Yeshiva Etz Chaim Wilrijk
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Illustration for this preview, not a photograph of the yeshiva.
A tradition of Torah learning
The roots of Yeshiva Etz Chaim lie in Heide, near Antwerp, in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Isser Meisel and Yitzchak Burack, who had come from Argentina, helped establish it under Rabbi Shraga Feivel Shapira, a talmid of Kelm. Rabbi David Weingarten, who entered the yeshiva in 1932, left a detailed account of its early years. He describes Lithuanian-style learning alongside a Chassidic spirit and Western European manners. [1, 2]
The yeshiva drew students from Belgium, Holland, Germany, England and France. Weingarten describes a beis medrash shaped by Gemara, mussar and personal care for each talmid. Mesilas Yesharim held an important place in its learning. Rabbi Mordechai Pogermansky taught the advanced group; Rabbi Yosef Bigon served as mashgiach. Former student Rabbi David Moshe Lieberman also recalled these teachers in a 2017 interview. [2, 3]
Shabbos brought visitors from Antwerp and Holland, with tefillah, zemiros and the rosh yeshiva’s mussar talk at seudah shelishis. Older talmidim continued their learning in Mir and Telz. Weingarten also describes a diamond-cutting workshop for senior students and acceptance letters that helped students from Germany obtain Belgian visas in the 1930s. [2]
Weingarten records that by 1936 the growing yeshiva occupied five rented buildings. A larger building was planned, but the war prevented its completion. During the German occupation the yeshiva moved to Antwerp. Weingarten’s account describes Rabbi Shapira remaining with his talmidim and their murder in the Holocaust. This loss is part of the yeshiva’s history, alongside its later rebuilding. [1, 2]
After the war, Etz Chaim reopened in Kapellen under Rabbi Yitzchok Dov Koppelman. The Flemish heritage inventory dates the move to Wilrijk to 1961. Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Treger later led the yeshiva for decades; contemporary reports remember his Torah learning, warmth and care for his talmidim. A 2006 Antwerp dinner marked sixty years since the postwar reopening. [1, 4, 5]
Rabbi Eliezer Freifeld ztz"l taught Torah at Etz Chaim Wilrijk for decades. A Holocaust survivor who reached England as a child, he later learned at Gateshead and was a talmid of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler. The June 2024 obituary remembers his precise punctuality and his care for students who needed help, including talmidim from abroad whom he made feel at home. He authored Imrei Eliezer on the Pesach Haggadah and passed away on Shavuos in 2024. [6]
The Torah tradition continues with the rabbis teaching at Wilrijk, including Rabbi Eliyahu Aptergut, Rabbi Chaim Tirnauer and Rabbi Avraham Ehrentreu. Rabbi Ehrentreu also serves as rav of Beis Medrash Zichron Binyamin in Antwerp. Their individual pages include sources and further reading.
Historical note: the heritage record dates the founding to August 1929; Rabbi David Weingarten’s recollection describes the opening in summer 1931. The exact date needs confirmation. These sources do not support a history of more than 100 years as of 2026.
People in the history
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Rabbi Yitzchok Dov Koppelman
Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Treger
Rabbi Eliezer Freifeld ztz"lPhoto neededRabbi Eliyahu Eliezer DesslerPhoto neededRabbi Yitzchak Tuvia WeissPhoto neededRabbi Chaim Aryeh SpitzPhoto neededRabbi Yehoshua AtikThe yeshiva in Belgium
Steytelincklei 22-24
2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Address from school email signatures. Google Maps lists a different postal code.
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