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Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim: Rabbinical Seminary of America (RSA) or Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir Ha-Kohen, or Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva and often referred to as just Chofetz Chaim (חָפֵץ חַיִּים) is a major Orthodox Judaism yeshiva in the United States based in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York with many branches throughout North America.
It is named in memory of the famous Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan who was known as the Chofetz Chaim (חָפֵץ חַיִּים) because of his famous work of that same name Chafetz Chaim which means "Seeker/Desire [of] Life" in Hebrew. The school's official Hebrew name is Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir Ha-Kohen, using the Chafetz Chaim's real name, to distinguish it (along with the use of its English name) from another yeshiva in New York called "Chafetz Chaim." (The latter is lesser known, but more directly tied to the schools' namesake.)
It is primarily an American, Lithuanian-style Talmudic Haredi Judaism but non-Hasidic yeshiva.
It was established by Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz in the 1930s who was an important disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel and a graduate of the famous Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. Since the passing of Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz many years ago, it has been headed and developed by his son, Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz as its Rosh yeshiva ("dean").
It is headed by Rabbi Alter Chanoch Henoch Leibowitz, son of its founder, Rabbi Dovid Leibowitz.
History Founded in 1933 after differences of opinion between Leibowitz and Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, it was named after Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, Rabbi Leibowitz's great-uncle, who passed away in the latter part of that year. Until then, Rabbi Leibowitz had been serving as Rosh Yeshiva at Torah Vodaas. Both Yeshivot started out in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in New York City and later relocated - Yeshiva Torah Vodaas to Flatbush (also in Brooklyn), and Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim to Forest Hills, Queens, and more recently, to Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.
Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim houses a boys yeshiva high school, an undergraduate yeshiva, and a rabbinical school. The yeshiva students are generally graduates of one of RSA's network high schools graduates who come to continue their Jewish studies. Rabbinical students at Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva often spend a decade or more at the Yeshivah, studying a traditional yeshiva curriculum focusing on Talmud and codes. Many then go on to become teachers, synagogue rabbis, community leaders, organizational officials, and the like.
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