Sightseeing in the Parsha - Yavne

In this weeks Parsha there is an interesting combination between a sectorial interpersonal rule system and the commandments between Man and god. Together they illustrate for us the Jewish judicial and ethical system. Following these Parshiot, generations of judges sat in the bureau of the Sanhedrin in Yerushalayim, where they judged the nation honestly. Thus functioned the Jewish high court until they were forced to leave Yerushalayim following the destruction of the second Beit Mikdash. The Sanhedrin began to wander around. Finally after a few decades of wandering the Sanhedrin and the traditional judicial system ceased to function.

The first city that the Sanhedrin wandered to was Yavne, which is situated in the plains of Yehuda. There Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai renewed the world of judaism that was shattered following the Churban and taught us how we can continue being Jewish even without the Beit Mikdash.

Shorty after the establishment of the modern state of Israel a yeshiva was established in the name of “Yavne and its sages”. The yeshiva is called Kerem Beyavne and is one of the oldest zionist yeshivos that accompanied the renewal of Am Yisrael in its land. A few years later it became the first “hesder” yeshiva. Today the yeshiva continues to function and raise Talmidei Chachamim, among them several residents of Montreal.