Yeshivat Mir

zvi Finkel who in time became the rosh yeshiva of the Mir. 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 the outbreak of World War II in 1939. The entire yeshiva was then moved to Keidan, Lithuania. At about this time, the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel traveled to Eretz Israel, with the intention of obtaining visas for the members of the yeshiva and resettling the yeshiva in the Land of Israel. However, the war prevented the yeshiva from following, and Rabbi Leizer Yudl was to be separated from the main yeshiva for the next seven years. In 1944 Reb Leizer Yudel started a branch of the yeshiva in Jerusalem with ten talmidim, among them Rabbi Yudel Shapiro, Rabbi Chaim Brim, and Rabbi Chaim Greineman. The yeshiva as a whole eventually fled to (Japanese-controlled) Shanghai, China, where they remained until the end of World War II. Following the end of the war, the majority of the Jewish refugees from the Shanghai ghetto left for Eretz Israel and the United States. Among them were the survivors from the Mir Yeshiva, many of whom rejoined the yeshiva in Jerusalem under Rabbi Leizer Yudl in 1947. After Rabbi Leizer Yudel died on the 19th Tammuz 5725 (July 19th 1965), his son, Rabbi Beinish Finkel and Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz (his brother-in-law) became joint Mirrer rosh yeshivas. Reb Chaim was considered the main Rosh Yeshiva and when he died, his son in law Rabbi Nachum Partzovitz replaced him. Rabbi Beinish Finkel became rosh yeshiva after Reb Nachum died. With Rabbi Beinish's passing in 1990 the reins were taken over by Rabbi Beinish's sons-in-law, with the current rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, at the helm.