Mir (Jerusalem)

Mir Yeshiva Hebrew: ישיבת מיר‎‎
Location
Jerusalem Israel
Information
Religious affiliation(s)	Orthodox
Established	1944
Founded	between 1814 and 1817
Founder	Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (Reb Leizer Yudel)
Dean	Eliezer Yehuda Finkel

The Mir Yeshiva (Hebrew: ישיבת מיר‎‎, Yeshivas Mir), known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. With over 8,500 single and married students, it is the largest yeshiva in the world. Most students are from the United States and Israel, with many from other part of the world such as UK, Belgium, France, Mexico, Switzerland, Argentina, Australia and Canada.

The yeshiva was founded in the small Russian town of Mir, Belarus in 1814, 1815 or 1817 by Rabbi Shmuel Tiktinsky. After his death, his oldest son Rabbi Avraham Tiktinsky was appointed Rosh Yeshiva. After a number of years, Rabbi Avraham died and his younger brother Rabbi Chaim Leib Tiktinsky succeeded him. Rabbi Chaim Leib would remain as Rosh Yeshiva for many decades. He was succeeded by his son, Rabbi Avrohom Tiktinsky, who brought Rabbi Eliyahu Boruch Kamai into the yeshiva. In 1903, Rabbi Kamai's daughter married Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (Reb Leizer Yudel), son of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel (the Alter of Slabodka), who in time became the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir. The yeshiva remained in that location until 1914.

With the outbreak of World War I, the yeshiva moved to Poltava, Ukraine. In 1921, the yeshiva moved back to its original facilities in Mir, where it remained until Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 marking the beginning of the Holocaust.

Although many of the foreign-born students left when the Soviet army invaded from the east, the yeshiva continued to operate, albeit on a reduced scale, until the approaching Nazi armies caused the leaders of the yeshiva to move the entire yeshiva community to Keidan, Lithuania.

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