Yeshivat Har Etzion

When the founding Rosh Yeshiva, Moreinu VeRabbeinu HaRav Amital zt”l was asked what's special about Yeshivat Har Etzion, he would tell the following story. Many years ago, the Baal HaTanya was learning in his room. In the next room, his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek, was learning and in the third room a baby slept. Suddenly, the baby woke and began to cry. The Tzemach Tzedek continued studying. The Baal HaTanya got up, walked past the Tzemach Tzedek into the room with the baby. He picked up the baby and comforted it. When the baby was quiet, the Baal HaTanya said to his grandson, "If you learn Torah and don’t hear a Jewish baby's cry, there is something wrong with your learning." In Yeshivat Har Etzion, our goal is to learn Torah AND hear the baby's cry. In every generation, a baby cries: some obvious, some hidden. Sometimes the child itself doesn’t realize its crying. It is our job, as a Yeshiva, to hear even the hidden cries of our generation.