Telz Stone

History

In the times of Dovid Ha'Melech the Aron was kept in Kiryat Ye'arim for 20 years. The land Telz-Stone is built on was purchased pre 1948 by Menashe Elissar, a businessman who was attracted to the site as the location of the biblical Kiryat Ye'arim.

Telz (Telshe) Stone (officially named Kiryat Yearim) was founded in 1973 by a group from the Telz (Telshe) yeshiva in Wickliffe, Oh. Irving Stone financially backed this endeavor, thus its more common name - Telz Stone. The yeshiva's campus was built on Telz Stone's highest point as required by halacha. In 1977 Rav Mordechai Gifter came to Telz-Stone with 20 students from the Telz yeshiva in the US. In 1979 following the passing of the Telz Rosh Yeshiva Rav Boruch Sorotzkin, Rav Gifter returned to resume the position of Rosh Yeshiva. That spelled the end to the Telz-Stone branch of the Telz yeshiva. In 1982 Yeshiva Neve Tzion moved in to the vacant campus.

Until this day the Telz influence is apparent. Telz-Stone's mara d'asra is a son-in-law of the late Telz Rosh Yeshiva Rav Boruch Sorotzkin. The Telz influence can also be seen by some of the town's street names, Gordon st. named after the late Telz Rosh yeshiva Rav Eliezer Gordon, Ma'alot Kedoshei Telz commemorating the Telz Jews that perished during the holocaust. Oznaim La'Torha st. named after Rav Zalman Sorotzkin's work by the same name and Bloch st. named after Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch the founder of the Telz yeshiva in post war America.

For many years Telz-Stone remained a small town with no new building going on. In the early 1990's several dozen apartment buildings, town-houses and Semi-detached homes where built. It wasn't until a decade or so later that the major construction began, nearly doubling the population. That construction continues today with the expansion of "The Achuza" - the Achuzat Ye'arim neighborhood.

Rabbonim

Very partial list:

Rav Aryeh Shulman - Mara De'Asra, Rov of Bnei Ha'Yeshivos shul
Rav Yehudah Kabessa - Sephaardi Rabbi, Rov of Ma'or Chachmei Ha'Maarav shul
Rav Moshe Mendelson - Rov of Nachlei Da'as Torah center
Rav Tuvia Rosen - Rov of Chanichei Ha'Yeshivos shul in the Achuzat Ye'arim neighborhood
Rav Morbechai Kuber - Rov of Nachalas Tzvi shul (American community)
Rav Shlomo Goldstein - Rov of Tubin's shul (South African community)
Rav Eliezer Braun - Posek (son-in-law of Rabbi Shulman)
Rav Binyomin Sorotzkin - Rosh Yeshiva Ateres Shlomo (son of Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin of Telz)

Shuls

Bnei Ha'Yeshivos - the old-time Israeli shul
Nachalas Tzvi - American shul
Nachlei Da'as - Torah Center
Ma'or Chachmei Ha'maarav - Sephardic shul
Kol Yehuda - Sephardic shul
Ha'Kiryah - Leaning towards Modern Orthodoxy
Chassidim - General Chasidic shul
Chanichei Ha'yeshivos - Yeshivish shul of the Achuzat Ye'arim neighborhood
B'Darchei Avoseinu (Levenberg's) - Shul founded by mr. Pini Levenberg in the bottom floor of his home
Tubin's - South African shul
Bircat Shalom (Ashlag) - Followers of the Kabalistic Ashlag dynasty led by Reb Avrohom Gottleib

Geography & Climate

Telz-Stone is located approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) west of Jerusalem, just north of the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv highway. Neighboring Telz-Stone to the northeast is the friendly Arab town of Abu Ghosh. Telz-Stone is between 661.8 and 749.5 meters above sea level.

The climate is very similar to that of Yerushalyim but the winters are slightly milder. When it snows in Yerushalyim generally it will snow in Telz-Stone as well, but the snow fall is significantly less.