For the week ending 6 December 2008 / 9 Kislev 5769
Tsefat - The Oldest Yeshiva
The oldest yeshiva in history was that of Shem, the son of Noach who survived the great deluge and his great-grandson Ever. It was in their yeshiva that the Patriarch Yaakov studied Torah.
Tradition has it that this place of study was in a cave located in the center of Tsefat. The Ari Zal is cited as stating that this cave was the final resting place of the Talmudic Sage Rabbi Dosa ben Hyrcanus.