yeshiva

American  

[yuh-shee-vuh] / yəˈʃi və /

Or yeshivah

noun

1. an Orthodox Jewish school for the religious and secular education of children of elementary school age.

2. an Orthodox Jewish school of higher instruction in Jewish learning, chiefly for students preparing to enter the rabbinate.

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yeshiva British  

/ jəˈʃiːva, jəˈʃiːvə /

noun

1. a traditional Jewish school devoted chiefly to the study of rabbinic literature and the Talmud

2. a school run by Orthodox Jews for children of primary school age, providing both religious and secular instruction

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Etymology

Origin of yeshiva

1925–30; < Hebrew (post-Biblical) yəshībhāh literally, a sitting

Example Sentences

When he reached New York, he enrolled in a yeshiva to resume his Talmud studies—as his parents would have desired—but soon left after finding he could no longer accept all of the doctrines.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

But the changes blowing through Israel have not yet breached the walls of the Kisse Rahamim yeshiva - or Jewish seminary - in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2025

Three families live in tarpaulin-covered shelters full of bunk beds for some 50 young men, who study in a yeshiva that is a shabby prefab structure surrounded by abandoned toys, building materials and garbage.

From New York Times • Feb. 25, 2024

Most had studied in yeshiva until age 26, which had allowed them military exemptions.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2024

The gym instructor was a short, chunky man in his early thirties who taught in the mornings in a nearby public high school and supplemented his income by teaching in our yeshiva during the afternoons.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok