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A yeshiva (jəˈʃiːvə; ; pl. ישיבות, or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The studying is usually done through daily shiurim (lectures or classes) as well as in study pairs called chavrusas (Aramaic for 'friendship' or 'companionship'). Chavrusa-style learning is one of the unique features of the yeshiva. In the United States and Israel, different levels of yeshiva education have different names. In the U.S., elementary-school students enroll in a cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a metivta, and undergraduate-level students learn in a beit midrash or yeshiva gedola (). In Israel, elementary-school students enroll in a Talmud Torah or cheder, post-bar mitzvah-age students learn in a yeshiva ketana (), and high-school-age students learn in a yeshiva gedola. A kollel is a yeshiva for married men, in which it is common to pay a token stipend to its students. Students of Lithuanian and Hasidic yeshivot gedolot (plural of yeshiva gedola) usually learn in yeshiva until they get married. Historically, yeshivas were for men only. Today, all non-Orthodox yeshivas are open to females. Although there are separate schools for Orthodox women and girls, (midrasha or "seminary") these do not follow the same structure or curriculum as the traditional yeshiva for boys and men. Alternate spellings and names include yeshivah (jəˈʃiːvɑː; ישיבה, sitting (n.); metivta and mesivta (מתיבתא methivta); beth midrash; Talmudical academy, rabbinical academy and rabbinical school. The word yeshiva is applied to the activity of learning in class, and hence to a learning "session." The transference in meaning of the term from the learning session to the institution itself appears to have occurred by the time of the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Sura and Pumbedita, which were known as shte ha-yeshivot (the two colleges).

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