The Yeshiva

The Yeshiva is an English translation by Curt Leviant of the Yiddish novel Tsemakh Atlas (צמח אטלס) by Chaim Grade. It was published in two volumes in Yiddish and also in translation. It was also published in a Hebrew translation, with the same title as the Yiddish.

The first volume was published as if it were standalone, with no volume number and no mention of a continuation. The second volume was subtitled "Volume II: Masters and Disciples." The second volume, and later books by Grade (for example, Rabbis and Wives) explicitly refer to the first volume as "Volume I" in their "by the same author" lists.

Main characters

The main protagonist is Tsemakh Atlas, who at the beginning of the novel is a junior Novaredker rabbi sent out to open his own yeshiva in a small town. He grapples with his uninspired devotion, atheist-leaning doubts, and frequent disapproval of most everybody's behavior, based on the tenets of the Musar movement.

The character of Reb Avraham-Shaye the Kosover is very closely based on Reb Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz from Kosova, commonly known as the Chazon Ish. As is common, the rabbi is known by the title of his most famous work. The title Chazon Ish is Hebrew for Vision of Man, but "ish" in Hebrew can be understood as an acronym for Avraham Yeshaya, that is, the title is Vision of Avraham Yeshaya. In the novel, the fictional Kosover's most famous work is The Vision of Avraham.