{"id":189336,"date":"2026-05-11T11:59:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=189336"},"modified":"2026-05-11T11:59:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T08:59:57","slug":"mir_yeshiva_shanghai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/en\/mir_yeshiva_shanghai\/","title":{"rendered":"From Belarus to Shanghai: The Mir Yeshiva\u2019s Journey of Survival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Founded in 1815, the Mir Yeshiva was one of the most important centers of Torah learning in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05de\u05d9\u05e8
The Mir Yeshiva<\/a>, Belarus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When World War II broke out, Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov\u2013Ribbentrop Pact. Many Jews, including numerous entire yeshiva schools from across Eastern Europe, fled to Vilna (Vilnius), then a free city in Lithuania. Horse-drawn carts laden with families and students made their way toward what was seen as a safer refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among them was the Mir Yeshiva, whose rabbis, faculty, and their families all relocated to Vilna. One student, Yisrael Margalit, loaded a wagon with part of the yeshiva\u2019s extensive library, determined to preserve its books so that study could continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 2,500 Jews remained in the town of Mir until June 1941, when the Germans invaded. Most of the town\u2019s Jewish population was murdered by August 1942.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Mir Yeshiva continued to operate in Vilna, though the space allotted to its roughly 300 students quickly proved insufficient. The yeshiva relocated to the suburb of Novograd, and from there to the town of K\u0117dainiai in northern Lithuania, where it remained for about seven months. Under pressure from the authorities, it was later forced to disperse across four nearby towns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union took control of Lithuania. The yeshiva\u2019s leadership, together with other Jewish refugees, understood that they would soon need to flee once again, this time from Soviet rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, attempted to secure immigration certificates that would allow entry to Mandatory Palestine. The Soviets permitted Jews to travel to the port of Odessa, but the British White Paper of 1939 severely restricted Jewish immigration. Only a small number of refugees managed to reach safety that way. At the same time, Germany\u2019s occupation of Denmark blocked access to the Baltic Sea, and the fall of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France sealed off any route to the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jews of Lithuania were effectively trapped. The only remaining route lay eastward into the Soviet Union, where antisemitism was rampant. But where could they go, and how could they obtain the necessary permits?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As foreign embassies closed their doors, one unlikely opportunity emerged. Japan opened a consulate in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, headed by Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With few options left, Jewish refugees turned to Sugihara, seeking transit visas to distant Japan. He appealed to his superiors and received a response that, while ambiguous, allowed enough flexibility to act. He agreed to issue transit visas on one condition: applicants had to present proof of a final destination. Japan would serve only as a way station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In wartime, however, destinations willing to accept Jewish refugees were exceedingly scarce. The breakthrough came from two yeshiva students who held Dutch citizenship. Knowing that the Netherlands had already been occupied by the Nazis, they approached the Dutch consul in Kaunas, Jan Zwartendijk, and requested immigration papers to Cura\u00e7ao, a Dutch territory in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consul explained that no visa was required to enter Cura\u00e7ao, though the island\u2019s governor retained the right to deny entry. The students nevertheless insisted on receiving a passport notation indicating permission to immigrate, despite the fact that no such formal authorization truly existed. Zwartendijk agreed, effectively creating a legal fiction that opened a real path to escape. Word spread quickly. Jews flocked to the Dutch consulate to obtain the same \u201cauthorization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Sugi&yan\"
Jan Zwartendijk (right) and Chiune Sugihara (left), both later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sugihara, fully aware of the fiction, began issuing transit visas in large numbers. He and his staff worked day and night, preparing thousands of documents. Even after being ordered by the Soviets to close the consulate, Sugihara continued stamping visas from the window of his departing train as he left Kaunas for his next post in Berlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another obstacle remained. The Soviet Union maintained a strict \u201cclosed gates\u201d policy. Anyone seeking to leave Soviet territory was immediately suspect, potentially a spy. Two emigration offices were opened in Lithuania where refugees could apply for exit permits. At first, many were afraid, justifiably so. Jews, and especially yeshiva students, were viewed with suspicion by the authorities and were easy targets for the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. Entering such an office could just as easily result in deportation to a labor camp in Siberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there was no alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the autumn of 1940, a small group of Mir Yeshiva students took the risk and applied for permission to travel to Cura\u00e7ao via Japan, using their newly acquired documents. Others followed, waiting anxiously for a response. To their astonishment, and against all expectations, exit permits began to be granted in early 1941.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further obstacles remained: financial hardship, bureaucratic hurdles. Yet, almost miraculously, solutions were found for each. The long road to Japan was opening.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05e8\u05d1
Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein, the spiritual supervisor of the Mir Yeshiva. From the Schwadron Collection, National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One of the travelers was Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein, the yeshiva\u2019s spiritual guide, who accompanied his students to Japan. Years later, he described the events:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow many plans and causes the Blessed One set in motion for our journey, from Mir to Vilna, from Vilna to K\u0117dainiai, and then the great wonders of obtaining the permits. The greatest wonder of all is beyond understanding: that the Russians granted us permission to travel as we wished, something entirely contrary to their nature\u2026 They reversed their own ways. Where they would normally send people to Siberia for such actions, they treated us kindly, though they themselves did not understand why.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students packed their few belongings, their books and the remnants of their childhood, and set out into the unknown. Many had lost all contact with their families and feared the worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journey to Japan would take them across the entire breadth of Russia, from west to east. The train ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway to the port city of Vladivostok lasted eleven days. In all, some 5,000 Jewish refugees made the journey from Lithuania toward the unknown, including 350 Mir Yeshiva students, along with their teachers and families.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Trans
A map of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Stefan Ertmann & Lokal Profilderivative work, via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After a long wait, they boarded a ship bound for the Land of the Rising Sun. In Kobe, they were received by a small but established Jewish community that had settled there years earlier for trade. The community took in the Mir students and provided them with an empty hall in the local synagogue, which soon became a temporary yeshiva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As students from other Lithuanian yeshivot joined them, space quickly became an issue, and a larger building was found higher up the mountain. After weeks of fear, uncertainty, and constant movement, the students, under the leadership of the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, finally settled into a routine. They resumed their studies exactly where they had left off, returning to tractate Yevamot<\/em>, which they had begun months earlier in distant Lithuania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan, however, was never meant to be their final destination. For months, the refugees sought immigration permits to the United States and elsewhere, but only a handful were granted. The yeshiva leadership made a principled decision: if they could not move together as a single unit, they would forgo the limited individual visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Japanese authorities had initially received them with relative openness, their continued stay depended on onward migration. When no destination materialized, the authorities ordered the transfer of Jewish refugees to Shanghai. The timing proved critical. Within months, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, severing ties with the United States. The country became a target of Allied bombing, and foreign residents were increasingly viewed with suspicion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Shanghai, the students encountered a large and diverse Jewish community. Founded roughly a century earlier by Jewish merchants from India, it preserved traditions rooted in Iraqi Jewry. Alongside it stood a newer Ashkenazi community, formed by former prisoners of war who had remained in the city after the Russo-Japanese War, as well as Jews who had fled pogroms in Russia and Ukraine. In the 1930s, Shanghai had also become a refuge for Jews escaping Nazi Germany and Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, the local community came to their aid. To the students\u2019 surprise, in the heart of Shanghai they found a space that could accommodate their needs: the Beit Aharon Synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some fifteen years earlier, the wealthy Jewish businessman Silas Hardoon had funded the construction of a grand, three-story synagogue complex, complete with an assembly hall, kitchen, and library. Named \u201cBeit Aharon\u201d in memory of his father, the building had seen little use, standing in the commercial center of the city, far from the Jewish neighborhoods. Its halls and bookshelves had remained largely empty, until 1941, when they were suddenly filled with hundreds of yeshiva students from Europe. Thus, even as the Holocaust raged across distant Europe, and after nearly two years of wandering, the students once again found themselves seated in a study hall, this time, the Shanghai branch of the Mir Yeshiva.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea
