Valozyn

VaÅ‚ožyn also Valozhyn, Volozhin (Belarusian: ВалоÌ?жын, VaÅ‚ožyn; Russian: ВолоÌ?жин) is a town in the Minsk Province of Belarus. The population is 11,500 (1995). It is located at 54°5′N 26°31′E, 75 km northwest of Minsk, on VaÅ‚ožynka river.

Vałožyn was the site of the yeshiva (Talmudic seminary), the Volozhin yeshiva, founded in the early 19th century by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin and closed by the authorities in 1892. It spawned a large number of similar institutions in Belarus, Russia and Lithuania.