title: Yeshiva

text: The yeshiva of Jerusalem was finally forced into exile in Cairo in 1127, and eventually dispersed entirely. Likewise, the yeshivot of Sura and Pumbedita were dispersed following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. After this education in Jewish religious studies became the responsibility of individual synagogues. No organization ever came to replace the three great yeshivot of Jerusalem, Sura and Pumbedita.


title: Yeshiva

text: After the Geonic Period Jews established more Yeshiva academies in Europe and in Northern Africa, including the Kairuan yeshiva in Tunisia (Hebrew: ישיבת קאירואן) that was established by Chushiel Ben Elchanan (Hebrew: חושיאל בן אלחנן) in 974.


title: Yeshiva

text: Traditionally, every town rabbi had the right to maintain a number of full or part-time pupils in the town's beth midrash (study hall), which was usually adjacent to the synagogue. Their cost of living was covered by community taxation. After a number of years, the students who received "semikha" (rabbinical ordination) would either take up a vacant rabbinical position elsewhere or join the workforce.


title: Yeshiva

text: Organised Torah study was revolutionised by Chaim Volozhin, an influential 18th-century Lithuanian leader of Judaism and disciple of the Vilna Gaon. In his view, the traditional arrangement did not cater to those looking for more intensive study.


title: Yeshiva

text: With the support of his teacher, Volozhin gathered interested students and started a yeshiva in the town of Valozhyn, located in modern-day Belarus. The Volozhin yeshiva was closed some 60 years later in 1892 following the Russian government's demands for the introduction of certain secular studies. Thereafter, a number of yeshivot opened in other towns and cities, most notably Slabodka, Panevėžys, Mir, Brisk, and Telz. Many prominent contemporary "yeshivot" in the United States and Israel are continuations of these institutions, and often bear the same name.


title: Yeshiva

text: In the 19th century, Israel Salanter initiated the Mussar movement in non-Hasidic Lithuanian Jewry, which sought to encourage yeshiva students and the wider community to spend regular times devoted to the study of Jewish ethical works. Concerned by the new social and religious changes of the Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment), and other emerging political ideologies (such as Zionism) that often opposed traditional Judaism, the masters of Mussar saw a need to augment Talmudic study with more personal works. These comprised earlier classic Jewish ethical texts (mussar literature), as well as a new literature for the movement. After early opposition, the Lithuanian yeshiva world saw the need for this new component in their curriculum, and set aside times for individual mussar study and mussar talks ("mussar shmues"). A "mashgiach ruchani" (spiritual mentor) encouraged the personal development of each student. To some degree, this Lithuanian movement arose in response, and as an alternative, to the separate mystical study of the Hasidic Judaism world. Hasidism began in the previous century within traditional Jewish life in Ukraine, and spread to Hungary, Poland and Russia. As the 19th century brought upheavals and threats to traditional Judaism, the Mussar teachers saw the benefit of the new spiritual focus in Hasidism, and developed their alternative ethical approach to spirituality.


title: Yeshiva

text: Some variety developed within Lithuanian yeshivas to methods of studying Talmud and "mussar", for example whether the emphasis would be placed on "beki'ut" (breadth) or "iyyun" (depth). "Pilpul", a type of in-depth analytical and casuistic argumentation popular from the 16th to 18th centuries that was traditionally reserved for investigative Talmudic study, was not always given a place. The new analytical approach of the Brisker method, developed by Chaim Soloveitchik, has become widely popular; however, there are other approaches such as those of Mir, Chofetz Chaim, and Telz. In "mussar", different schools developed, such as Slabodka and Novhardok, though today, a decline in devoted spiritual self-development from its earlier intensity has to some extent levelled out the differences.


title: Yeshiva

text: With the success of the yeshiva institution in Lithuanian Jewry, the Hasidic world developed their own yeshivas, in their areas of Eastern Europe. These comprised the traditional Jewish focus on Talmudic literature that is central to Rabbinic Judaism, augmented by study of Hasidic philosophy (Hasidism). Examples of these Hasidic yeshivas are the Chabad Lubavitch yeshiva system of Tomchei Temimim, founded by Sholom Dovber Schneersohn in Russia in 1897, and the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva established in Poland in 1930 by Meir Shapiro, who is renowned in both Hasidic and Lithuanian Jewish circles for initiating the Daf Yomi daily cycle of Talmud study.


title: Yeshiva

text: In many Hasidic "yeshivas", study of Hasidic texts is a secondary activity, similar to the additional mussar curriculum in Lithuanian yeshivas. These paths see Hasidism as a means to the end of inspiring emotional "devekut" (spiritual attachment to God) and mystical enthusiasm. In this context, the personal pilgrimage of a Hasid to his Rebbe is a central feature of spiritual life, in order to awaken spiritual fervour. Often, such paths will reserve the Shabbat in the yeshiva for the sweeter teachings of the classic texts of Hasidism.


title: Yeshiva

text: In contrast, Chabad and Breslov, in their different ways, place daily study of their dynasties' Hasidic texts in central focus; see below. Illustrative of this is Sholom Dovber Schneersohn's wish in establishing the Chabad yeshiva system, that the students should spend a part of the daily curriculum learning Chabad Hasidic texts "with "pilpul"". The idea to learn Hasidic mystical texts with similar logical profundity, derives from the unique approach in the works of the Rebbes of Chabad, initiated by its founder Schneur Zalman of Liadi, to systematically investigate and articulate the "Torah of the Baal Shem Tov" in intellectual forms. Further illustrative of this is the differentiation in Chabad thought (such as the "Tract on Ecstasy" by Dovber Schneuri) between general Hasidism's emphasis on emotional enthusiasm and the Chabad ideal of intellectually reserved ecstasy. In the Breslov movement, in contrast, the daily study of works from the imaginative, creative radicalism of Nachman of Breslov awakens the necessary soulfulness with which to approach other Jewish study and observance.


title: Yeshiva

text: Although the yeshiva as an institution is in some ways a continuation of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, large scale educational institutions of this kind were not characteristic of the North African and Middle Eastern Sephardi Jewish world in pre-modern times: education typically took place in a more informal setting in the synagogue or in the entourage of a famous rabbi. In medieval Spain, and immediately following the expulsion in 1492, there were some schools which combined Jewish studies with sciences such as logic and astronomy, similar to the contemporary Islamic madrasas. In 19th century Jerusalem, a college was typically an endowment for supporting ten adult scholars rather than an educational institution in the modern sense; towards the end of the century a school for orphans was founded providing for some rabbinic studies. Early educational institutions on the European model were Midrash Bet Zilkha founded in 1870s Iraq and Porat Yosef Yeshiva founded in Jerusalem in 1914. Also notable is the Bet El yeshiva founded in 1737 in Jerusalem for advanced Kabbalistic studies. Later Sephardic yeshivot are usually on the model either of Porat Yosef or of the Ashkenazi institutions.


title: Yeshiva

text: The Sephardic world has traditionally placed the study of Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism) in a more mainstream position than in the European Ashkenazi world. This difference of emphasis arose as a result of the Sabbatean heresy in the 17th century, that suppressed widespread study of Kabbalah in Europe in favour of Rabbinic Talmudic study. In Eastern European Lithuanian life, Kabbalah was reserved for an intellectual elite, while the mystical revival of Hasidism articulated Kabbalistic theology through Hasidic thought. These factors did not affect the Sephardi Jewish world, which retained a wider connection to Kabbalah in its traditionally observant communities. With the establishment of Sephardi yeshivas in Israel after the immigration of the Arabic Jewish communities there, some Sephardi yeshivas incorporated study of more accessible Kabbalistic texts into their curriculum. Nonetheless, the European prescriptions to reserve advanced Kabbalistic study to mature and elite students also influence the choice of texts in such yeshivas.


title: Yeshiva

text: In 1854, the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau was founded. It was headed by Zecharias Frankel, and was viewed as the first educational institution associated with "positive-historical Judaism", the predecessor of Conservative Judaism. In subsequent years, Conservative Judaism established a number of other institutions of higher learning (such as the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City) that emulate the style of traditional yeshivas in significant ways. However, many do not officially refer to themselves as "yeshivas" (one exception is the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem), and all are open to both women and men, who study in the same classrooms and follow the same curriculum. Students may study part-time, as in a kollel, or full-time, and they may study "lishmah" (for the sake of studying itself) or towards earning rabbinic ordination.


title: Yeshiva

text: Non-denominational yeshivas and kollels with connections to Conservative Judaism include Yeshivat Hadar in New York, the leaders of whom include Rabbinical Assembly members Elie Kaunfer and Shai Held. The rabbinical school of the Academy for Jewish Religion in California (AJR-CA) is led by Conservative rabbi Mel Gottlieb. The faculty of the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York and of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton Centre, Massachusetts also includes many Conservative rabbis.


title: Yeshiva

text: More recently, several non-traditional, and nondenominational (also called "transdenominational" or "postdenominational") seminaries have been established. These grant semikha in a shorter time, and with a modified curriculum, generally focusing on leadership and pastoral roles. These are JSLI, RSI, PRS and Ateret Tzvi. The Wolkowisk Mesifta is aimed at community professionals with significant knowledge and experience, and provides a tailored program to each candidate.


title: Yeshiva

text: Hebrew Union College (HUC), affiliated with Reform Judaism, was founded in 1875 under the leadership of Isaac Mayer Wise in Cincinnati, Ohio. HUC later opened additional locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. It is a rabbinical seminary or college mostly geared for the training of rabbis and clergy specifically. Similarly, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College of Reconstructionist Judaism, founded in Pennsylvania in 1968, functions to train its future clergy. Some Reform and Reconstructionist teachers also teach at the non-denominational seminaries mentioned above. In Europe, Reform Judaism trains rabbis at Leo Baeck College in London, UK and Abraham Geiger Kolleg in Potsdam, Germany. None of these institutions describes itself as a "yeshiva".


