Warsaw – A new Kollel in Warsaw, With 2 Members.

Warsaw – Seven decades after Warsaw’s renowned yeshivas were wiped out by the Nazis, a new Talmud study kollel has opened in the city as part of ongoing attempts to return Jewish life to Poland.

It only has two students, but the group behind the kollel says it’s merely a beginning.

Torah Mitzion, a 10-year-old, Jerusalem-based organization, has 34 “religious Zionist” kollels around the world and decided to launch its first in the former Eastern bloc.

Warsaw is perhaps an odd place for a kollel, a collective of scholars — usually married men — who spend their days learning Torah and studying Talmud. They are subsidized by the community.

Only about 5,000 Jews live in the Polish capital, and few are religiously observant.

“The idea is to bring Israel to communities with the hope that their identity will be strengthened,” said Michal Natan, an assistant to Torah Mitzion’s executive director.

Aside from its size, the Warsaw kollel is a bit different than most run by the group in cities like Moscow or London. Rather than study full-time, the kollelniks in Warsaw receive a $350 monthly stipend to study four hours per day, five days a week. On weekends, they and the Israeli rabbi who directs the kollel visit other Jewish communities in Poland to conduct Shabbaton seminars and teach classes. [jta]