Metivta (alsomesivta;Aramaic: מתיבתא, "academy") is anOrthodox Jewishyeshivasecondary school for boys. The term is commonly used in the United States to describe a yeshiva that emphasizesTalmudic 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.[1][2]
The comparable term in Israel for the former isYeshiva Ketana (Hebrew:ישיבה קטנה, lit. "small yeshiva"),[3] for the latterYeshiva Tichonit (ישיבה תיכונית, "yeshiva high-school").[4]This article focuses on the US;seeChinuch Atzmai andMamlachti dati for respective discussion of these Israeli institutions.
After graduation from ametivta, students progress to abeth midrash, or undergraduate-level, yeshiva program.[5] In practice, yeshivas that call themselvesmetivtas are usually a combination ofmetivta (high-school) andbeth medrash (post-high-school) programs.[6] Students in thebeth medrash program are often called upon to mentor those in themetivta.[7]
The termmetivta first appears in the Talmud, where it refers to a yeshiva of Talmudic sages.Abba Arika learned in themetivta inSepphoris underJudah the Prince, his son, and grandson.[8] Under the leadership ofRav andSamuel of Nehardea, theTalmudic Academy ofSura during theBabylonian Exile was called asidra, but underRav Huna, the second dean of the Academy of Sura, the yeshiva began to be called ametivta and Huna was the first to hold the title ofresh metivta (corresponding torosh yeshiva).[9] According toGraetz, themetivta convened in certain months of the year.[10]Metivta frameworks continued to operate throughout the era of theGeonim, a period of approximately 1000 years.[11]
The dual curriculum high school was pioneered by the Manhattan Talmudical Academy ofYeshiva University (now known asMarsha Stern Talmudical Academy) in 1916; Tachkemoni was active in Poland and then Israel at approximately that time;ALMA was established in Jerusalem in 1936, and"ha-Yishuv" in Tel Aviv in 1937.SeeReligious Zionism § Educational institutions.
As regards the more intensive Talmudic studies program,RabbiShraga Feivel Mendlowitz introduced the concept of ametivta for boys aged 14 and older in New York in 1926. Until that time, religious boys attendedTalmud Torah (elementary school) until theirbar mitzvah and then went on to public high school and college, where their level ofTorah observance and commitment were sorely tested. The only post-bar mitzvah religious education available at the time was atYeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchonon'sTalmudical Academy (founded 1916),[12][13] which prepared students for a career in the rabbinate.[14] When Mendlowitz, who had begun teaching at theYeshiva Torah Vodaas elementary school in 1923, suggested the innovation, he was met with widespread resistance. An editorial in theYiddish Morgen Journal stated:
Just as the Reform have a rabbinical Seminary in Cincinnati, and the Conservative have the Solomon Schechter Seminary in New York, so should Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchonon suffice [to produce Orthodox rabbis].[15]
With the support of three Torah Vodaas board members –Binyomin Wilhelm, Ben Zion Weberman, and Abraham Lewin – Mendlowitz successfully openedmetivta Torah Vodaas in its own building inWilliamsburg, Brooklyn, in September 1926. Themetivta opened with four classes of post-bar mitzvah students and 11 students in the advanced, beth midrash program. Themetivta went on to graduate generations of students who became Torah scholars and leaders in the American Jewish world.[16]
Mendlowitz also influenced the administration at Yeshivas Chaim Berlin to expand beyond eighth grade and open ametivta as well.Metivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin opened in the 1930s.[17] Othermetivtas founded in the 1930s and 1940s wereMetivta Tifereth Jerusalem, KaminetzerMetivta of Boro Park, andRabbi Jacob Joseph School. In the 1950s, the latter fourmetivtas had their own basketball league.[18][19]
In 1937 Mendlowitz founded CampMetivta, the first yeshivasummer camp in America, inFerndale, New York. This became the summer camp of choice for thousands of students from other yeshivas[15] and a prototype for yeshiva learning camps in later decades. Mendlowitz instituted the practice of invitingGedolim 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 CampMetivta included RabbiYaakov Kamenetsky, RabbiShlomo Heiman, RabbiMoshe Feinstein, and RabbiAvraham Kalmanowitz. CampMetivta operated until the early 1960s; in 1966, it was succeeded by Camp Ohr Shraga-Beis Medrash LeTorah in Greenfield Park, New York, headed by RabbiZelik Epstein and RabbiNesanel Quinn.[20]
Todaymetivtas are located in cities throughout the United States that have a sizable Orthodox Jewish population. Since the 1980s, the number ofmetivtas in the New York/New Jersey area has grown from a handful of schools until every city with a religious Jewish population and nearly everytownship has a yeshiva high school. Because of the proliferation,metivtas have developed reputations that reflect the academic level of their students. There are schools formetzuyanim (top learners), schools for average students, and schools for students with "serious scholastic and/orYirat Shamayim (religious belief) challenges". Somemetivtas operate different "tracks" to satisfy a diverse student body.[21]
Metivtas, like yeshivas, do not follow the public education schedule of terms and vacations, but organize the school year according to theHebrew calendar. School is in recess duringJewish holidays, and the term ends in the month ofAv, the traditional break for yeshivas since the days of the Talmud.[22] There is also adress code: whereas in elementary school, boys wear more casual clothes to school, upon enteringmetivta, they are expected to dress in dark pants and white shirts.[23]
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