Gateshead Yeshiva

Name:

Gateshead Yeshiva

also referred to as Gateshead Talmudical College.

Founding:

The Yeshiva was founded in 1929 by Rev. Dovid Dryan, the reader and teacher of Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, and was initially effectively a branch of the famed Novardok network of yeshivas.

The Chief Rabbi at the time, Rabbi Joseph Hertz, was opposed to a yeshiva in Britain outside his jurisdiction, and when Rabbi Avraham Sacharov was designated as the first rosh yeshiva, the Chief Rabbi successfully requested the British Home Secretary to block Sacharov's immigration to the UK from Russia, in an attempt to prevent the establishment of the yeshiva. The attempt failed and Sacharov's brother-in-law, Rabbi Nachman Landynski, was appointed instead.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Address:

The Yeshiva opened in October 1929 with two students in a  small room at Gateshead Hebrew Congregation's corrugated iron synagogue in Corbett Street, Gateshead.^(iv)

179 Bewick Street, Gateshead, became the Yeshiva's first premises, officially opened on 14 June 1931.^(v) Over the next three decades the yeshiva gradually expanded, acquiring neighbouring properties in Rectory Road and 177 Bewick Road.

In 1961 a new building was erected at 88 Windermere Street to house a new beth hamedresh, The Yeshiva's buildings in Bewick Road and neighbouring Rectory Road were demolished and replaced by Clore House, a new two-storey dormitory block opened in 1963, effectively forming the beginnings of the yeshiva campus. Subsequent additional dormitory buildings and study Halls were constructed close by.^(vi)

Current Status:

Active.

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Strictly Orthodox

Website  (Gateshead Yeshiva Alumni Association):

Notable Faculty Members:^(x) (To view a short profile of a rabbi whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over the name.)

Rabbi Nachman Landynski - first rosh yeshiva, from 1930 until 1951.^(xi)

Rabbi Eliezer Kahan - first menahel (rector or director) from 1931 until 1968.^(xii)

Rabbi Leib Lopian - rosh yeshiva from 1947 until 1979.^(xiii)

Rabbi Leib Gurwicz - rosh yeshiva from 1948 until 1986^(xiv)

Rabbi Avrohom Gurwicz, son of Rabbi Leib Gurwicz - rosh yeshiva from 1986 until present (August 2024)^(xv)

Charitable Status:

Gateshead Talmudic College (with other working name, Gateshead Yeshiva), is a registered charity, number 527414 (standard registration), registered on 30 January 1967.^(xix)

Worship Registration:

The following are registered as a Places of Worship under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855:^(xx)

Gateshead Talmudic College at 179 Bewick Street (room on ground floor) Worship Register Number 65613;

Gateshead Centre of Jewish Learning at 61 Rectory Road (room on ground floor) Worship Register Number 63657; and

Gateshead Talmudic College Synagogue at 88 Windermere Road (room on first floor) Worship Register Number 68613.