Metivta (also mesivta; Aramaic language: מתיבתא, "academy") is an Orthodox Judaism yeshiva secondary school for boys. The term is commonly used in the United States to describe a yeshiva that emphasizes studies for boys in grades 9 through 11 or 12; alternately, it refers to the religious studies track in a yeshiva high school that offers both religious and secular studies.Helmreich (2000), p. xii.National Council for Jewish Education (1978), p. 29.
The comparable term in Israel for the former is Yeshiva Ketana (, lit. "small yeshiva"),Berezovsky (2001), p. 211. for the latter Yeshiva Tichonit (ישיבה תיכונית, "yeshiva high-school").See the Hebrew Wikipedia's ישיבה תיכונית. This article focuses on the US; see Chinuch Atzmai and Mamlachti dati for respective discussion of these Israeli institutions.
After graduation from a metivta, students progress to a beth midrash, or undergraduate-level, yeshiva program.Kramer (1984), p. xiv. In practice, yeshivas that call themselves metivtas are usually a combination of metivta (high-school) and beth medrash (post-high-school) programs.Helmreich (2000), p. 26. Students in the beth medrash program are often called upon to mentor those in the metivta.Helmreich (2000), p. 85.
As regards the more intensive Talmudic studies program, Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz introduced the concept of a metivta for boys aged 14 and older in New York in 1926. Until that time, religious boys attended Talmud Torah (elementary school) until their bar mitzvah and then went on to public high school and college, where their level of Torah observance and commitment were sorely tested. The only post-bar mitzvah religious education available at the time was at Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchonon's Talmudical Academy (founded 1916),".. first Jewish High School in America--Talmudical Academy, 1916." which prepared students for a career in the rabbinate.Rosenblum (2001), pp. 76–77. When Mendlowitz, who had begun teaching at the Yeshiva Torah Vodaas elementary school in 1923, suggested the innovation, he was met with widespread resistance. An editorial in the Yiddish Morgen Journal stated:
With the support of three Torah Vodaas board members – Binyomin Wilhelm, Ben Zion Weberman, and Abraham Lewin – Mendlowitz successfully opened metivta Torah Vodaas in its own building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in September 1926. The metivta opened with four classes of post-bar mitzvah students and 11 students in the advanced, beth midrash program. The metivta went on to graduate generations of students who became Torah scholars and leaders in the American Jewish world.Rosenblum (2001), pp. 83–84.
Mendlowitz also influenced the administration at Yeshivas Chaim Berlin to expand beyond eighth grade and open a metivta as well. Metivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin opened in the 1930s.Rosenblum (2001), p. 258. Other metivtas founded in the 1930s and 1940s were Metivta Tifereth Jerusalem, Kaminetzer Metivta of Boro Park, and Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. In the 1950s, the latter four metivtas had their own basketball league.Helmreich (2000), p. 369, note 25.Blau (2006), p. 138.
In 1937 Mendlowitz founded Camp Metivta, the first yeshiva summer camp in America, in Ferndale, New York. This became the summer camp of choice for thousands of students from other yeshivas and a prototype for yeshiva learning camps in later decades. Mendlowitz instituted the practice of inviting Gadol to visit the camp for a few days or a few weeks, giving campers the experience of seeing Torah greats in action. The Gedolim who regularly stayed at Camp Metivta included Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, Rabbi Shlomo Heiman, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz. Camp Metivta operated until the early 1960s; in 1966, it was succeeded by Camp Ohr Shraga-Beis Medrash LeTorah in Greenfield Park, New York, headed by Rabbi Zelik Epstein and Rabbi Nesanel Quinn.Rosenblum (2001), pp. 275–276.
Metivtas, like yeshivas, do not follow the public education schedule of terms and vacations, but organize the school year according to the Hebrew calendar. School is in recess during Jewish holidays, and the term ends in the month of Av, the traditional break for yeshivas since the days of the Talmud.Heilman, Samuel C. (2006), p. 87. There is also a dress code: whereas in elementary school, boys wear more casual clothes to school, upon entering metivta, they are expected to dress in dark pants and white shirts.Kamen (1985), p. 86.
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