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23.5.16

Litvak [Lithuanian] yeshiva. The real ones as opposed to the phonies and fakes.

Sometimes institutions work against their stated goal and sometimes not. I used to think that all institutions work against their stated goals but someone loaned to me a book about long lasting corporations e.g., MMM that are successful and also in fact produce quality products.

This goes I think for yeshiva also. For I think that to really get a decent idea of what is going on in the Gemara is almost impossible without the context of a Litvak [Lithuanian] yeshiva. But it takes a discerning eye to tell the different between the real thing and the phonies and fakes.
The difference should be clear in terms of intention. What are people in the yeshiva intending to do? To learn and keep Torah? Then it is authentic. If their intention is to use Torah as a profession then it is fake.I might as well make  a short list of the best places. Ponovitch and its branches are great. The Litvak yeshivas in NY are tremendous. i.e. Mir, Chaim Berlin, Torah VeDaat. In Yerushalaim there is mainly Brisk. Though I am also impressed by Rav Zilverman in the Old City. His Yeshiva goes by the Gra in all details and it seems pretty good to me.
But in essence almost any place that you can tell is concentrating on Gemara, Rashi, Tosphot and Musar you can be pretty much guaranteed that is it is OK.

[I am not saying to do yeshiva at the expense of going to college. If one is going into STEM that is great and should be done in connection with sessions in Talmud. But the Humanities and Social departments of universities are disaster zones.]