Ponevezh Yeshiva began its entrance examinations on Wednesday for the coming academic year, later than most other yeshivas, which have already finished testing, closed registration and sent decisions to applicants. The exams were moved up from their usual start date of 7 Tammuz because an unusually large number of students, more than 600 boys for the first time, sought to be tested, and Yeshiva president Rabbi Avraham Cohenman ordered the earlier start so all candidates could be examined by the end of Tammuz.
In Ponevezh, the exams are the decisive factor in admission. Each applicant goes through at least four stages, first before Cohenman, then before the yeshiva’s senior teachers, Rabbi Chaim Peretz Berman, Rabbi David Levy, Rabbi David Miller, Rabbi Yehuda Shmuel Meller, Rabbi Yosef Cohenman, Rabbi Rafael Shmuelevitz and Rabbi Yaakov Epstein, and also a personal interview with one of the mashgichim, Rabbi Eliezer Eliyahu Klarman or Rabbi Ezra Rothschild.
The testing takes place in the homes of the yeshiva’s rabbis on the yeshiva hill in Bnei Brak. Registration and scheduling are handled by Rabbi Menachem Ashhake and Rabbi Zelig Diskin, who also serves as the spiritual director of Yeshivat Meshach Chochma and was a close associate of the late Rabbi Gershon Edelstein.
Rabbi Chaim Peretz Berman is currently in the United States with other leading rabbis on behalf of the World Torah Fund, and he is expected to join the examiners when he returns to Israel next week. By current estimates, Ponevezh is likely to admit about 450 students, roughly 20 to 30 more than last year, split into three separate first-year classes.
At the end of the month, after all candidates have been tested, the yeshiva’s rabbinical assembly will meet for the final decisions. The rabbis, led by Rabbi Dov Povarsky, gather for hours late into the night at Cohenman’s home, review each name and decide who will enter the coming first-year class. Students who are not accepted are quickly absorbed by other yeshivas, making Ponevezh’s admissions outcome a key marker for the broader yeshiva registration season.
