2 - The Volozhin Yeshiva in the Second Generation

Summary

R. HAYIM DIED IN 1821, and his son R. Yitshak succeeded him as rosh yeshivah. It is often difficult to replace the founder of a successful institution. This is especially the case with charismatic individuals, since their very presence at the helm discourages the emergence of suitable successors. At Volozhin, R.Hayim had attended to all the affairs of the yeshiva himself, and until his last years no one else took administrative decisions. The appointment of a successor could have been problematic. Fortunately, the presence of a natural heir—R. Yitshak—solved the problem: he was considered the obvious person to take up his father's responsibilities. In contrast, as we shall see, the appointment of a rosh yeshivah in later generations was often surrounded by controversy.

R. Yitshak as Rosh Yeshivah

R. Yitshak had already begun to take on some of the rosh yeshivah's duties in his father's lifetime but this had been on an ad hoc basis. After R. Hayim's death, R. Yitshak became both rosh yeshivah and the rabbi of Volozhin. The transfer of authority from father to son set a precedent for the future transfer of authority in the yeshiva. R. Yitshak was not as distinguished a scholar as his father, and it seems very doubtful whether he would have been chosen as rosh yeshivah had he not been R. Hayim's son. He was learned, hard-working, and a natural leader, but not outstanding. The yeshiva's success under his leadership demonstrates that the institution was no longer dependent on theman at the helm. It continued to function and to attract students by virtue of its reputation and because it responded to the needs of those who wanted to study. It was the position that endowed its occupant with prestige and importance, rather than the reverse.

R. Yitshak was born in 1780 and, as mentioned above, had already begun to play an active role in the yeshiva before his father's death.He had examined prospective students, acted as an administrator, and given the daily shiur when his father was ill. R. Yitshak himself recorded that his father had chosen him as his successor and had commanded him ‘to strengthen myself with all my power to maintain his house of study so that the Torah should not depart thence, Heaven forbid’.