title: Yeshiva

text: World War II and the Holocaust ended the yeshivot of Eastern and Central Europe – however many scholars and rabbinic students who survived the war, established yeshivot in a number of Western countries which had no or few yeshivot. (The Yeshiva of Nitra was the last surviving in occupied Europe. Many students and faculty of the Mir Yeshiva were able to escape to Siberia, with the Yeshiva ultimately continuing to operate in Shanghai.


title: Yeshiva

text: the greatest number of yeshivot, and the most important were centered in Israel and in the United States;


title: Yeshiva

text: but they were also found in many other Western countries, prominent examples being Gateshead Yeshiva in England (one of the descendants of Novardok) and the Yeshiva of Aix-les-Bains, France.


title: Yeshiva

text: The Chabad movement was particularly active in this direction, establishing yeshivot also in France, North Africa, Australia, and South Africa; this "network of institutions" is known as "Tomchei Temimim".


title: Yeshiva

text: Many prominent contemporary yeshivot in the United States and Israel are continuations of European institutions, and often bear the same name.


title: Yeshiva

text: Recent examples include the Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue (since the mid 1500s); the Bet El yeshiva (operating since 1737); and Etz Chaim Yeshiva (since 1841).


title: Yeshiva

text: Various yeshivot were established in Israel in the early 20th century: Shaar Hashamayim in 1906, Chabad's in 1911, Hebron Yeshiva in 1924, Sfas Emes in 1925, Lomza in 1926.


title: Yeshiva

text: After (and during) World War II, numerous other Haredi and Hasidic Yeshivot were re-established there by survivors. The Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem – today the largest Yeshiva in the world – was established in 1944, by Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel who had traveled to Palestine to obtain visas for his students; Ponevezh similarly by Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman; and Knesses Chizkiyahu in 1949.


title: Yeshiva

text: The leading Sephardi Yeshiva, Porat Yosef, was founded in 1914; its predecessor, Yeshivat Ohel Moed was founded in 1904. From the 1940s and onward, especially following immigration of the Arabic Jewish communities, Sephardi leaders, such as Ovadia Yosef and Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, established various yeshivot to facilitate Torah education for Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews (and alternative to Lithuanian yeshivot).


title: Yeshiva

text: The Haredi community has grown with time – In 2016, 9% of Israel's population was Haredi, including Sephardic Haredim – supporting many yeshivot correspondingly (see ). Boys and girls here attend separate schools, and proceed to higher Torah study, in a yeshiva or seminary, respectively, starting anywhere between the ages of 13 and 18; see "Chinuch Atzmai" and "Bais Yaakov". A significant proportion of young men then remain in yeshiva until their marriage; thereafter many continue their Torah studies in a kollel. (In 2006, there were 80,000 in full-time learning .) Kollel studies usually focus on deep analysis of Talmud, and those Tractates not usually covered in the standard "undergraduate" program; see below. Some Kollels similarly focus on halacha in total, others specifically on those topics required for "Semikha" (Rabbinic ordination) or "Dayanut" (qualification as a Rabbinic Judge). The certification in question is often conferred by the Rosh Yeshiva.


title: Yeshiva

text: Mercaz Harav, the foundational and leading Religious-Zionist yeshiva was established in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Many in the Religious Zionist community today attend a Hesder yeshiva (discussed below) during their national service; these offer a kollel for Rabbinical students. (Students generally prepare for the "Semikha" test of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel; until his recent passing (2020) commonly for that of the posek R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.)


title: Yeshiva

text: Training as a "Dayan" in this community is usually through ("Machon Harry Fischel"), also founded by Rav Kook, or . Women in this community, as above, study in a Midrasha. High school students study at "Mamlachti dati" schools, often associated with "Bnei Akiva". Bar Ilan University allows students to combine Yeshiva studies with university study; Jerusalem College of Technology similarly, which also offers a Haredi track; there are several colleges of education associated with Hesder and the "Midrashot" (these often offer specializations in "Tanakh" and "Machshavah" – see below).


title: Yeshiva

text: The first Orthodox yeshiva in the United States was Etz Chaim of New York (1886), modeled after Volozhin. It developed into the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (1896; "RIETS") and eventually Yeshiva University in 1945. It was established in the wake of the immigration of Central and Eastern European Jews (1880s – 1924). Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, founded in 1907, was led by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein from the 1940s through 1986; Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, est 1904, was headed by Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner from 1943 to 1980. have their main Yeshivot in America, typically established in the 1940s; the Central Lubavitcher Yeshiva has over 1000 students.


title: Yeshiva

text: The postwar establishment of Ashkenazi yeshivot and "kollelim" parallels that in Israel; as does the educational pattern in the American Haredi community, although more obtain a secular education at the college level (see College credit below). Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey with 3,000 students in the early 2000s was founded in 1943 by R. Aaron Kotler on the "rigid Lithuanian model" that demanded full-time study; it now offers a Bachelor of Talmudic Law degree which allows students to go on to graduate school. The best known of the numerous Haredi yeshivas are, additional to "Lakewood", Telz, "Rabbinical Seminary of America", Ner Yisroel, Chaim Berlin, and Hebrew Theological College; "Yeshivish" (i.e. satellite) communities often maintain a community kollel.


title: Yeshiva

text: Many Hasidic sects have their own yeshivas - see especially Satmar and Bobov - while Chabad, as mentioned, operates its "Tomchei Temimim" nationwide.


title: Yeshiva

text: Regarding junior and high school - of which there are over 600 combined - see Torah Umesorah, Mesivta, and Bais Yaakov.


title: Yeshiva

text: Modern Orthodox typically spend a year, often two, post-high school in a yeshiva (sometimes Hesder) or "Midrasha" in Israel. Many thereafter, or instead, attend Yeshiva University, undertaking a dual curriculum, combining academic education with Torah study; see "Torah Umadda" and S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program. (A percentage stay in Israel, “making "Aliyah"”; many also go on to higher education in other American colleges.) Semikha is usually through RIETS, although many Modern Orthodox Rabbis study through "Hesder", or other Yeshivot in Israel such as Yeshivat HaMivtar, Mizrachi's "Musmachim" program, and Machon Ariel.


title: Yeshiva

text: RIETS also houses several post-semikha kollelim, including one focused on "Dayanut". Dayanim also train through Kollel Eretz Hemda and Machon Ariel; while Mizrachi's post-semikha "Manhigut Toranit" program focuses on leadership and scholarship, with the advanced semikha of “Rav Ir”. Communities will often host a kollel, where "Hesder" graduates learn and teach, generally for one year.


title: Yeshiva

text: There are numerous , typically offering a "beit midrash" / "metivta" program in parallel with the standard curriculum, (often) structured such that students are able to join the first "shiur" in an Israeli yeshiva.


title: Yeshiva

text: The US educational pattern is to be found around the Jewish world, with regional differences; see and .


title: Yeshiva

text: Yeshiva study is differentiated from, for example university study, by several features, apart from the curriculum. The year is structured into ""zmanim""; the day is structured into ""seders"". The learning itself is delivered through a ""shiur"", a discursive-lecture with pre-specified sources, or ""marei mekomot"" (מראה מקומות; “bibliography”, lit. "indication of the (textual) locations"); study in general, and particularly the preparation for "shiur", takes place in "" or paired-study. This study is in a common venue called the "bet midrash" (Yiddish, "zal" i.e. "hall").


title: Yeshiva

text: The institution is headed by its "rosh yeshiva", while other senior rabbis are referred to as "Ram" ("rosh mesivta or reish metivta"); the "mashgiach" assumes responsibility for students' spiritual development ("mashpia", in Hasidic yeshivot). A "kollel" is headed by its "rosh kollel", even when it is part of a yeshiva. A "sho'el u'meishiv" (; ask and he answers; often simply ""meishiv"", or alternately ""nosay v'notayn"") is available to consult to students on difficult points in their day's Talmudic studies. The rabbi responsible for the Talmudic "shiur" is known as a "maggid shiur". Students are known as "talmidim" (sing. "talmid").


title: Yeshiva

text: "Rav muvhak" is sometimes used in reference to one's primary teacher; correspondingly, "talmid muvhak" may refer to a primary, or outstanding, student.


title: Yeshiva

text: In most yeshivot, the year is divided into three periods (terms) called "zmanim" (lit. times; sing. "zman"). "Elul zman" starts from the beginning of the Hebrew month of Elul and extends until the end of Yom Kippur. The six-weeks-long semester is the shortest yet most intense session, as it comes before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Winter "zman" starts after Sukkot and lasts until about two weeks before Passover, a duration of five months (six in a Jewish leap year). Summer "zman" starts after Passover and lasts until Rosh Chodesh Av or Tisha B'Av, a duration of about three months.


title: Yeshiva

text: Yeshiva students prepare for and review the "shiur" (lecture) with their "chavruta" during a study session known as a "seder". In contrast to conventional classroom learning, in which a teacher lectures to the student, "chavruta"-style learning requires the student to analyze and explain the material, point out the errors in their partner's reasoning, and question and sharpen each other's ideas, often arriving at entirely new insights of the meaning of the text. A "chavruta" is intended to help a student keep their mind focused on the learning, sharpen their reasoning powers, develop their thoughts into words, organize their thoughts into logical arguments, and understand another person's viewpoint. The shiur-based system was innovated at the Telshe yeshiva, where there were five levels.


title: Yeshiva

text: Chavruta-style learning tends to be animated, as study partners read the Talmudic text and the commentaries aloud to each other, and then analyze, question, debate, and argue their points of view to arrive at an understanding of the text. In the heat of discussion, they may wave their hands, pound the table, or shout at each other. Depending on the size of the yeshiva, dozens or even hundreds of pairs of "chavrutas" can be heard discussing and debating each other's viewpoints. Students need to learn the ability to block out other discussions in order to focus on theirs.


