The seventh day of Hanukkah (December 12, 1920) was a day of celebration in Telz (Telshe), Lithuania.[1] It marked the official opening day, the Hanukat HaBayit (dedication) of the Gymnasyon Ivri le-Banot (Hebrew Gymnasium for Girls).[2] Hanukkah, the holiday when the Temple in Jerusalem was re-sanctified and re-dedicated, was a fitting day for the dedication of a magnificent Jewish school building.
Telz was famed for its yeshiva, one of the most renowned in Eastern Europe. The story of Yavneh, the school for girls in Telz, though not as well known, is an important part of the philosophy of the educational network of Telz. The history of Yavneh is also a key paradigm in the history of education for Jewish girls and young women, especially since it is contemporaneous with the rise of the Bais Yaacov school in Poland.
The Hanukat HaBayit event began in the school building at 1 PM. The choir sang “La-dor” (“To the generation”), the anthem of the Agudah Youth in Lithuania. This stirring opening was followed by the keynote address, delivered by Rav Yosef Leb Bloch, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Telz Yeshiva. After several trustees and faculty members spoke, Hanukkah candles were lit. Sunset in Lithuania is quite early in the winter, and apparently attendees went home to light their own candles and eat.
At 6 PM, the second part of the festivities started; it took place in the auditorium of the movie theater.[3] This portion of the event featured additional performances by the choir and closed with a “living picture,” by the students, entitled “From the Exile to the Land of Israel.”
A few days after the opening, the Governing Board of Yavneh wrote to Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, the head of the Agudath HaRabanim of the United States and Canada. The letter was signed by all the members of the Board and it thanked Rabbi Rosenberg for his support and encouragement of the endeavor. The letter included a description of the Hanukkah day --the day of the opening – when a yontef (a Jewish holiday) atmosphere suffused the entire city of Telz. The dignified festivities continued until 2 AM. A portion of the letter is devoted to the necessity of a school for girls in Telz: girls’ education was completely disorganized, and non-religious schools were opening up. Therefore, it was especially important to open a school such as Yavneh. The educational philosophy and goals of the school were described in the letter in these terms: to educate Jewish girls to Torah and mesorah (traditional Judaism), Torah and mitsvot (Jewish law, righteous deeds), and Torah and derekh erets (presumably a reference to Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s teachings, translated variously as: ways of the land, civil discourse, and ways of making a living, among others).
The curriculum of Yavneh was robust and demanding. Most classes, including secular studies, were conducted in Hebrew, an unusual educational decision for the time. Classes in Bais Yaacov schools, for example, were in Yiddish. According to a notice for entrance exams to Yavneh, published in two columns in Yiddish and Hebrew side by side -- presumably circulated in the summer of 1920-- Yavneh’s curriculum included: Hebrew, Lithuanian, German, Russian and French. Jewish studies were: Humash (Bible), Nevi’im (Prophets), Jewish law and lore, and Jewish history. General Studies: History, mathematics, geography and nature, arts and crafts, drawing, music, and gym, etc.
Yavneh was very successful, and the number of students increased. Rather than having a dormitory, the school found “homes away from home” with local families for girls who did not live in Telz.
Yavneh in Telz closed in 1940, when the Soviets conquered Lithuania. Thus ended twenty years of a unique Jewish educational institution.
The Germans occupied Lithuania in 1941. By Hanukkah of 1941, only women remained in the ghetto in Telz. Miraculously, the women found a Hanukkah menorah and lit candles. This was the last Hanukkah in Telz. Most of the women and children were murdered by the Nazis in a mass killing immediately after Hanukkah.
The Nazis did not succeed in extinguishing the Jewish spark in the women who went to Yavneh and survived the Second World War. Some rebuilt their lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where the Telz Yeshiva had replanted itself, and where Yavneh was reborn.
Hanukkah is a recurring motif in the life of Jewish Telz; the Telz Yeshiva brings Hanukkah light to hundreds of Jewish households every year. The Yeshiva mails colorful Hanukkah candles in a blue paper box featuring an illustration of a menorah on one side and two children and an adult lighting a menorah on the other side. The boxes were not merely sent by the Yeshiva; the name of the Yeshiva is printed on them: in English “From the Telshe Yeshiva” and in Hebrew “HaYeshiva haGedolah veHakedoshah Telz (הישיבה הגדולה והקדושה טעלז). The artist of the pictures on the attractive blue boxes was Boris Schatz, founder of the Betsalel art school in Jerusalem. Why the Yeshiva chose this particular custom, and these particular Hanukkah candles for its signature fundraising project is unknown.
The Jewish world can be grateful to Telz and thank it for the gift of Yavneh and its sages, the Jewish women and girls whose lights lives on and brighten the Jewish world.
Posted by Shulamith Z. Berger
Sources and images: Program, notice of entrance exam, school emblem: Yeshiva University Archives, Central Relief Committee Collection, 114/21
Alperowitz, Yitzhak. Sefer Ṭelz (Liṭa): matsevet zikaron li-ḳehilah ḳedoshah = Telšiai book. Irgun yotsʼe Ṭelz be-Yiśraʼel, Tel-Aviv, 1984
Batkamaat.org
Farbstein, Esther. Benot ʻami mi-Ṭelz = The daughters of my people from Telz. Mosad ha-Rav Ḳuḳ; Ganzakh Ḳidush ha-Shem ; Mikhlalah Yerushalayim le-vanot, Yerushalayim, 784, 2024
Fine, Steven. The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel, Harvard University Press, 2016, 115.
Ida, Batsheva Goldman. Zeʼev Raban: simbolisṭ ʻIvri. Muzeʼon Tel Aviv le-omanut ; Yad Yitsḥaḳ ben Tsevi, Tel Aviv ; Yerushalayim, c2001, 184-187.
Raban remembered : Jerusalem's forgotten master : essays and catalogue of an exhibition at the Yeshiva University Museum, December 1982-June 1983.The Museum, 1982, 109
[1] . The seventh day is known as Zot Hanukkah, a reference to the biblical verse which describes the inauguration of the altar and the sacrifices.
[2] It is interesting to note that that the seventh day of Hanukkah is celebrated in Sephardic / Mizrahi Jews as Hag HaBanot, a women’s holiday . חג הבנות (עיד אל בנאת) - הסיפור מאחורי חג העוצמה הנשית | הספרנים
[3] Shoshana Holzberg (Shochat) notes in her article, “Yad le-Telz Iri” in Sefer Ṭelz (Liṭa), that many events were held in the large auditorium of the only movie theater in Telz. Presumably she notes the capacity of the auditorium since it indicates that there were few spaces big enough for public events.