Beit Aharon Synagogue<\/a>, Shanghai, 1930s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The challenges facing the yeshiva were immense, and they only intensified after war broke out between Japan and the United States. Financial support ceased almost overnight, and contact with the outside world was severed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, at the request of their Nazi allies, the Japanese occupation authorities confined approximately 20,000 Jewish refugees to what became known as the Shanghai Ghetto. Reaching the Beit Aharon building now required special permits, and eventually the students were forced to conduct their studies within the confines of the ghetto itself. Even under these restrictive conditions, they maintained their rigorous study schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cShanghai Books\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most pressing challenges was the shortage of books. While Beit Aharon did include a library, it was modest and far from the rich collections typical of a major yeshiva. The volumes the students had brought from Europe were insufficient for the hundreds of learners, especially after the arrival of additional yeshiva groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their solution was both simple and resourceful: lithographic reproduction. Shanghai offered access to printing workshops capable of quickly producing inexpensive copies. Two students undertook an initial experiment, reproducing tractate Gittin<\/em>. The effort succeeded, and the yeshiva ordered 250 copies, celebrating the achievement with a festive meal on Lag BaOmer in 1942.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05d2\u05d9\u05d8\u05d9\u05df\"
Tractate Gittin, the first work reproduced in Shanghai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, they went on to reproduce nearly the entire Babylonian Talmud, with the exception of Yevamot<\/em>, which many students already possessed. Over time, they expanded their efforts to include a wide range of rabbinic texts: commentaries, Maimonides\u2019 Mishneh Torah<\/em>, prayer books, Pentateuchs, ethical works, and halakhic literature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dedicated printing committee was established to oversee the selection and production of texts. Other yeshivot in Shanghai, such as Chachmei Lublin and Tomchei Temimim, undertook similar efforts, each according to its needs. All the books bore the imprint \u201cShanghai,\u201d often alongside the name of the institution responsible for their production.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2
Part Yoreh De\u2019ah<\/em> of the Shulchan Aruch<\/em> and a Passover Haggadah<\/em>, Shanghai, 1946.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The books chosen reflected the practical needs of yeshiva study. Rabbi Avishai Elbaum, director of the Rambam Library at Beit Ariela in Tel Aviv, has identified 104 titles printed in Shanghai. One, Sefat Emet on Kodashim<\/em>, was discovered in the library of Harbin University in China. In some copies, missing text was filled in by hand at the printing house, visible in the margins.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05e9\u05e4\u05ea
Sefat Emet on Kodashim<\/em> with handwritten corrections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lithographic copies were not of high quality, but they were sufficient for study. The Chinese paper differed from European paper, something that can even be felt to the touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While reproducing existing works was relatively straightforward, printing original material required a proper press. During this period, a Jewish printing house, Elenberg Press, was established in Shanghai. It served the yeshiva students by publishing journals and Torah collections, including original writings. One such publication, Torah Or<\/em>, was printed in memory of the Mir student Avrohom Yisrael Yitzhak ben Tzvi Arbuz by his fellow students.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05ea\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Another was the fifth installment in a series of talks by Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz, the yeshiva\u2019s former spiritual supervisor. Earlier installments had been printed in Mir and later in K\u0117dainiai; the fifth was produced in Shanghai.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\u05de\u05d0\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd\"
Right: the fifth booklet printed in Shanghai; left: the K\u0117dainiai edition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05e8
Two prayer books reproduced for the Ashkenazi community in Shanghai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Many of these \u201cShanghai books\u201d are now held in the collections of the National Library of Israel. Some still bear the handwritten names of their original owners on their opening pages. They stand as tangible testimony to an extraordinary journey of survival, and to the unwavering commitment of the Mir students to Torah study, even in exile in the Far East during the Holocaust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the end of World War II, after years of displacement, the yeshiva hoped to leave China and immigrate together to the Land of Israel. But British authorities severely restricted entry. With few alternatives, the yeshiva turned instead to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1946, after a prolonged wait for the necessary permits, the students, along with the faculty and their families, boarded ships and set sail for freedom. Some settled in New York and continued their studies there. Others eventually reached the Land of Israel, where they established the new Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Mir Yeshiva is considered the largest yeshiva in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The extraordinary story of hundreds of yeshiva students who crossed Russia by train, sailed to Japan, and reunited in Shanghai. A story of enduring faith, of a library rebuilt under impossible conditions, and of a journey that helped shape the future of the yeshiva world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":189059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[1832,1955,1873,309],"tags2":[2749,3067,2743,2706,2640],"class_list":["post-189336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora","tag-ashkenazic-jewry","tag-jewish-books","tag-jewish-communities","tag-theholocaust"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Belarus to Shanghai: The Mir Yeshiva\u2019s Journey of Survival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The extraordinary story of hundreds of yeshiva students who crossed Russia by train, sailed to Japan, and reunited in Shanghai. 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