title: Yeshiva

text: A post-high school for women is generally called a "seminary", or "midrasha" (plural "midrashot") in Israel, and not a yeshiva. (Although there are exceptions such as Prospect Park Yeshiva.) The Haredi Bais Yaakov system was started in 1918 under the guidance of Sarah Schenirer. These institutions provide girls with a Torah education, using a curriculum that skews more toward practical "halakha" (Jewish law) and the study of Tanakh, rather than Talmud. The curriculum at Religious Zionist and Modern Orthodox "midrashot", however, often includes some study of Talmud: often Mishnah, sometimes "Gemara"; in further distinction, curricula generally entail "chavruta"-based study of the texts of Jewish philosophy, and likewise Tanakh is studied with commentaries. See for further discussion.


title: Yeshiva

text: Classes in most Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshivot (throughout the world) are taught in Yiddish; Kol Torah, established in 1939 in Jerusalem and headed by Shlomo Zalman Auerbach for over 40 years, was the first mainstream Haredi yeshiva to teach in Hebrew, as opposed to Yiddish. Sephardi, Modern Orthodox, Zionist, and "baal teshuvah" yeshivot use Modern Hebrew or the local language. In many American non-Hassidic Yeshivos, the language generally used is English.


title: Yeshiva

text: Students learn with each other in whatever language they are most proficient, with Hasidic students usually learning in Yiddish, Israeli Lithuanian students in Hebrew, and American Lithuanian students in English.


title: Yeshiva

text: Some yeshivas permit students to attend college. Often there are arrangements for the student to receive credit towards a college degree for their yeshiva studies.


title: Yeshiva

text: Yeshiva University in New York provides a year's worth of credit for yeshiva studies. Haredi institutions with similar arrangements in place include Lander College for Men, Yeshivas Ner Yisroel and Hebrew Theological College.


title: Yeshiva

text: As above, some American "yeshivot" in fact "award" the degrees Bachelor of Talmudic Law (4 years cumulative study), Master of Rabbinic Studies / Master of Talmudic Law (six years), and (at "Ner Yisroel") the Doctorate in Talmudic Law (10 years).


title: Yeshiva

text: These degrees are nationally accredited by the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools, and may then grant access to graduate programs such as law school.


title: Yeshiva

text: Torah study at an Orthodox yeshiva comprises the study of rabbinic literature, principally the Talmud, along with the study of "halacha" (Jewish law); Musar and Hasidic philosophy are often studied also. In some institutions, classical Jewish philosophy or Kabbalah are formally studied, or the works of individual thinkers (such as Abraham Isaac Kook).


title: Yeshiva

text: Non-Orthodox institutions offer a synthesis of traditional and critical methods, allowing Jewish texts and tradition to encounter social change and modern scholarship. The curriculum is thus also focused on classical Jewish subjects - Talmud, Tanakh, Midrash, "halacha", and Philosophy -


title: Yeshiva

text: but differs from Orthodox yeshivot in that the subject-weights are more even (correspondingly, Talmud and halacha are less emphasized), and the approach entails an openness to modern scholarship;


title: Yeshiva

text: the curriculum also emphasizes "the other functions of a modern rabbi such as preaching, counseling, and pastoral work".


title: Yeshiva

text: Note that as mentioned, often, in these institutions less emphasis is placed on Talmud and Jewish law, "but rather on sociology, cultural studies, and modern Jewish philosophy".


title: Yeshiva

text: Conservative Yeshivot occupy a position midway, in that their training places (significantly) more emphasis on Halakha and Talmud than other non-Orthodox programs; see Conservative halakha.


title: Yeshiva

text: The sections below discuss the Orthodox approach - but may be seen as overviews of the traditional-content; see also re the various approaches under List of rabbinical schools as well as under .


title: Yeshiva

text: In a typical Orthodox yeshiva, the main emphasis is on Talmud study and analysis, or "Gemara". Generally, two parallel Talmud streams are covered during a (trimester).


title: Yeshiva

text: The first is , or in-depth study (variants described below), often confined to selected legally focused tractates with an emphasis on analytical skills and close reference to the classical commentators;


title: Yeshiva

text: The second stream, "beki'ut" ("expertise"), seeks to build general knowledge of the Talmud. In some Hasidic yeshivas, ("text"), is the term used for , but may also incorporate an element of memorization.


title: Yeshiva

text: In the yeshiva system of Talmudic study, the undergraduate yeshivot focus on the "mesechtohs" (tractates) that cover civil jurisprudence and monetary law ("Nezikin") and those dealing with contract and marital law ("Nashim"); through them, the student can best master the proper technique of Talmudic analysis, and


title: Yeshiva

text: Sometimes tractates dealing with an upcoming religious holiday are studied before and during the holiday (e.g. "Shabbat" 21a-23b for Chanukah; Tractate "Megilla" for Purim; and so forth).


title: Yeshiva

text: Works initially studied to clarify the Talmudic text are the commentary by Rashi, and the related work "Tosafot", a parallel analysis and running critique.


title: Yeshiva

text: The integration of Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot, is considered as foundational – and prerequisite – to further analysis (in fact, this combination is sometimes referred to by its own acronym, ""gefet"" גפ״ת – "Gemara", "perush Rashi", "Tosafot"). The super-commentaries by "Maharshal", "Maharam" and "Maharsha" address the three together.


title: Yeshiva

text: other "rishonim", from the 11th to 14th centuries, as well as "acharonim", from later generations. (There are two main schools of "rishonim", from France and from Spain, who will hold different interpretations and understandings of the Talmud.)


title: Yeshiva

text: At these levels, students link the Talmudic discussion to codified law – particularly "Mishneh Torah" (i.e. Maimonides), Arba'ah Turim and Shulchan Aruch – by studying, also, the halakha-focused commentaries of Asher ben Jehiel, Isaac Alfasi and Mordechai ben Hillel, respectively referred to as “Rosh”, “Rif”, and the “Mordechai”.


title: Yeshiva

text: As the level of the "shiur" progresses, so the student must integrate more of these commentaries into their analysis of the "sugya" (loosely, Talmudic "unit of analysis"), and understand their various implications re practical-halakha. This "iyyun" will generally take one the following forms, each a ""derech ha-limud"" or "way of learning" (see the Hebrew article ):


title: Yeshiva

text: The "Rosh Yeshiva" gives the most senior "shiur". It is here that the student consolidates the yeshiva's approach to "iyyun", i.e. its "derech ha-limud"; see . At many yeshivot, students are thus expected to learn in this "shiur" for at least two years before proceeding to "Kollel" or "semikha" study.


title: Yeshiva

text: The "Rosh Yeshiva" also delivers the weekly "shiur klali" (comprehensive lecture), which sums up the week's learning, and revisits a selected topic or concept in further detail; this is attended by all levels, and will often have its own "marei mekomot".


title: Yeshiva

text: Typically, boys begin their study of Talmud in middle school, initially studying Mishnah, the component of Talmud where the underlying "cases" are presented. (At this stage, they have completed their survey of "Chumash", with these cases expanding on the legal precepts there; see below.) In early high school, "gemara", the analytic component, is introduced; by late high school some are able to work with "Tosafot". Some systems more closely follow "Pirkei Avot" ch 5:21 as a guideline; where Mishna-study begins at age 10, and "Gemara" at 15. See Zilberman Method for further discussion.


title: Yeshiva

text: Generally, a period is devoted to the study of practical "halakha" (""Halakha LeMaaseh""), emphasizing outcome as opposed to derivation. The text most commonly studied in Ashkenazi yeshivot is the "Mishnah Berurah", a commentary on the "Shulchan Aruch" originally published between 1884 and 1907. In Sephardic yeshivot, the "Shulchan Aruch" itself is more commonly studied, along with the "Bet Yosef" commentary; the "Yalkut Yosef" and "Kaf Hachaim" are also often studied, while "Ben Ish Hai" is a standard reference. In Chabad yeshivot, emphasis is placed upon study of "Shulchan Aruch HaRav". Beginning students are encouraged to also work through the "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch", so as to survey all areas of applicable "halacha" and to consolidate their prior, high school, Torah knowledge (this is also often the practice outside of Chabad). More advanced students, additionally and similarly, review the "Mishneh Torah" through its daily study cycle (this is often outside of any "seder"), here including "halachot" relating to, for example, the Temple.


title: Yeshiva

text: Students in "Semikha" (Rabbinic ordination) programs, and often those in kollel, devote the largest portion of their schedule to "halakha". The focus is on in-depth,


title: Yeshiva

text: study of those areas where (community) Rabbis will typically be asked ""shaylas"", i.e. halachic questions;


title: Yeshiva

text: invariably covers Kashrut (referred to as ""Issur v'Heter""), usually Shabbat, often Niddah, sometimes Avelut (mourning) and/or marriage. This study encompasses a detailed analysis of the "halakha" in the "Arba'ah Turim" and "Bet Yosef", through its final presentation in the "Shulchan Aruch", with its major commentaries (especially ""Shakh"" and ""Taz""), complemented by a survey of key "She'elot u-Teshuvot" (responsa), recent and historical. The analysis, in turn, is built on a detailed knowledge of all relevant Talmudic "sugyas", which are studied accordingly within the schedule. (And emphasizing the legal commentaries mentioned.) Students in an Orthodox Semikha program will thus have a strong background in Talmud, typically having spent at least four preceding years in Yeshiva; Kollel students likewise. (See and .) During the morning "seder", Semikha students continue their Talmud studies, learning the same "masechet" as the rest of the Yeshiva.


