In 1924, an order was issued by the Lithuanian government obliging the students of the Salvodka Yeshiva to enlist in the army, or alternatively to lead secular studies. The heads of the yeshiva feared the government initiative and decided to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. In order to prepare for the aliyah of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna, the son-in-law of Rabbi Epstein and later the head of the yeshiva, and Rabbi Yisrael Zisel Devorz, were secretly sent to Eretz Yisrael. After debating between the Petah Tikva colony and the city of Hebron, it was decided to choose Hebron, and in Elul 1924 a group of ten students from the Salvodka yeshiva was sent, which in fact formed the initial nucleus of the Hebron yeshiva in Eretz Israel.
The photograph before us was taken on the holiday of Sukkot 1924, and shows six of them in their youth, those who later became famous scholars: Rabbi Aharon Cohen [born in 1904] at the age of 21 - later the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rabbi Feibel Epstein, son of Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein - The Rosh Yeshiva and its founder, Rabbi Zvi Pochowitz, one of the founders of the renowned 'Kollel HaAvrechim' in Petah Tikva, Rabbi Aharon Milevsky, later Rabbi of Alita in Lithuania and Chief Rabbi of Montevideo, and Zvi Chaim Epstein.
Size: 9x14 cm. Very good condition.
