between 9 AM and 3 PM ... no night classes are allowed ... total hours of study per day may not exceed ten." Historian Shaul Stampfer and others maintain that the root of the problem was Rabbi Berlin's attempt to install his son as Rosh Yeshiva in the face of opposition. Russian government documents that have recently come to light seem to indicate that this was a consideration in the yeshiva's closure. Rabbi Refael Shapiro, the son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, reopened the yeshiva in 1899, albeit on a smaller scale. It remained open until World War II, and was re-established, also on a small scale, in Israel after the war. From 1886 through 1991, alumni of this yeshiva and their descendants ran a synagogue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York that carried the name of this yeshiva. Threat of repossession In 2000, the Valozhyn authorities returned the building to the Jewish Religious Union of Belarus, an Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization. In 2007, the government of Belarus threatened to repossess the building unless the community raised $20,000 in order to renovate it. The Jewish community in America took action and Agudath Israel raised money to restore the site. The yeshiva building is presently undergoing restoration through the partnership of Yad Yisroel and the Union of Religious Congregations of the Republic of Belarus. Gallery Notable alumni See also Vilna Rabbinical School and Teachers' Seminary References Bibliography External links Student portraits Photo of Volozhin yeshiva on the site Globe of Belarus (in Russian) City Portal of Volozhin Yad Yisroel Yeshiva Volozhin Renovation Volozhin Yeshiva in the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Belarus articles missing geocoordinate data Educational institutions established in 1803 Jewish Belarusian history Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire Orthodox Judaism in Belarus Valozhyn District Yeshivas of Belarus