title: Yeshiva

text: Haredi "Yeshivot" typically devote a "seder" to "mussar" (ethics and character development). The preeminent text studied is the "Mesillat Yesharim" ("Path of the Just") of Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. Other works of mussar literature studied include:


title: Yeshiva

text: As above, these sessions focus the student on self-understanding and introspection, internalizing the spiritual aims of Judaism, and developing the character-traits, or "middos", appropriately. Topics in applied Jewish ethics, such as the "laws of speech", are often studied separately.


title: Yeshiva

text: Hasidic yeshivot study the mystical, spiritual works of Hasidic philosophy ("Chassidus"). These draw on the earlier esoteric theology of "Kabbalah", but articulates it in terms of inner psychological awareness and personal analogies. This study thus makes Jewish mysticism accessible and tangible, so that it inspires emotional "dveikus" (cleaving to God) and embeds a deep spiritual element in daily Jewish life; it thereby serves a similar purpose to "mussar", but through different means and with different contributions to intellectual and emotional life. Chabad yeshivot, for example, study the Tanya, the Likutei Torah, and the voluminous works of the Rebbes of Chabad for an hour and a half each morning, before prayers, and an hour and a half in the evening. See above.


title: Yeshiva

text: As mentioned, Sephardi "yeshivot" often incorporate study of selected Kabbalistic texts into their curriculum – standard texts, as well as works by Yosef Hayyim, Yehuda Fatiyah and Yaakov Chaim Sofer. Kabbalistic sources are brought in "halachik" works such as "Kaf Hachaim" and "Ben Ish Hai" – see – and are then studied indirectly also.


title: Yeshiva

text: "Machshavah" (Jewish philosophy generalized / applied as "Jewish thought"; also "Hashkafa", "worldview") is taught formally,


title: Yeshiva

text: with "shiurim" systematically covering the major topics and works ("Kuzari, Moreh Nevukhim, Sefer ha-Ikkarim , Emunot ve-Deot, Derech Hashem, Nefesh Ha-Chaim, Kad ha-Kemach" and others). Hesder yeshivot additionally devote specific time to the writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, "Rav Kook", who articulated a unique personal blend of mysticism, creative exegesis and philosophy (as well as to "Torat Eretz Yisrael" generally). The Modern Orthodox, similarly, study the works of Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "Rav Soloveitchik".


title: Yeshiva

text: Hasidic philosophy and Mussar are also often taught; and "Maharal" may have a dedicated "shiur". Machshava is also a focus-area of many "Midrashot".


title: Yeshiva

text: Some Haredi and Hasidic yeshivas also include formal study of "Hashkafa", especially at "ba'al teshuva" focused yeshivas; many "Semikha" programs likewise, particularly those with an outreach, or "kiruv", component. Regardless, students here typically study the major works independent of a "shiur".


title: Yeshiva

text: Intensive study of "Chumash" (Torah) with the commentary of Rashi is stressed and taught in all elementary grades. In Haredi and Hasidic yeshivas, this is often done with Yiddish translations. The rest of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible; acronym: ""Torah, Nevi'im u'Ketuvim""; "Torah, Prophets and Writings") is usually taught through high school, although less intensively.


title: Yeshiva

text: In Yeshivot, thereafter, "Chumash", and especially "Nach", are studied less directly. Yeshiva students typically follow the practice of "Shnayim mikra ve-echad targum", independently studying the upcoming "parashah" (weekly Torah portion) twice in the original Hebrew and once in Targum Onkelos (an Aramaic translation), together with Rashi's commentary. Students often also study Ramban's commentary (functioning in relation to Rashi here, somewhat as Tosafot above); less frequently, other commentaries from the "Mikraot Gedolot" edition are reviewed. Students may similarly study the Tanach independently, but it is not taught "per se"; exceptions are the five Megilloth and Tehillim. The "Rosh Yeshiva" usually delivers a weekly "shiur" on the "parashah", exploring a particular question or theme, which is often open to the public.


title: Yeshiva

text: At Hesder, Religious Zionist and Modern Orthodox yeshivot, the study of "Chumash" and "Nach" continues in parallel with Talmud study. These institutions offer formal "shiurim" in many, if not all, of the books of "Nevi'im" and "Ketuvim". These are often structured by level, similar to Talmud study, where the text, and its overall structure, is then analyzed in light of the various commentaries and "Midrashim", typically complementing the "Machshavah" "shiurim".


title: Yeshiva

text: More recent commentaries especially studied are ""Netziv"" and ""Malbim""; as well as reference works such as "Da'at Miqra" by Mordechai Breuer and others.


title: Yeshiva

text: The commentaries by Ramban, Abarbanel, "Rabbeinu Behaye", and "Rav Hirsch" provide much philosophical content.


title: Rape fantasy

text: A rape fantasy (sometimes referred to as rapeplay) or a ravishment is a sexual fantasy involving imagining or pretending being coerced or coercing another into sexual activity. In sexual roleplay, it involves acting out roles of coercive sex. Rape pornography is literature or images associated with rape and sometimes Stockholm syndrome as a means of sexual arousal.


title: Rape fantasy

text: Studies have found rape fantasy is a common sexual fantasy among both men and women. The fantasy may involve the fantasist as either the one being forced into sex or being the perpetrator. A 1985 study by Arndt, Foehl and Good found that being "overpowered or forced to surrender" was the second-most frequent fantasy in their survey.


title: Rape fantasy

text: A 1988 study by Pelletier and Herold found that over half of their female respondents have had a fantasy of forced sex in their life.


title: Rape fantasy

text: The most frequently cited hypothesis for why women fantasize of being forced and coerced into some sexual activity is that the fantasy avoids societally induced guilt—the woman does not have to admit responsibility for her sexual desires and behavior. A 1978 study by Moreault and Follingstad was consistent with this hypothesis, and found that women with high levels of sex guilt were more likely to report fantasy themed around being overpowered, dominated, and helpless. In contrast, Pelletier and Herold used a different measure of guilt and found no correlation. Other research suggests that women who report forced sex fantasies have a more positive attitude towards sexuality, contradicting the guilt hypothesis. A newer study from 1998 by Strassberg and Lockerd found that women who fantasized about force were generally less guilty and more erotophilic, and as a result had more frequent and varied fantasies. However, it said that force fantasies are not the most common or the most frequent.


title: Rape fantasy

text: A male sexual fantasy of raping a woman may bring sexual arousal either from imagining a scene in which first a woman objects but then comes to like and eventually participate in the intercourse, or else one in which the woman does not like it and arousal is associated with the idea of hurting the woman.


title: Rape fantasy

text: Numerous studies have found that fantasies about being forced to have sex are commonly found across all genders. 45.8% of men in a 1980 study reported fantasizing during heterosexual intercourse about "a scene where [they had] the impression of being raped by a woman" (3.2% often and 42.6% sometimes), 44.7% of scenes where a seduced woman "pretends resisting" and 33% of raping a woman.


title: Rape fantasy

text: A study of college-age women in 1998 found over half had engaged in fantasies of rape or coercion which, another study suggests, are simply "open and unrestricted" expressions of female sexuality.


title: Rape fantasy

text: In a more recent study among more than 4,000 Americans, 61% of respondents who identify as women had fantasized about being forced to have sex; meanwhile, the numbers were 54% among men.


title: Rape fantasy

text: One form of sexual roleplaying is the rape fantasy, also called ravishment or forced sex roleplay. In BDSM circles (and occasionally outside these circles as well), some people choose to roleplay rape scenes—with communication, consent and safety being especially crucial elements. Though consent is a crucial component of any sexual roleplay, the illusion of non-consent (i.e. rape) is important to maintaining this type of fantasy. A safe word is therefore a common safety measure, given that words that would normally halt sexual activity (e.g. "stop") are often disregarded in these scenes. Continuing with the sexual roleplay after a safeword has been used constitutes rape, as the use of a safeword indicates the withdrawal of consent.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The song was written by Berlin for the 1942 musical film "Holiday Inn". The composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Since its release, "White Christmas" has been covered by many artists, the version sung by Bing Crosby being the world's best-selling single (in terms of sales of physical media) with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby's, sales of the song exceed 100 million.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there. He often stayed up all night writing. One day he told his secretary, "I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it's the best song anybody ever wrote."


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show "The Kraft Music Hall" on Christmas Day, 1941, a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by Crosby's estate and was loaned to "CBS News Sunday Morning" for their December 25, 2011, program. Crosby subsequently recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers at Radio Recorders for Decca Records in 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and it was released on July 30 as part of an album of six 78-rpm discs from the musical film "Holiday Inn". At first, Crosby did not see anything special about the song. He just said "I don't think we have any problems with that one, Irving."


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The song established that there could be commercially successful secular Christmas songs—in this case, written by a Jewish immigrant to the United States. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr., wrote, "During the 1940s, 'White Christmas' would set the stage for a number of classic American holiday songs steeped in a misty longing for yesteryear." Before 1942, Christmas songs and films had come out sporadically, and many were popular. However, "the popular culture industry had not viewed the themes of home and hearth, centered on the Christmas holiday, as a unique market" until after the success of "White Christmas" and the film where it appeared, "Holiday Inn". Dave Marsh and Steve Propes wrote, "'White Christmas' changed Christmas music forever, both by revealing the huge potential market for Christmas songs and by establishing the themes of home and nostalgia that would run through Christmas music evermore."


