Shuvu Bonim

{{Short description|School in Jerusalem}}

{{Infobox school

|name = Shuvu Bonim Yeshiva

|address = Rehov Hebron 32

|region = Old City

|city = Jerusalem

|established = 1978

|head_name = Rosh Yeshiva

|head = Eliezer Berland

|affiliation = Judaism}}

Shuvu Bonim (also Yeshivat Breslov—Nechamat Tzion) is a yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem{{Cite web|url=http://www.torahindex.com/en/inst/default.aspx?index=1&name=shuvu+banim|title=Institutions Index|website=www.torahindex.com|access-date=2022-09-07|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130232021/http://www.torahindex.com/en/inst/default.aspx?index=1&name=shuvu+banim|url-status=live}} with 1,500 students. It was founded in 1978 in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Eliezer Berland, a convicted sex offenderhttps://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-09-14/ty-article/convicted-sex-offender-rabbi-berland-turned-away-at-ukrainian-border-on-way-to-uman/0000018a-93ea-d077-a7da-f3ebea800000{{Cite web|title=Sex offender rabbi who defrauded followers gets 18 months in plea deal|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/sex-offender-rabbi-who-defrauded-followers-gets-18-months-in-plea-deal-report/|date=7 June 2021|access-date=2021-06-22|work=The Times of Israel|language=en-US}} and fraudster{{Cite web|title=Sex offender rabbi Berland begins fraud sentence as followers mass outside jail {{!}} The Times of Israel|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/followers-mass-outside-prison-as-sex-offender-rabbi-set-to-start-sentence/amp/|access-date=2021-12-03|website=www.timesofisrael.com}} who is still the rosh yeshiva.{{Cite web|url=http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/excerpts/garb_chosen.pdf|title=Welcome | Yale University Press|access-date=2010-11-22|archive-date=2012-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011094608/http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/excerpts/garb_chosen.pdf|url-status=live}} The yeshiva was declared a cult by The Israeli Center for Cult Victims in 2018.

It is a Breslov yeshiva based on the teachings of Nachman of Breslov. About 30 percent of the student body is affiliated with the Haredi or national–religious communities.{{Cite web|url=https://shuvubonim.org/about.html|title=Shuvu Bonim|website=shuvubonim.org|access-date=2022-09-07|archive-date=2022-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616050602/https://shuvubonim.org/about.html|url-status=live}}

In 1980, an additional branch was opened in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1982 the two branches merged into a single institution with the Bnei Brak yeshiva moving to Jerusalem.

It runs ten kollels, three yeshivot for young men, a Talmud Torah, an elementary school for girls, a range of preschools and kindergartens, youth groups, and evening lectures for women.{{Cite web|url=https://shuvubonim.org/educational.html|title=Shuvu Bonim|website=shuvubonim.org|access-date=2022-09-07|archive-date=2022-07-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710215716/https://shuvubonim.org/educational.html|url-status=live}}

The relation with other Breslov branches during the New Year pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine, has been tense.{{cite news |last1=Pfeffer |first1=Anshel |title=My pilgrimage into the Jewish future: Partying, praying, prostitution and absolution in Uman |url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2018-09-15/ty-article/.premium/partying-praying-prostitution-and-absolution-at-a-pilgrimage-into-the-jewish-future/0000017f-f0a7-da6f-a77f-f8afb53f0000 |access-date=26 February 2025 |work=Haaretz.com |date=Sep 15, 2018 |language=en |quote=In recent years it has been the scenes of fights between various Breslav factions, chiefly the violent Shuvu Banim sect, [...] last Rosh Hashanah, a fight broke out as they forced his way in to the Kloyz. [...] To preserve a tense ceasefire, none of the Breslav rabbis was honored with an aliyah, so the Shuvu Banim thugs couldn’t claim Berland was disrespected.}}