ge of the Talmud unpopular; and when the
Maskilim, too, made them a target for their attacks, there was hardly a
town in which such institutions were not to be found. But surpassing all
the yeshibot of the nineteenth century, if not of all centuries, was the
Yeshibah Tree of Life (Yeshibat 'Ez Hayyim) in the townlet of Volozhin.
There the cherished hopes of the Gaon were finally realized. Within its
walls gathered the elect of the Russo-Jewish youth for almost a century.

The founder of this famous yeshibah was Rabbi Hayyim Volozhin, the
greatest of the Gaon's disciples (1749-1821). A prominent Talmudist at
twenty-five, he, nevertheless, left his business and household at that
age, and went to Vilna to become the humble pupil of the Gaon, whose
method he had followed from the beginning. When he felt himself
proficient enough in his studies, he returned to his native place, and
founded (1803) the Tree of Life College, with an enrollment of ten
students, whom he maintained at his own expense. But soon the fame of
the yeshibah and its founder spread far and wide, and students flocked
to it from all corners of Russia and outside of it. In response to Rabbi
Hayyim's appeal contributions came pouring in, a new and spacious
school-house was erected, and Volozhin became a Talmudic Oxford. To be a
student there was both an indication of superiority and a means to
proficiency. Rabbi Hayyim did away with the "Tag-essen," or "Freitisch"
custom, and introduced a stipendiary system in its stead, thus fostering
the self-respect of the students. But they did not as a rule require
much to satisfy them with their lot. They came to Volozhin "to learn,"
and they well knew the Talmudic statement, that "no one can attain
eminence in the Torah unless he is willing to die for its sake."

Rabbi Hayyim was succeeded by his son Rabbi Isaac, who united knowledge
of secular subjects with profound Talmudic erudition, was active in
worldly affairs, and played a prominent part in the Jewish history of
his day. He was of the leading spirits who, in 1842, attended the
rabbinical conference at St. Petersburg convoked by Nicholas I. The
number of students increased under his leadership, according to
Lilienthal, to three hundred. But Rabbi Isaac became so engrossed in
public affairs that he found he could no longer do justice to his
position. His two sons-in-law, therefore, took his place, and when the
older died, in 1854, Rabbi Naphtali Zebi Judah Berlin