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by "Holiday Inn"'s first hit song: "Be Careful, It's My Heart". By the end of October 1942, "White Christmas" topped the "Your Hit Parade" chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year. It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy—"just like the ones I used to know"—with comforting images of home—"where the treetops glisten"—resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby's whistling during the second chorus.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1942 alone, Crosby's recording spent eleven weeks on top of the "Billboard" charts. The original version also hit number one on the Harlem Hit Parade for three weeks, The song also topped the following weekly charts in the same year: Songs with Most Radio Plugs, National record sales, and National sheet music sales. Crosby's first-ever appearance on the black-oriented chart. Re-released by Decca, the single returned to the No. 1 spot during the holiday seasons of 1945 and 1946 (on the chart dated January 4, 1947), thus becoming the only single with three separate runs at the top of the U.S. charts. The recording became a chart perennial, reappearing annually on the pop chart twenty times before "Billboard" magazine created a distinct Christmas chart for seasonal releases.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In "Holiday Inn", the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942. In the film, Crosby sings "White Christmas" as a duet with actress Marjorie Reynolds, though her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. This now-familiar scene was not the moviemakers' initial plan. In the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, would sing the song. The song would feature in another Crosby film, the 1954 musical "White Christmas", which became the highest-grossing film of 1954. (Crosby made yet another studio recording of the song, accompanied by Joseph J. Lilley's orchestra and chorus, for the film's soundtrack album.)


title: White Christmas (song)

text: According to Crosby's nephew, Howard Crosby, "I once asked Uncle Bing about the most difficult thing he ever had to do during his entertainment career… He said in December, 1944, he was in a USO show with Bob Hope and the Andrews Sisters. They did an outdoor show in northern France… he had to stand there and sing 'White Christmas' with 100,000 G.I.s in tears without breaking down himself. Of course, a lot of those boys were killed in the Battle of the Bulge a few days later."


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The version most often heard today on the radio during the Christmas season is the 1947 re-recording. The 1942 master was damaged due to frequent use. Crosby re-recorded the track on March 19, 1947, accompanied again by the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers, with every effort made to reproduce the original recording session. The re-recording is recognizable by the addition of flutes and celesta in the beginning.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Although Crosby dismissed his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully", he was associated with it for the rest of his career.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Crosby's "White Christmas" single has been credited with selling 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time. By 1968, it had already sold thirty million. The "Guinness Book of World Records" 2009 Edition lists the song as a 100-million seller, encompassing all versions of the song, including albums. Crosby's holiday collection "Merry Christmas" was first released as an LP in 1949, and has never been out of print since.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: There has been confusion and debate on whether Crosby's record is the best-selling single, due to a lack of information on sales of "White Christmas," because Crosby's recording was released before the advent of the modern-day US and UK singles charts. However, after careful research, "Guinness World Records" in 2007 concluded that, worldwide, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has sold at least 50 million copies, and that Elton John's recording of "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold 33 million. However, an update in the 2009 edition of the book decided to further help settle the controversy amicably by naming both John's and Crosby's songs to be "winners" by stating that John's recording is the "best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s," while maintaining that "the best-selling single of all time was released before the first pop charts," and that this distinction belongs to "White Christmas," which it says "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever "Guinness Book of Records" (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later."


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1999, National Public Radio included it in the "NPR 100", which sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. Crosby's version of the song also holds the distinction of being ranked No. 2 on the "Songs of the Century" list, behind only Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow," as voted by members of the RIAA. In 2002, the original 1942 version was one of 50 historically significant recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2004, it ranked No. 5 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In a UK poll in December 2012, "White Christmas" was voted fourth (behind "Fairytale of New York", "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" and "Merry Xmas Everybody") on the ITV television special "The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song".


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The recording was broadcast on Armed Forces Radio on April 30, 1975, as a secret, pre-arranged signal precipitating the U.S. evacuation from Saigon.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: It is included on "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector", sung by Darlene Love; on Barbra Streisand's "A Christmas Album"; on the Carpenters' "Christmas Portrait", sung by Karen Carpenter; on Neil Diamond's "The Christmas Album;" on Bette Midler's "Cool Yule"; on Libera's "Christmas Album"; and on Crash Test Dummies' "Jingle All the Way".


title: White Christmas (song)

text: "White Christmas" is the most-recorded Christmas song; there have been more than 500 recorded versions of the song, in several different languages. The following have received some charting success.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra (with Bob Carroll on lead vocal) released a version on Capitol Records that reached No. 16 on "Billboard" magazine's pop singles chart in 1942 and Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra (with Garry Stevens on lead vocal) released a version for Columbia Records that reached No. 18 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart as did Freddy Martin and his Orchestra (with Clyde Rogers on lead vocal) for RCA Victor, reaching No. 20 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart (and again in December 1945, reaching No. 16).


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1944, Frank Sinatra with a backing orchestration under the direction of Axel Stordahl for Columbia, reached No. 7 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart (two more times: December 1945, No. 5; December 1946, No. 6) Jo Stafford reaching No. 9 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart in 1946, with backing vocals by the Lyn Murray Singers and backing orchestration by Paul Weston for Capitol. Eddy Howard and his Orchestra released a version on the Majestic label that reached No. 21 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart the same year while Perry Como, with backing orchestration by Lloyd Shaffer, recorded the song for RCA Victor in 1947 and reached No. 23 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart; Como recorded a stereo version of the song in 1959.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1949, The Ravens peaked at No. 9 on "Billboard"s Rhythm & Blues Records chart in January 1949 on National Records. while Ernest Tubb, with female backing vocals by The Troubadettes on Decca, peaked at No. 7 on "Billboard"s Country & Western Records chart.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1952, Mantovani and his orchestra reached No. 23 on "Billboard"s pop singles chart while The Drifters showcased the talents of lead singer Clyde McPhatter and the bass vocals of Bill Pinkney in 1954, peaking at No. 2 on "Billboard"s Rhythm & Blues Records chart. It returned to the same chart in the next two years. In February 1954, the Drifters recorded “White Christmas,” which was released that November. While the song became a No. 5 R&B hit in 1954, its popularity remained in the black community. The Drifters rendition of this song can be heard in the films "Home Alone" and "The Santa Clause".


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 1953, Bing Crosby sang "White Christmas" in a film made in Paris as part of "The Ford 50th Anniversary Show", a two-hour television special broadcast on NBC and CBS.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Andy Williams recorded the song for Columbia in 1963 on "The Andy Williams Christmas Album", where it reached No. 1 on "Billboard"s weekly Christmas Singles chart. It was released in 1968 on Atco Records as a posthumous single from Otis Redding, and reached No. 12 on the Christmas Singles chart. In 1980, Darts's version peaked at No. 48 on the UK singles chart.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Michael Bolton performed it on his 1992 non-holiday album, "", where it peaked at No. 73 on "Billboard"s Hot 100 Airplay chart in January 1993. Garth Brooks version included on his first holiday album, "Beyond the Season", peaked at No. 70 on "Billboard"s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in January 1995. In 1998 Martina McBride recorded it for her album "White Christmas", charting twice, reaching No. 75 on "Billboard"s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1999, and No. 62 on the same chart in 2000


title: White Christmas (song)

text: Bette Midler's version, released on her non-holiday album, "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook", reached No. 15 on "Billboard"s Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart in 2003. The version released on Andrea Bocelli 2009 album, "My Christmas", reached No. 16 on the Portuguese Singles Chart. Despite not being released as a single, Marco Mengoni's version, released on the compilation album "X Factor – The Christmas Album", charted at No. 13 on the Italian Singles Chart based on digital downloads of the track.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: The "Glee" cast's version of the song, sung by Darren Criss and Chris Colfer, entered the UK charts for the first time in 2018, four years after its release, at No. 98.


title: White Christmas (song)

text: In 2020, a version by Meghan Trainor, featuring Seth MacFarlane, went to No. 1 on "Billboard"s Adult Contemporary chart.


title: Ernest Cline

text: Ernest Christy Cline (born March 29, 1972) is an American science fiction novelist, slam poet, and screenwriter. He wrote the novels "Ready Player One", "Armada", and "Ready Player Two" and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of "Ready Player One", directed by Steven Spielberg.


title: Ernest Cline

text: Cline was born and raised in Ashland, Ohio, the son of Ernest Christy Cline and Faye Imogene ("née" Williams) Cline. As a youth in the 1970s and 1980s, Cline was "addicted to video games and movies," especially "Star Wars", the movies of John Hughes, and the tabletop roleplaying game "Dungeons & Dragons". He worked in information technology in his twenties and worked on screenwriting during his spare time.


title: Ernest Cline

text: Cline co-wrote the screenplay for "Fanboys", based on a storyline he had developed in the late 1990s while his mother was dying of cancer. Cline shot some low-budget scenes himself and shared his screenplay draft with Harry Knowles, whose connections in the film industry helped Cline get the film produced. The final film was co-written by Adam F. Goldberg and directed by Kyle Newman. It was finally released in 2009 after reshoots, reedits, and delays. Cline later recalled that the film "changed my whole life. "Fanboys" is my first real original screenplay, and it got made."


title: Ernest Cline

text: From 1997 to 2001, Cline performed his original work at Austin Poetry Slam venues. He was the Austin Poetry Slam Champ in 1998 and 2001 and competed on the Austin Poetry Slam Teams at the 1998 Austin National Poetry Slam and the 2001 Seattle National Poetry Slam. His most popular spoken-word pieces include "Dance, Monkeys, Dance," "Nerd Porn Auteur," and "When I Was a Kid." Cline subsequently reworked "Dance Monkeys Dance" into a faux educational filmstrip, which became a popular viral video that has now been translated into 29 different languages.


title: Ernest Cline

text: In 2001, Cline self-published a chapbook collection of his spoken-word writing, "The Importance of Being Ernest", and released an album, "The Geek Wants Out". In fall 2013 Write Bloody Publishing published a new edition of "The Importance of Being Ernest" with new cover art by Gary Musgrave and new interior illustrations by Len Peralta.


title: Ernest Cline

text: In June 2010, Cline sold his first novel, "Ready Player One", a book that takes place in a dystopian vision of the 2040s. The book was sold in a bidding war to the Crown Publishing Group (a division of Random House). The film rights to the novel were sold the following day, to Warner Bros., with Cline co-writing the screenplay. Ten months later, with the hardcover release coinciding with the paperback release, Cline revealed on his blog that both the paperback and hardcover editions of "Ready Player One" contain an elaborately hidden Easter egg. This clue formed the first part of a series of staged video gaming tests, similar to the plot of the novel. Cline also revealed that the competition's grand prize would be a 1981 DeLorean. The prize was awarded in 2012. The paperback is currently in its 17th printing.


title: Ernest Cline

text: Cline's second novel, "Armada", was released on July 14, 2015, by Crown Publishing Group. In December 2015 the film rights to "Armada" were sold to Universal Pictures for a seven-figure sum.


title: Ernest Cline

text: His third novel, "Ready Player Two" was announced in August 2015 and released on November 24, 2020 as a sequel to "Ready Player One". A film adaptation of the novel is in early development.


title: Ernest Cline

text: In 2016, he married poet/nonfiction writer Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, whom he met at the 1998 National Poetry Slam and began dating in 2013.


title: Ernest Cline

text: Cline's all-time favorite video game is "Black Tiger," which features prominently in the plot of "Ready Player One."


