Kovno

Kovno (today, Kaunas - formerly Kowno in Polish), is the second largest city in Lithuania, with 400,000 inhabitants. See http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Kaunas.

The rabbinical school of Yeshiva University in New York City – the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (founded in 1896) – was named for Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, the famous rabbi of Kovno, Lithuania. (http://www.jbuff.com/c090904.htm)

Slobodka -The Slabodker Yeshiva

The town of Slobodka (Slabodka in Yiddish), which lay on the banks of the River Vilya, across from the much bigger Kovno, was a very poor town. (http://www.onforeignsoil.com/chapter27.htm)

Elul in Slabodka: From the Diary of Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan zt"l - In my youth, the person we respected most was the Alter from Slabodka (Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel). (http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/elul.htm)

Born in Kupishok, in north central Lithuania, Rabbi Ehraim Oshry studied at the Slobodka yeshiva, one of the most prominent institutions of advanced Talmudic learning in prewar Europe. As a young rabbi in Kovno, he held secret nightly worship service and helped preserve other forms of religious observance, including the baking of matzah, after the ghetto was established. (http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8546&print=yes)

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