Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim, commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva, was a prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire. It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a student of the famed Vilna Gaon, and trained several generations of scholars, rabbis, and leaders. It is considered the first modern yeshiva, and served as a model for later Misnagedic educational institutions.
Photograph of the Volozhin yeshiva
Volozhin yeshiva. Silver coin of Belarus, 10 rubles, 2010, 925, diam. 33 mm, revers
Tempera, Anatoly Nalivaev, 1964
Tempera, Anatoly Nalivaev, 1967
Litvaks or Lita'im are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The term is sometimes used to cover all Haredi Jews who follow an Ashkenazi, non-Hasidic style of life and learning, whatever their ethnic background. The area where Litvaks lived is referred to in Yiddish as ליטע Lite, hence the Hebrew term Lita'im.
Portrait of Lithuanian yeshiva students
An Atlas of Northeastern Yiddish, by Dovid Katz. Cartography by Giedre Beconyte.