In the early 20th century, the great talmudic seminaries of the region Jews knew as Lithuania (corresponding roughly to Belarus today and to northeast Poland in the 1920s and 30s) were at their height. After World War I, they began to attract a sizeable number of students from America. Ben-Tsiyon Klibansky describes their experience:
Most of the American students were university graduates from middle-class families, and a few were the sons of congregational rabbis. They were different from their fellow students from Germany and the rest of [their Eastern Europe-born classmates] in their loudness, their lack of manners [in the eyes of the locals], and the way they spoke to their elders. Their absorption in the yeshiva was not easy. They were liable to experience culture shock as they encountered “primitive” conditions in the remote town where their yeshiva was located.
Their highest concentration was in [the renowned talmudic academy in the shtetl of] Mir, and an article that appeared in an American newspaper described their first [encounter with] this Polish town. “When they arrived in Mir, a place that does not even appear on a map, they had to change their entire way of life. Hot baths, sports facilities, cars, a pressed suit, and the theater—all these are unknown in Mir. . . . They especially suffered because they did not find clean bathrooms.”
After the initial pains of absorption, the American young men succeeded in adapting somewhat to this new way of life, and a change was even seen in their personalities and behavior. Their desire to succeed in their studies was strong, and their broad general knowledge helped them approach the talmudic material.
At one point, the Americans organized an informal game of football between classes—only for it to be quickly shut down by the somewhat bewildered rabbis.
Read more on Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/students-great-lithuanian-yeshivas