page_title: Yeshiva
section_title: Structure and features
hierarchical_section_title: Yeshiva / Structure and features
context_page_description: A yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and the Torah, and halacha. The studying is usually done through daily shiurim as well as in study pairs called chavrutas. Chavrusa-style learning is one of the unique features of the yeshiva.
  In the United States and Israel, the different levels of yeshiva education have different names. In the United States, elementary-school students are enrolled in a cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a metivta, and undergraduate-level students learn in a beit midrash or yeshiva gedola. In Israel, elementary-school students are enrolled in a Talmud Torah or cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a yeshiva ketana, and high-school-age students learn in a yeshiva gedola. A kollel is a yeshiva for married men. It is common for a kollel to pay a token stipend to its students. Students of Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshiva gedolas usually learn in yeshiva until they get married.
  Historically, yeshivas were attended by males only. Today, all non-Orthodox and a few Modern Orthodox yeshivas are open to females.
context_section_description: Yeshiva study is differentiated from, for example university study, as regards several structural features – curriculum aside. The year is structured into "zmanim"; the day is structured into "seders". The learning itself is delivered through a "shiur", a lecture with pre-specified sources, or "marei mekomot"; study in general, and particularly the preparation for shiur, takes place in "chavruta" or paired-study. This study is in a common venue called the bet midrash (Yiddish, "zal" i.e. "hall").
  The institution is headed by its Rosh Yeshiva, while other senior Rabbis are referred to as "Ram" (Rosh Mesivta, 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 umeishiv (lit. "ask and he answers") is usually available to consult to students on difficult points in their day's Talmudic studies. The Rabbi responsible for the (Talmud) shiur is known as a Maggid Shiur. Students are known as talmidim, sing. talmid.
  Rav Muvhak is sometimes used in reference to one's primary teacher; correspondingly, Talmid Muvhak may refer to a primary, or outstanding, student.
caption: Mincha,  Yeshiva Centre, Melbourne
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