Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshiva

Mesivta Rabsa Eitz Chaim DiSlutsk (Hebrew: מתיבתא רבתא עץ חיים דסלאצק), colloquially known as the Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshivah was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Europe, founded in Slutsk, then part of the Russian Empire, and later moved to Kletsk in the Second Polish Republic, in 1897.

[4][5] In 1914, Rabbi Meltzer's daughter, Chanah Perel, married Aharon Kotler, a student of the Alter of Slabodka.

[7] Later that year, World War I broke out, and the yeshiva fell into dire straits financially.

The war itself reached Slutsk with bombs blowing up in the streets, yet the yeshiva continued, with Rabbi Kotler giving hours-long shiurim (classes).

[11] With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Kletsk fell under Soviet rule, and the yeshiva once again faced the threat of an anti-religious communist government.

Yet, as they did in Slutsk, the yeshiva remained opened with a complete learning schedule, although many students left for home.

[14] Rabbi Kotler escaped Europe in 1941 and soon settled in the United States where he became the rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha.