Tomchei Temimim (תומכי תמימים = "supporters of the pure ones") is the central Yeshiva (Talmudical academy) of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Founded in 1897 in the town of Lubavitch by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, it is now a worldwide network of institutions of advanced Torah study.
Towards the late 1800s, the position of traditional Orthodox Judaism was declining. Various new movements eroded the traditional fabric of Jewish life, notably the Haskalah. Many students were being lured away from a traditional yeshiva education to gymnasiums and universities. Even within the yeshiva framework, times had changed; no longer was the atmosphere one of exclusive devotion to Judaism, according to which Torah study has traditionally been not simply an acquisition of another science, but an end in itself. The winds of Enlightenment were blowing; students were reading books considered heretical by the yeshivot, and were for the first time exposed to ideas at odds with Orthodox Judaism. It was not uncommon for students to flagrantly violate basic Jewish laws, and ultimately join these secular movements.
Against this backdrop, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rashab) believed it necessary to found a new type of yeshiva, one which would regularly study Hasidic philosophy (Chassidus) according to the Chabad tradition, and thereby inoculate its students against the heretical views spreading through the Orthodox Jewish world. Moreover, he expressed his confidence that the students of this yeshiva (whom he termed "temimim" תמימים; sing. "tamim" תמים = pure, perfect) would be suitably prepared to overcome the problems plaguing the yeshiva community and Jewry in general.
In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution took place in Russia; within a short time, virtually any kind of formal Jewish education was outlawed by the new Communist rulers. The yeshiva took to operating underground, with teachers facing harsh penalties if caught: sentences of ten or more years of hard labor in Siberia, or a merciful death at the hands of a firing squad. Dozens of young rabbis paid the ultimate price for continuing the survival of Judaism in the Soviet Union, at any cost.
When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (the Rebbe Rayatz) exited the Soviet Union in 1927, the yeshiva reestablished itself in Warsaw and later in Otwock, Poland. When in the course of World War II the Rebbe was safely evacuated to New York. The yeshiva first escaped to Shanghai, China, along with some other yeshivot like Mir, and then was reestablished in America, where it remains to this day.
The central Yeshiva is housed today in Lubavitch World Headquarters, at 770 Eastern Parkway, with approximately six hundred students. Branches of the yeshiva, formally independent but recognized to be part of one global network, are to be found in major cities in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia, and the former Soviet Union, and a distinct network of yeshivot in Israel. Many of the branches also perform the functions necessary to grant rabbinical ordination to their students. A significant number of graduates of Tomchei Temimim continue working within Chabad as religious functionaries, whether as shluchim in Chabad Houses or as teachers in schools.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson asserted that the impact of studying in Tomchei Temimim is everlasting:
The following is a typical daily schedule for Chabad Yeshiva students:
7:30 a.m. - Chasidus - Hasidic philosophy (in some locales such as Israel and Australia first classes start at 7:00 a.m.)
9:00 a.m. - preparation for prayers, including Mikveh immersion (for those who didn't do so before 7:30 a.m.)
9:30 a.m. - Shacharis - Morning prayers
10:15 a.m. - Breakfast
11:00 a.m. - Iyun - Morning in depth Talmud study
1:00 p.m. - Shiur (lecture) - more advanced students receive lectures less often
2:15 p.m. - Mincha - afternoon prayers
2:35 p.m. - Lunch and break period
3:45 p.m. - Afternoon Talmud, including review of morning study and less in-depth Talmudic study known as Girsa
6:15 p.m. - Halacha study
7:00 p.m. - Dinner and break period
8:00 p.m. - Night Seder: Chasidus - Hasidic philosophy
9:30 p.m. - Ma'ariv - Evening prayers
9:45 p.m. - Seder Sichos - independent study of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn's public addresses
Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch, Brooklyn, New York
Talmudical Seminary Oholei Torah, Brooklyn, New York
Mesivta Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Queens Forest Hills, New York
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Poconos Canadensis, PA
Yeshiva Kol Yaakov Yehuda Hadar Hatorah Rabbinical Seminary, Brooklyn, New York
Yeshivas Lubavitch Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Yeshivas Lubavitch Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Yeshiva Or Menachem, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Rabbinical College of America, Morristown, New Jersey
Lubavitch Educational Center – Klurman Mesivta, Miami Beach, Florida
Yeshivas Lubavitch of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland
Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad/West Coast Talmudical Seminary, Los Angeles, California
Oholei Yosef Yitzchok Lubavitch-Mesivta, Oak Park, Michigan
Yeshivas Menachem Mendel Lubavitch of Monsey, NY
Yeshivas Beis Dovid Shlomo, New Haven, CT
Yeshiva Boys’ High School, Pittsburgh, PA
Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Central Lubavitch Yeshiva, Chovevei Torah, Brooklyn, NY
Lubavitch Rabbinical College of Minnesota, S. Paul, MN
Mesivta of Postville, Postville, IA
Mesivta of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, FL
Albany Mesivta, Albany, New York
HaMesivta, Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY
Mesivta Oholei Torah, Brooklyn, NY
Yeshiva Mesivta Menachem, Staten Island, NY
Yeshiva Torah Ohr, Miami, FL* Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Miami Rabbinical College, Miami, FL
Yeshivas Menachem Mendel Lubavitch, Oak Park, MI
Rabbinical College of Canada Quebec-Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Bais Medrash, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, Lod
Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, Kfar Chabad
Yeshivas Tzeirei Hashluchim, Safed
Yeshivas Chasidei Chabad Beis Levi Yitzchak, Safed
Ohr Simcha, Kfar Chabad
Beis Sefer Lemelacha, Kfar Chabad
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Kiryat Gat
Yeshivas Toras Emes, Jerusalem
Yeshivat Beis Haram, Kiryat Malachi
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Migdal HaEmek
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Or Yehuda
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, El'ad
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimimm, Beersheba
Yeshivas Ohel Menachem, Beit Shemesh
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Beitar Illit
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim-Beis Menachem, Bnei Brak
Yeshivas Oholei Yosef Yitchak Lubavitch, S. Kilda East, Australia
Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand, East S. Kilda, Victoria, Australia
Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College of Sydney, Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
Yeshiva College Cheder Chabad-High School Division, Bondi, New South Wales, Australia
Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim, Brunoy, France (suburb of Paris)
Yeshiva Gedolah Lubavitch London
Lubavitch Mechinah L'Yeshiva, London, England
Yeshivas Lubavitch Manchester, Manchester, England
Boys High School Mesivta, Moscow, Russia
Yeshiva Ketana Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch, Moscow, Russia
Yeshivah Tomchei Tmimim Luabvitch, Moscow, Russia
Lubavitch Yeshiva Gedolah of Johannesburg
Rabbinical College of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Yeshiva Gedola, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Ohel Menachem, S. Paulo, Brazil
