The yeshiva was established by Rabbi Ernest Weill, chief rabbi of
Colmar, in
Neudorf,
Strasbourg in 1933. It was directed initially by Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, son of the eminent Talmudist,
Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. At its inception, the yeshiva was the only yeshiva in France and the first academy for talmudic studies – not a rabbinical training seminary – established in France since Napoleonic times. In 1938, Rabbi Wasserman emigrated to the United States, leaving the leadership of the yeshiva to Rabbi Chaim Yitzchak Chajkin, a disciple of
Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, the
Chofetz Chaim, and Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. Rabbi Chajkin was soon deported to Germany, and the yeshiva was forced to close its doors in 1939 until the end of
World War II. From the late 1940s, the yeshiva welcomed thousands of students from North Africa, especially Morocco and Tunisia. Numerous rabbinic figures have had a close association with the Yeshiva of Aix-les-Bains through repeated visits or lengthy sojourns, among them Rabbi Israel Abuhatzeira, the
Baba Sali, Rabbi
Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, Rabbi
Yitzhak Kaduri, Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, Rabbi Mordechai Pogramansky, Chief Rabbi of Morocco Rav Yedidia Monsonego, Rabbi
Yisroel Avrohom Portugal of
Skulen (Hasidic dynasty), and three generations of the rebbes of Pshevorsk. Since its inception, the yeshiva has drawn its students from 20 countries across Europe, North Africa, Israel, and beyond. The yeshiva has several educational divisions, including a
high school division featuring a full general studies curriculum accredited by the French Ministry of Education, in addition to its traditional yeshiva curriculum of Talmudic studies and Jewish law. == References ==