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The Land Rover Freelander is a compact crossover SUV that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the Freelander 2. The Freelander was sold in both two-wheel and four-wheel drive versions. The name 'Freelander' is derived from the combination of 'Freedom' and 'Lander'.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: After having built exclusively body-on-frame 4WD vehicles for half a century, the first generation Freelander was the brand's first model to use monocoque (unibody) structures, and was offered in three- and five-door body options, including a semi soft-top. The second generation (from 2006) dropped all two-door options, leaving only a five-door stationwagon-like body, and – after 62 years – became the brand's first ever to offer a two-wheel drive option (as of 2010).


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: After a five-year hiatus, the two-door Freelanders were succeeded by the two-door versions of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011, and the five-door generation 2 was replaced by the Discovery Sport in 2015, the nameplate spanning two generations and less than eighteen years.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: In 1988, British Aerospace acquired the Rover Group for £150 million, which allowed resources across Rover brands and Land Rover to be pooled differently, and the idea of developing a smaller Land Rover became more attainable than previously.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: When the board approved the Pathfinder project, it was codenamed CB40 (after Canley Building 40, where the concept was initially developed).


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: Remarkably, the new, compact Land Rover had become almost as long as the original Range Rover, that had been phased out just the year before, and even sported an inch (2.5 cm) "longer" wheelbase.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: When BMW acquired Rover Group, they terminated the agreement, and instead funded production facilities at Solihull, making use of the Rover SD1 assembly hall which had been inactive in the early 1980s, when Rover car production was moved to Cowley.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The Mk1 Land Rover Freelander was an instant hit and went on to become the biggest-selling four-wheel-drive model in Europe, with over 540,000 units sold over its nine-year lifespan. The Freelander became Europe's best-selling 4WD vehicle for five consecutive years after launch in 1997; and in 2016 Land Rover embraced it as its 8th 'Heritage vehicle'.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: There were a variety of models, based around five-door estate and three-door softback (semi-convertible), hardback, and commercial (van-like) versions. In 2004, Land Rover introduced an improved and upgraded version of the Mark I; changes included a new interior and major external revisions, including a new face and rear.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The three-door model was available in E, S, ES, Sport and Sport Premium trim and the five-door model in available in E, S, ES, HSE, Sport and Sport Premium trim.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: Manual gearboxes dominated the early models, but automatic Tiptronic-style gearboxes (Jatco JF506E) became increasingly popular and were standard on the V6. The Automatic Tiptronic gearbox was also available as an option on the Td4.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The first generation Freelander was marketed as a premium compact 4x4, and used in the 1998 Camel Trophy and participated in Land Rover's G4 Challenge. The vehicle represented a compromise because it did not have a low-range gear selection, nor a locking differential, as found on larger Land Rover models. This meant that in comparison to other Land Rovers, off-road performance was not as good. In comparison to similar models produced by other manufacturers in the same period of time like the Honda CRV or the Toyota RAV4, however, the first generation Freelander was far more competent off-road.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: It had more than sixteen patented features, including the IRD or Intermediate Reduction Drive, which acted as a front differential and fixed ratio transfer; the VCU or viscous-coupling, which reacts to the differing rotational speed of the prop shafts, allowing varying torque across itself; and the Hill Descent Control system, which was then implemented in the rest of the Land Rover range and even in the first generation BMW X5 (BMW was the parent company of Rover Group at the time of introduction of this model).


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: This first generation also used a Traction Control system and a special version of ABS produced by Wabco, modified to assist driving in off-road situations. Lack of the MG Rover K18 and KV6 engines after the end of the MG Rover production led Land Rover to discontinue the model on 31 August 2005 in the U.S. and Canada.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The second generation was internally designated L359; debuted at the 2006 British International Motor Show and was marketed as the Freelander 2, retaining the "Freelander" name in Europe and marketed as the "LR2" in North America and the Middle East – mirroring the marketing of the new third generation Land Rover Discovery as LR3. A presentation at the Kensington Roof Gardens was held for journalists featuring celebrity tennis player Maria Sharapova. Production ended in January 2015.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The second generation Freelander is based on the Ford EUCD platform, which itself is based on the Ford C1 platform. The Ford EUCD platform will be used by more upcoming vehicles from Volvo. The engine range is all-new for Freelander, featuring transversely-mounted 3.2-litre straight-six engine of the Volvo SI6 series, which debuted in the new Volvo S80, as well as the 2.2-litre DW12 common rail turbodiesel engine from PSA Peugeot Citroën.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: Unlike previous Land Rovers, the second generation Freelander is manufactured in the Halewood Body & Assembly facility, near Liverpool, and was until 2009 manufactured alongside the Jaguar X-Type – as Jaguar X-Type and Landrover Freelander both used modified version of Ford's front wheel drive platform. The new Freelander features higher ground clearance and off-road capabilities that are closer to other Land Rover models.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The second generation has improved quality interior with more safety features as standard. The Freelander 2 features a modified version of the Terrain Response off-road driving system as fitted to the Discovery 3 and the Range Rover. The 4WD system was developed in conjunction with Haldex and was called Third generation coupling. Vehicles from the 2009 model year are fitted with a modified design of the active on-demand coupling, known as Haldex's Fourth generation.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The new Freelander was first marketed in the U.S. in 2007 as the LR2. The 2008 version is called the LR2 HSE. The limited run HST had added side trim, front valance, and 19-inch wheels. A Volvo 3.2-litre inline six-cylinder engine producing is standard, with a six-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. In the United Kingdom, the standard engine is the PSA 2.2-litre turbo diesel. The eD4 version of the engine produces , the TD4 comes with , and the SD4 comes with .


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: Interior appointments include an Alpine 440-watt 14-speaker surround sound audio and a 7-inch touch navigation screen options, while the newer models can be equipped with an Meridian audio system, which comes with a surround sound 17-speaker system with Trifield technology, producing 825 watts.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The Meridian system is also equipped with subwoofers and Audyssey MultEQ audio tuning system. Also a 5-inch colour display screen is standard even at the newer entry-level models. An optional cold climate package includes heated front windscreen, heated front seats with two heating levels and heated windscreen washers. The optional lighting package includes bi-xenon headlights, adaptive front-lighting, memory for the driver seat, as well as exterior mirrors and approach and puddle lamps.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The Freelander TD4_e features stop-start technology to improve fuel economy and reduce carbon emissions. The system cuts out the engine when the vehicle is stationary, neutral is selected and the clutch engaged; the engine restarts when the clutch pedal is depressed.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: The system includes a heavy-duty starter motor that also acts as a generator to recover energy through regenerative braking that is then stored in capacitors to restart the engine reducing stress on the vehicle's battery and electrical system. The stop-start system became available in spring 2009 on Freelander 2 TD4 models.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: For the first time in Land Rover's history, from the 2011 model year, a purely two-wheel drive version, badged eD4, was available. This model also dropped the Terrain Response and Hill Descent Control systems. Omitting four-wheel drive saved of weight, and the eD4 achieved a combined economy figure of , along with emissions of 158 g/km .


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: After introduction of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011, this model competed with the Freelander 2, especially with the eD4, as the Evoque was both cheaper to purchase, more efficient, more premium, and combined this with standard four-wheel drive.


title: Land Rover Freelander

text: For the 2013 model year, the Freelander got a revised look with a different grille, and new interior trim.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers (mostly from Utah) to the area, and fresh water was piped in to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam (now the Hoover Dam), bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center, now classified as a Mega resort.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The name Las Vegas was given to the city in 1829 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Spanish explorer Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas; Las Vegas means "the meadows" in Spanish. The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The prehistoric landscape of the Las Vegas Valley and most of Southern Nevada was once a marsh with water and vegetation. The rivers that created the marsh eventually went underground, and the marsh receded. The valley then evolved into a parched, arid landscape that only supported the hardiest animals and plants.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: At some point in the valley's early geologic history, the water resurfaced and flowed into what is now the Colorado River. This created a luxurious plant life, forming a wetland oasis in the Mojave Desert landscape.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Evidence of prehistoric life in Las Vegas Valley has been found at the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. An abundance of Late Pleistocene fossils have been discovered from this locality, including Columbian mammoths and Camelops hesternus.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Native Americans lived in the Las Vegas Valley, beginning over 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered baskets, petroglyphs, pictographs and other evidence in diverse locations, including Gypsum Cave and Tule Springs. Paiutes moved into the area as early as AD 700, migrating between nearby mountains in the summer and spending winter in the valley, near Big Springs.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: A trade caravan of 60 men led by the Spanish merchant Antonio Armijo was charged with establishing a trade route to Los Angeles. By following the Pike and Smith routes through a tributary of Colorado River they came upon the Las Vegas Valley, described by Smith as the best point to re-supply before going onto California. The travelers named the area Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows. or 'Fertile Plains'.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: John C. Frémont traveled into the Las Vegas Valley on May 3, 1844 while it was still part of Mexico. He was appointed by President John Tyler to lead a group of scientists, scouts, and spies for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which was preparing for a possible war with Mexico. Upon arriving in the valley they made camp at the Las Vegas Springs, establishing a clandestine fort there. A war with Mexico did occur, resulting in the region becoming United States territory. The fort was used in later years by travelers, mountain men, hunters, and traders seeking shelter, but never permanently was inhabited.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: In 1855, William Bringhurst led a group of 29 Mormon missionaries from Utah to the Las Vegas Valley. The missionaries built a adobe fort near a creek and used flood irrigation to water their crops. However, because of tensions rising among leaders of the small Mormon community, the summer heat and difficulty growing crops, the missionaries returned to Utah in 1857, abandoning the fort. (The remains of the fort are preserved in the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park.)


