a school for Jewish students, where they can train to become rabbis (=religious leaders) (yeshibhah). Academy of higher Talmudic learning. Through its biblical and legal exegesis and application of scripture, the yeshiva has defined and regulated Judaism for centuries. Traditionally, it is the setting for the training and ordination of rabbis. Following the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, a series of yeshivas were set up around the Levant to codify and explain centuries of Jewish scholarship. In medieval times, yeshivas flourished in Europe wherever there were large populations of Jews. The first yeshiva in the U.S., Etz ayyim (1886), later became Yeshiva University (1945)
Private university in New York City. It was established in 1886 as Yeshiva Eitz Chaim; in 1915 it merged with a Jewish theological seminary. Today the university is independent, although its curriculum emphasizes Jewish culture and history. Yeshiva consists of a liberal arts college, a college for women, a college of Hebraic studies, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as well as schools of Judaic studies, Talmudic studies, business, law (the Cardozo School), social work, education, and graduate studies, among others