Torah Lehranstalt
{{Short description|Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Frankfurt am Main}}
{{Infobox university
| name = Torah Lehranstalt
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| native_name_lang = de
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| other_names = Frankfurt Yeshiva
Breuer Yeshiva
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| type = Yeshiva
| established = 1893
| closed = 1938
| founder = Rabbi Salomon Breuer
| religious_affiliation = Orthodox Judaism
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| head_label = Rosh yeshiva
| head = Rabbi Salomon Breuer
Rabbi Joseph Breuer
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|enrollment = approx. 150
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| city = Frankfurt am Main
| state = Hesse
| country = Germany
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Torah Lehranstalt, also known as the Frankfurt Yeshiva{{cite web |title=The Frankfurt Yeshiva1 |url=https://images.shulcloud.com/288/uploads/Writings/Rav%20Breuer/The%20Frankfurt%20Yeshiva.pdf |website=images.shulcloud.com |access-date=14 December 2020}} or the Breuer Yeshiva,{{cite web |title=View of the Breuer yeshiva in Frankfurt am Main |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1097069 |website=collections.ushmm.org |publisher=USHMM |access-date=14 December 2020}} was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Frankfurt am Main, founded in 1893 by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Breuer, the rabbi of the city's seceded Orthodox community (the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft, Khal Adath Jeshurun).
History
File:Samson-raphael-hirsch-schule frankfurt hesse germany.jpg
Rabbi Breuer served as the rabbi of Frankfurt's seceded Orthodox Jewish community, having received the position after the death of his father-in-law, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. In 1893, he founded the Torah Lehranstalt yeshiva, aiming to raise his community's appreciation of Torah study.
The yeshiva was run in the style of the Hungarian yeshivas which Rabbi Breuer had studied in prior.{{cite journal |last1=Karman |first1=Rabbi Binyomin Zev |title=Inkwells Chalkboards and Slide Rules: The Volkschule and Reaschule of Frankfurt Am Main |journal=Inyan |date=December 2, 2020 |volume=XXIII |issue=1137 |pages=26, 27 |publisher=Hamodia}} Besides for the classic Gemara study, the yeshiva also included a secular studies program as well as classes in Jewish history and Nevi'im. There was also a focus on studying the laws of Shabbos, kashruth, prayer, and blessings.{{cite book |last1=Wein |first1=Rabbi Berel |author1-link=Berel Wein |title=Faith & Fate: The Story of the Jewish People in the Twentieth Century |date=September 2001 |publisher=Shaar Press |location=Brooklyn, NY |isbn=1-57819-593-4 |pages=124–125 |chapter=Distortions and Illusions}}
In 1911, his son, Rabbi Joseph Breuer, joined the yeshiva faculty and introduced a learning program where the older students of Torah Lehranstalt studied together with the younger students from the community's Orthodox high school, the Samson Raphael Hirsch Realschule. This convinced the Realschule students to enroll in yeshiva after graduation.{{cite journal |last1=Karman |first1=Rabbi Binyomin Zev |title=Inkwells Chalkboards and Slide Rules: The Volkschule and Reaschule of Frankfurt Am Main |journal=Inyan |date=December 2, 2020 |volume=XXIII |issue=1137 |pages=26, 27 |publisher=Hamodia}}{{cite book |last1=Scheinbaum |first1=Rabbi A. Leib |title=The World That Was America: 1900-1945 |date=May 2004 |publisher=Living Memorial/Hebrew Academy of Cleveland |isbn=1-57819-360-5 |pages=117 |edition=First |chapter=Transmitting the Legacy - Torah Visionaries}}
In 1921, the yeshiva was divided into five levels of study, with approximately thirty students in each track. While the students were primarily Germans, many came from Hungary, Austria, and Moravia as well.{{cite book |last1=Wein |first1=Rabbi Berel |author1-link=Berel Wein |title=Faith & Fate: The Story of the Jewish People in the Twentieth Century |date=September 2001 |publisher=Shaar Press |location=Brooklyn, NY |isbn=1-57819-593-4 |pages=124–125 |chapter=Distortions and Illusions}}
After the death of Rabbi Solomon Breuer in 1926, his son Rabbi Joseph Breuer became rosh yeshiva (dean). The yeshiva closed at the onset of the Holocaust.
Rabbi Breuer left Germany in 1938 and became the leader of Khal Adath Jeshurun community in New York.{{cite web |title=Rabbi Doctor Joseph Breuer. |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1097067 |website=collections.ushmm.org |publisher=USHMM |access-date=14 December 2020 |quote=Following Kristallnacht, the Nazis shut down the yeshiva, and Rabbi Breuer immigrated to the United States by way of Italy in 1939. He became head of the Kahal Adat Jeshurun congregation in Washington Heights, New York.}}{{cite book |last1=Scheinbaum |first1=Rabbi A. Leib |title=The World That Was America: 1900-1945 |date=May 2004 |publisher=Living Memorial/Hebrew Academy of Cleveland |isbn=1-57819-360-5 |pages=117 |edition=First |chapter=Transmitting the Legacy - Torah Visionaries}}
In some sense, the Yeshiva Gedolah Frankfurt established in 2000, continues the tradition.{{cite book |last1=Ben-Refael |first1=Eliezer |last2=Glöckner |first2=Olaf |last3=Sternberg |first3=Yitzhak |title=Jews and Jewish Education in Germany Today |page=293 |date=2011 |publisher=Brill Publishers}}
Notable alumni
- Rabbi Isaac Breuer
- Rabbi Shimon Schwab{{cite web |title=Rabbi Shimon Schwab |url=http://kevarim.com/rav-shimon-schwab/ |website=kevarim.com |access-date=15 December 2020}}
- Rabbi Dr. Joseph (Yosef) Breuer{{cite web |title=Congregation Ohr Torah |url=http://ohrtorah.net/downloads/announcements/2017/20171021_Noach.pdf |website=ohrtorah.net |access-date=15 December 2020}}
- Rabbi Dr. Leo (Yehudah) Breslauer{{cite web |title=(Rabbi in Fürth, Bavaria and Washington Heights, New York...) |url=https://www.kestenbaum.net/auction/lot/Auction-85/085-202/ |website=www.kestenbaum.net |access-date=15 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=Sold Price: BRESLAUER, LEO (JEHUDA) - November 4, 0119 ... |url=https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/breslauer-leo-jehuda-202-c-5b34ae98c3 |website=www.invaluable.com |access-date=15 December 2020}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Pre-World War II European Yeshivos}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord missing|Hesse}}
Category:1893 establishments in Germany
Category:1938 disestablishments in Germany
Category:Buildings and structures in Frankfurt
Category:Educational institutions established in 1893
Category:Jewish German history
Category:Defunct yeshivas in Europe
Category:Orthodox Jewish educational institutions
Category:Pre–World War II European yeshivas