title: History of Las Vegas

text: For the next few years, the area remained unoccupied by Americans except for travelers and traders. Then the U.S. Army, in an attempt to deceive Confederate spies active in southern California in 1864, falsely publicized that it reclaimed the fort and had renamed it Fort Baker, briefly recalling the area to national attention. After the end of the war in 1865, Octavius Gass, with a commission from the federal government, re-occupied the fort. The Paiute nation had declined in numbers and negotiated a new treaty with the United States, ceding the area around the fort to the United States in return for relocation and supplies of food and farming equipment. Consequently, Gass started irrigating the old fields and renamed the area Las Vegas Rancho. Gass made wine at his ranch, and Las Vegas became known as the best stop on the Old Spanish Trail. In 1881, because of mismanagement and intrigue with a Mormon syndicate, Gass lost his ranch to Archibald Stewart to pay off a lien Stewart had on the property. In 1884, Archibald's wife Helen J. Stewart became the Las Vegas postmaster.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The property (increased to ), stayed with the family (despite Archibald Stewart's murder in July 1884) until it was purchased in 1902 by the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad, then being built across southern Nevada. The railroad was a project of Montana Senator William Andrews Clark. Clark enlisted Utah's U.S. Senator and mining magnate Thomas Kearns to ensure the line's completion through Utah to Las Vegas. The State Land Act of 1885 offered land at $1.25 per acre ($3.09/hectare). Clark and Kearns promoted the area to American farmers who quickly expanded the farming plots of the areas. Not until 1895 did the first large-scale migration of Mormons begin in the area, at long last fulfilling Brigham Young's early dream. Through wells and arid irrigation, agriculture became the primary industry for the next 20 years and in return for his development, the farmers named the area Clark County in honor of the railroad tycoon and Senator.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: By the early 20th century, wells piped water into the town, providing both a reliable source of fresh water and the means for additional growth. The increased availability of water in the area allowed Las Vegas to become a water stop, first for wagon trains and later railroads, on the trail between Los Angeles and points east such as Albuquerque, New Mexico.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad was completed in 1905, linking Salt Lake City to southern California. U.S. Senator William Andrews Clark was the majority owner of the railroad, which was a corporation based in Utah. Among its original incorporators were Utah's U.S. Senator Thomas Kearns and his business partner David Keith. Kearns, one of the richer and more powerful men in Utah, and Keith were the owners of Utah's Silver King Coalition Mine, several mines in Nevada and "The Salt Lake Tribune". Kearns and Keith helped Clark ensure the success of the new railroad across Utah and into Nevada to California. Curiously, for a time there were two towns named Las Vegas. The east-side of Las Vegas (which encompassed the modern Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard) was owned by Clark, and the west-side of Las Vegas (which encompassed the area north of modern-day Bonanza Road) was owned by J.T. McWilliams, who was hired by the Stewart family during the sale of the Las Vegas Rancho and bought available land west of the ranch. It was from their property that Las Vegas took form.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Clark built another railroad branching off from Las Vegas to the boom town of Bullfrog called the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad. With the revenue coming down both railways that intersected there, the area of Las Vegas was quickly growing. On May 15, 1905, Las Vegas officially was founded as a city when , in what later became downtown, were auctioned to ready buyers. Las Vegas was the driving force in the creation of Clark County, Nevada in 1909, and the city was incorporated in 1911 as a part of the county. The first mayor of Las Vegas was Peter Buol, who served from 1911 to 1913.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Shortly after the city's incorporation, the State of Nevada reluctantly became the last western state to outlaw gambling. This occurred at midnight, October 1, 1910, when a strict anti-gambling law became effective in Nevada. It even forbade the western custom of flipping a coin for the price of a drink. Nonetheless, Las Vegas had a diversified economy and a stable and prosperous business community, and therefore continued to grow until 1917. In that year, a combination of economic influences and the redirection of resources by the federal government in support of the war effort forced the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad to declare bankruptcy. Although William Clark sold the remains of the company to the Union Pacific Railroad, a nationwide strike in 1922 left Las Vegas in a desperate state.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On July 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the appropriation bill for the Boulder Dam. The dam was renamed the Hoover Dam during the Truman administration. Work started on the dam in 1931 and Las Vegas' population swelled from around 5,000 citizens to 25,000, with most of the newcomers looking for a job building the dam. However, the demographic of the work force consisting of males from across the country with no attachment to the area created a market for large-scale entertainment. A combination of local Las Vegas business owners and Mafia crime lords helped develop the casinos and showgirl theaters to entertain the largely male dam construction workers.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Despite the influx of known crime figures, the local business community tried to cast Las Vegas in a respectable light when the Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur visited in 1929 to inspect the dam site. However a worker was found with alcohol on his breath (this was during the time of Prohibition) after a visit to Block 16 in Las Vegas. The government ultimately decided that a federally controlled town, Boulder City, would be erected for the dam workers.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Realizing that gambling would be profitable for local business, the Nevada state legislature legalized gambling at the local level in 1931. Las Vegas, with a small but already well-established illegal gambling industry, was poised to begin its rise as the gaming capital of the world. The county issued the first gambling license in 1931 to the Northern Club, and soon other casinos were licensed on Fremont Street, such as the Las Vegas Club and the Hotel Apache. Fremont Street became the first paved street in Las Vegas and received the city's first traffic light in 1931.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: In reply, the federal government restricted movement of the dam workers to Las Vegas. Smuggling and circuitous routes then were developed. In 1934, to curtail these activities and the resulting growth of criminal figures in the gambling industry, the city's leading figures purged gambling dens and started an effort to stem the flow of workers from the dam. This only emboldened some dam workers who still contrived to visit Las Vegas. A celebration of this era has become known as Helldorado Days.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Although the suppression efforts resulted in declines at gambling venues and resulted in a business downturn, the city was recharged—both literally and figuratively—when the dam was completed in 1935. In 1937, Southern Nevada Power became the first utility to supply power from the dam, and Las Vegas was its first customer. Electricity flowed into Las Vegas and Fremont Street became known as Glitter Gulch due to the many bright lights powered by electricity from Hoover Dam. Meanwhile, although the dam worker population disappeared, Hoover Dam and its reservoir Lake Mead turned into tourist attractions on their own and the need for additional higher-class hotels became clear.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: In 1940, U.S. Route 95 was extended south into Las Vegas, giving the city two major access roads. Also in 1940, KENO, Las Vegas's first permanent radio station, began broadcasting replacing the niche occupied earlier by transient broadcasters.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On January 25, 1941, the U.S. Army established a flexible gunnery school for the United States Army Air Corps in Las Vegas. Mayor John L. Russell signed over land to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for this development. The gunnery school later would become Nellis Air Force Base. The U.S. Army was not pleased with the legal prostitution in Las Vegas, and in 1942, forced Las Vegas to outlaw the practice, putting Block 16, the local red light district, permanently out of business.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On April 3, 1941, hotel owner Thomas Hull opened the El Rancho Vegas. It was the first resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel gained much of its fame from the gourmet buffet that it offered. On October 30, 1942, Texas cinema magnate R.E. Griffith rebuilt on the site of a nightclub called Pair-O-Dice, that first opened in 1930, and renamed it Hotel Last Frontier. A few more resorts were built on and around Fremont Street, but it was the next hotel on the Strip that publicly demonstrated the influence of organized crime on Las Vegas.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Although ethnic organized crime figures had been involved in some of the operations at the hotels, the Mafia bosses never owned or controlled the hotels and clubs that remained monopolized by hard-bitten local Las Vegas families unwilling to cede ground to the crime bosses and proved strong enough to push back. This changed in post-war Las Vegas when Jewish gangster Bugsy Siegel, with help from friend and fellow mob boss Meyer Lansky, poured money through locally owned banks for cover of legitimacy and built The Flamingo in 1946. Siegel modeled his enterprises on the long-running gambling empire in Galveston, Texas, which had pioneered the high-class casino concepts that became mainstays on the Strip.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The Flamingo initially lost money and Siegel died in a hail of gunfire in Beverly Hills, California, in summer 1947. Additionally, local police and Clark County Sheriff deputies were notorious for their heavy-handed tactics toward mobsters who "grew too big for their pants". However, many mobsters saw the potential that gambling offered in Las Vegas. After gambling was legalized, the Bank of Las Vegas, led by E. Parry Thomas, became the first bank to lend money to the casinos, which Thomas regarded as the most important businesses in Las Vegas. At the same time, Allen Dorfman, a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa and a known associate of the Chicago Outfit, took over the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, which began lending money to Las Vegas casino owners and developers. They provided funding to build the Sahara, the Sands, the Riviera, the Fremont, and finally the Tropicana.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Even with the general knowledge that some of the owners of these casino resorts had dubious backgrounds, by 1954, over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas yearly pumping $200 million into casinos. Gambling was no longer the only attraction; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings. After coming to see these stars, the tourists would resume gambling, and then eat at the gourmet buffets that have become a staple of the casino industry.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On November 15, 1950, the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce (known at the Kefauver Hearings) met in Las Vegas. It was the seventh of 14 hearings held by the commission. Moe Sedway, manager of the Flamingo Hotel and a friend of mobster Bugsy Siegel, Wilbur Clark representing the Desert Inn, and Nevada Lieutenant Governor Clifford Jones were all called to testify. The hearings established that Las Vegas interests were required to pay Siegel to get the race wire transmitting the results of horse and dog races, prizefight results and other sports action into their casinos.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The hearing concluded that money from organized crime incontrovertibly was tied to the Las Vegas casinos and was becoming the controlling interest in the city, earning the organized crime groups vast amounts of income, strengthening their influence in the country. This led to a proposal by the Senate to institute federal gambling control. Nevada's Senator Pat McCarran was instrumental in defeating the measure in committee.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Along with their connections in Hollywood and New York City, these interests in Las Vegas were able to use publicity provided by these media capitals to steer the rapid growth of tourism into Las Vegas, thereby dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other illegal gaming centers around the nation. Nevada's legal gaming as well as the paradoxical increased scrutiny by local and federal law enforcement in these other locales during the 1950s made their demise inevitable.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: While the Strip was booming, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on January 27, 1951 detonated the first of over a hundred atmospheric explosions at the Nevada Test Site. Despite the dangers and risks of radiation exposure from the fallout, which were greatly underestimated at the time, Las Vegas advertised the explosions as another tourist attraction and offered Atomic Cocktails in the "Sky Room" restaurant at the Desert Inn that provided the highest view of the mushroom clouds. During this time, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce successfully pushed for Vegas to become nicknamed the Atomic City. Several Miss Atomic pageants were held to help display the city's modernity and to continue spinning messages on the nearby testing to tourists.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The influx of government employees for the Atomic Energy Commission and from the Mormon-controlled Bank of Las Vegas spearheaded by E. Parry Thomas during those years funded the growing boom in casinos. But Las Vegas was doing more than growing casinos. In 1948, McCarran Field was established for commercial air traffic. In 1957, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was established, initially as a branch of the University of Nevada, Reno and becoming independent in 1969. In 1959, the Clark County Commission built the Las Vegas Convention Center, which became a vital part of the area's economy. Southwest Gas expanded into Las Vegas in 1954.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: These atmospheric tests would continue until enactment of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963 when the tests moved underground. The last test explosion was in 1992.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: In 1966, Howard Hughes, the eccentric hero of the American aviation industry, and noted American entrepreneurial financier with vast connections to long established networks in the country, moved to Las Vegas. Initially staying in the Desert Inn, he refused to vacate his room and instead decided to purchase the entire hotel. Hughes extended his financial empire to include Las Vegas real estate, hotels and media outlets, spending an estimated $300 million and using his considerable powers to take over many of the well-known hotels, especially the venues connected with organized crime, and he quickly became one of the more powerful men in Las Vegas. He was instrumental in changing the image of Las Vegas from its Wild West roots toward a cosmopolitan city.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The local newspaper "Las Vegas Sun" and its editor Hank Greenspun led a crusade in those days to expose all the criminal ties, activities, and government corruption in Las Vegas. His investigative reporting and editorials led to the exposure of Clark County Sheriff Glen Jones' ownership of a brothel and the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Clifford A. Jones as the state's national committeeman for the Democratic Party. Before his death in 1989, Hank Greenspun founded The Greenspun Corporation to manage his family's assets, and it remains a major influence in Las Vegas, with media holdings in print, television and the Internet; substantial real estate holdings; and ownership stakes in a number of casinos.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: One problem for the City of Las Vegas was that the Strip did not reside in Las Vegas. Because of this, the city lost tax revenue. There was a push to annex the Strip by the City of Las Vegas, but The Syndicate used the Clark County Commissioners to pull a legal maneuver by organizing the Las Vegas Strip properties into an unincorporated township named Paradise. Under Nevada Law, an incorporated town, Las Vegas, cannot annex an unincorporated township. To this day, virtually all of the Strip remains outside the City of Las Vegas.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Much like in other American settled counties and towns throughout the United States, entertainment venues were segregated between black- and white-owned businesses. With almost all of the businesses owned and operated by whites, Black Americans were barred from entering the venues, which remained focused, regardless of their legitimacy or criminality, on entertaining a white-only clientele. As a result of property deeds, businesses owned by or mainly serving non-whites were confined to clubs on the "west side" of the tracks. This also was enforced in many of the work positions. Thus, African Americans (except those who provided the labor for low-paying menial positions or entertainment) and Hispanics were limited in employment occupations at the white-owned clubs. However, because of employment deals with black worker groups, many clubs favored black workers, and the Hispanic population actually decreased 90% from 2,275 to just 236 by the mid-1950s.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Organized crime-owned businesses saw an opportunity in not dividing their clientele by race, and despite property deeds and city and county codes barring such activities, made several attempts at desegregating their businesses in the hopes of putting out of operation the non-white owned clubs and expanding their own market share. An attempt was made at forming an all-integrated night-club modeled on the Harlem Clubs of New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, like those owned by German-Jewish gangster Dutch Schultz. On May 24, 1955, Jewish crime boss Will Max Schwartz, along with other investors, opened the Moulin Rouge. It was a very upscale and racially integrated casino that actually competed against the resorts on the Strip, especially the non-white owned strips on the west side. By the end of the year the casino closed as Schwartz and his partners had a falling out, but the seeds for racial integration were sown.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Many sources have credited Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack as a significant driving force behind desegregation in the casinos. One famous story tells of Sinatra's refusal to perform at the Sands Hotel unless the hotel provided Sammy Davis Jr. with a room. The famed performing group made similar demands at other venues, forcing owners to amend their policies over time.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: However, it took political action for racial desegregation to occur. In 1960, the NAACP threatened a protest of the city's casinos for their policies. A meeting among the NAACP, the mayor and local businessmen resulted in citywide casino desegregation, starting with the employees. Many whites were attritioned from positions and their jobs given to the black unions. Along with the rest of the country, Las Vegas experienced the struggle for civil rights. Activists like James B. McMillan, Grant Sawyer, Bob Bailey, and Charles Keller dragged Las Vegas to racial integration.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Aside from seeing no business advantage to excluding non-white customers from casinos and clubs, the organized crime groups were composed of people of ethnicities (Jewish and Italian) that faced discrimination from WASP America and thus could understand the plight of blacks. This was also a driving force behind the integration advocated by ethnic performers such as Sinatra and Martin.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Another big force for equality was Mayor Oran Gragson. Spurred into local politics by a vigilante ring of cops who repeatedly broke into his appliance store, he implemented infrastructure improvements for the minority neighborhoods in Las Vegas, backed the NAACP in its actions, and promoted black workers for jobs. He also championed the cause of the Paiute tribe that owned a small portion of Las Vegas. Gragson stopped the U.S. government from evicting the tribe and made infrastructure improvements for them. His work helped reverse the decrease of minority populations in Las Vegas.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: Local legislation kept up with the national legislation, and integration was finally established. The only violence came as a result of school integration, with violent riots and fights occurring in Clark High School when black gangs and youths began attacking the whites. Integration sparked white flight from the school district from 1965 to 1971.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On a percentage basis, Las Vegas and Clark County experienced incredibly high growth rates starting in the 1930s and lasting until the late 2000s recession. During that period, the population of the city more than doubled in most decades. The rate slowed down in the 1970s with the decrease of the white birth rate, but never dropped below 60% (1980–1990), and even accelerated after 1990 due to immigration. By 2000, Las Vegas was the largest city founded in the 20th century, and by 2006 it was the 28th largest city in the U.S., with a population of 552,000 in the city and nearly 1.8 million in Clark County. The explosive growth resulted in rapid development of commercial and residential areas throughout the Las Vegas Valley. The strong boom in the resort business led to many new condominium developments all along the Strip and downtown area. Also urban sprawl development of single-family homes continued across the valley, building the areas of Henderson, North Las Vegas, Centennial Hills, and Summerlin. The rapid development and population growth both halted abruptly in the late 2000s recession.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: During this period of time, American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote and published his seminal novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", detailing the experience of his 1971 trip to the city.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: On November 21, 1980, the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino suffered a devastating fire. A total of 85 people died and 785 were injured in what remains the worst disaster in Nevada history. The property eventually was sold and reopened as Bally's Las Vegas, and MGM moved south to Tropicana Avenue.


