A large archive of documents from the Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch that I acquired recently relates to a factor that has very much shaped the American yeshiva world to this day. The Selective Service Act of 1948, followed shortly after by mandatory drafts during the Korean War and then the Vietnam War, required all American men between the ages of 18 and 25 be eligible to be drafted for a service requirement of 21 months. A notable exemption was made, though, for students to defer their conscription until completing their studies. This encouraged many otherwise hesitant young men to commit to study at recognized institutions.
The archive I acquired pertains to the students of the Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim, headed at the time by R. Shemaryahu Gurary. The collection contains the correspondence between the yeshiva and the Selective Service System offices and a folder for each of the students, containing the required information and letters sent to the SSS at regular intervals confirming their student status.
While the student body at many of the major American yeshivas was slowly growing in the post-war period, the Selective Service draft resulted in a great portion of the students continuing their studies indefinitely to avoid the draft. Many of these students would concurrently marry and have children, at which point other exemptions were often available. The result was a boon for the yeshivas, and the number of students achieving semichah at institutions such of Tomchei Tmimim, RIETS and Torah Vodaath grew exponentially during this era. It is believed by some that the current trend of many young men pursuing their Jewish studies post-high school for several years grew out of this era.
