once the center of Jewish life and the Holocaust ended everything.".
The door is still locked.
The yeshiva building was called "the white house," because it was built for white people. Now the house is still white, but there are no students, nor are there any sounds of a waterfall. Only the rain shines on the red roof. It is 5:30 p.m., the month is the end of August, and the smell of fireplace smoke is already rising from the houses. Mayor Piotr Bibic ceremoniously places a silver key in the hands of Ephraim Halevi.
Halevy tries to open the red iron door, but nothing. Turned to the other side, he digs the key into the inside of the lock, but the door is ready. Which turns our story into an Agnon scene. "When he returned, he found his house locked," wrote S. Y. Agnon in the opening of "Farheim." Here Halevy passes the key to our companion Veronica, who asks the mayor if he knows anyone, the mayor says no. Ephraim Halevy tries again and is thwarted again, Chesler tries to enter through the window, and nothing works until the local "head" Bibik takes the key from "head" Halevy again and storms the door.
Against the backdrop of giant figures
Halevi enters the darkness first. He finds windows blocked with bricks, shutters that don't go up, rusty neon signs attached to the ceiling, black moss at the junction between the walls and the ceiling. But once, a vital life went on here. "About two hundred and fifty young men and young women sit, stand, and some even walk with the Gemara in their hands throughout the entire hall - and study loudly and in tune, each one in a different tune... and all this with enthusiasm and sweetness, with the shaking of the whole body and the movement of the hands...", Zlotkin testifies.
Will you come back here again?
""Yes. I hope that a Jewish cultural center will be established here, a link that will connect us to the past that was interrupted by the Holocaust.".
What does wandering around here do to you?
""With all these giant figures hanging on the walls, I feel like I've gone back decades.".
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
