The yeshivah of Mir, founded by R. Samuel b. Hayyim Tiktinski in 1815 and directed by his son R. Abraham after his death, played a central role in the spiritual life of the community. From 1836 it was headed by R. Moses Abraham b. Joseph Ajzensztat and later by R. Hayyim Zalman Bresler, rabbi of the town, who resigned as the result of a dispute. From then on, the offices of town rabbi and rosh yeshivah were separated. From the 1880s, the rabbi was R. Yom Tov Lipman (R. Lipa). In 1903 he was succeeded by R. Elijah David Rabinowitz Teomim, who served until his aliyah to Erez Israel. The last rabbi of Mir was R. Abraham Zevi Kamai (from 1917 until the Holocaust). During World War I, the yeshivah of Mir was transferred to Poltava but returned to the town in 1921, and was then headed by R. Eliezer Judah Finkel.