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The "Mafia/Rat Pack" Las Vegas of the mid-20th century came to a gradual end in the 1980s with the aging out of the World War II generation, the decline of organized crime elements, and the rise of baby boomer entrepreneurs who began a new chapter in the city's history, the so-called megaresort era. Las Vegas began to become a more commercialized, family-oriented place with large corporations coming to own the hotels, casinos, and nightclubs in place of Mafia bosses. The megaresort era kicked off in 1989 with the construction of The Mirage. Built by developer Steve Wynn, it was the first resort built with money from Wall Street, selling $630 million in junk bonds. Its 3,044 rooms, each with gold tinted windows, set a new standard for Vegas luxury and attracted tourists in droves, leading to additional financing and rapid growth on the Las Vegas Strip. More landmark hotels and other structures were razed to make way for ever-larger and more opulent resorts including:


title: History of Las Vegas

text: The home mortgage crisis (2007-2010) and the late 2000s recession affected Las Vegas' economic success. New home construction was stalled, and construction projects either were canceled, postponed, or continued with financial troubles. Some of these projects included the MGM Mirage property of CityCenter, Fontainebleau, Echelon, and The Plaza. The global financial situation also had a negative effect on gaming and tourism revenue, causing many of the companies to report net loss. By 2010, empty lots on the Strip were affecting the foot traffic of other casinos.