Yisrael Zissel Dvoretz was a rabbi and community leader who was instrumental in moving the Slabodka yeshiva to Hebron in 1924 and founded the Hebron Development Bank.
After founding the influential Tivuna journal of Torah studies, Rabbi Dvoretz became the right-hand man of Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the respected elder of the yeshiva, known as the Alter of Slabodka. He arranged the move from Lithuania, a center for Jewish education, to Hebron, which at the time was an underdeveloped town with little infrastructure in a third-world region.
The influx of young, dedicated students from Lithuania and around the world infused Hebron with new energy. A bakery, hotel and more boosted the economy during a time when many in the region were still using wells for water and living with no electricity.
Rabbi Dvoretz founded the Hebron Development Bank which assisted the students and residents. The bank helped establish Migdal Eder an agricultural community of Yemenite Jews in nearby Gush Etzion. During the great snow storm of 1927, Hebron residents came to aid the Jewish farmers in what they called the “white siege.”
The bank also responded to the call from the founders of the modern city of Bnei Brak in its early years when it fell on financial hard times.
In August 1929, Rabbi Dvoretz assisted in facilitating the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s visit to Hebron. The revered Hasidic sage’s time in Israel included a rare visit inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs (Cave of Machpela). Like everywhere in the Land of Israel, he drew a large crowd in Hebron. He held a special prayer service outside the Machpela complex, which the Ottoman Empire had declared off-limits to Jews.
Rabbi Dvoretz assisted in obtaining special permission for the Rebbe and a small group of Jews to enter into the structure and visit the burial chambers of the Biblical Forefathers and Mothers. He, along with Eliezer Dan Slonim, who spoke fluent Arabic, was part of the rare visit to the sacred site.
The Hebron massacre of 1929 took the lives of 69 Jewish residents who were brutally tortured and murdered. Among the victims were 24 students of the Slabodka yeshiva, including Americans and Canadians. The Hebron Development bank ceased operation and the yeshiva relocated to Jerusalem, where it became known as the Hebron Yeshiva, as it is called until today. Rabbi Dvoretz was a member of the Committee for Hebron which assisted the survivors.
Rabbi Dvoretz continued his activities to develop the Jewish communities in the Land of Israel, starting organizations to plant trees and purchase plots of land.
In 1934 he moved to Petah Tikva where he founded a Beit Midrash and a network of schools. In 1940 he returned to Jerusalem where he established a Kollel for students of the Hebron Yeshiva. He published a biography about his rabbi, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, who led the Hebron yeshiva for decades. A square in Jerusalem, close to the Hebron Yeshiva is named in his memory. His children and grandchildren went on to become educators and community leaders.
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