But surpassing all
the yeshibot of the nineteenth century, if not of all centuries, was the
Yeshibah Tree of Life (Yeshibat 'Ez Hayyim) in the townlet of Volozhin.
There the cherished hopes of the Gaon were finally realized. Within its
walls gathered the elect of the Russo-Jewish youth for almost a century.
The founder of this famous yeshibah was Rabbi Hayyim Volozhin, the
greatest of the Gaon's disciples (1749-1821). A prominent Talmudist at
twenty-five, he, nevertheless, left his business and household at that
age, and went to Vilna to become the humble pupil of the Gaon, whose
method he had followed from the beginning. When he felt himself
proficient enough in his studies, he returned to his native place, and
founded (1803) the Tree of Life College, with an enrollment of ten
students, whom he maintained at his own expense. But soon the fame of
the yeshibah and its founder spread far and wide, and students flocked
to it from all corners of Russia and outside of it. In response to Rabbi
Hayyim's appeal contributions came pouring in, a new and spacious
school-house was erected, and Volozhin became a Talmudic Oxford.
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