His dream, however, was to establish a yeshivah in Tel Aviv
“This was the view of Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who was known as the Alter of Slabodka ztz”l. He recognized that this city [Tel Aviv] is the foundation of the new yishuv in Eretz Yisrael, which continues to grow, and that we must concern ourselves with instilling within it a spirit of emunah and Yiddishkeit for Hashem and His Torah. Immediately upon his arrival in Eretz Yisrael in 1925, he sought out ways to rectify the situation there. The population of Tel Aviv then stood at approximately 40,000, a figure Rav Nosson Tzvi would note was equal to the number of those who came from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael in the days of Ezra Hasofer, and we could not forsake such a large Jewish yishuv by not giving them a taste of Torah.”
—Rav Dov Katz in Yesodo shel Heichal Hatalmud
Due to his weakening physical condition, the Alter of Slabodka spent the last summer of his life in Tel Aviv. During that time, he gathered his talmidim, alumni, and other yeshivah students in the city for mussar shmuessen, and attempted to establish a beis mussar and organize nightly Gemara chaburos for the benefit of both his talmidim and city residents. His dream, however, was to establish a yeshivah in Tel Aviv. He felt this was imperative for the yeshivah community in Tel Aviv, and it would also have a positive spiritual impact on the largely secular population, and even serve as a beacon of light for the entire new yishuv.
The Alter passed away in 1927, and his beloved yeshivah in Chevron sustained the infamous massacre in the summer of 1929. Though much of the Chevron Yeshivah was ultimately reestablished in Jerusalem, some of the Alter’s older talmidim went on to build a branch of Slabodka in Tel Aviv. Talmidim of Slabodka in Chevron would often spend their summer intersession in Tel Aviv, and even prevailed upon young yeshivah students there to join them in Chevron. Several older alumni had married and settled down there as well, thereby strengthening the Slabodka presence in the city.
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