Yarchei Kallah Sources

And if [the donations] are sent without a specific address, the two yeshivot [Sura and Pumbedita] split them equally. And this was their custom in dividing [the donations] - all that came to them was placed in the hands of a trustworthy person for the disbursal of the needs of the students who came from all over the world. These students would gather and come from their hometowns in the month of the Kallah, which is the month of Elul in the summer, and one [month - Adar] in the winter, and every one of the students had been learning and memorizing the masekhta which the Rosh HaYeshiva had told them to learn as they left in Adar for the five months which followed. He would say to them: “Such and such a masekhta we will explain in Elul.” Similarly, in Elul, he would say to them: “Such and such a masekhta we will learn in Adar.” And all would come and sit before the heads of the yeshivot in Adar and Elul. And the Rosh haYeshiva would ensure that they knew their masekhta properly, and he would test them...And when the Rosh HaYeshiva wished to test them in their knowledge, he would call them together for four weeks - all of the month of Adar - and he would sit, and the first row would recite before him and the rest of the rows would listen quietly. When they would reach a place in the text that required more explanation, they would speak [and debate the meaning of the text] between themselves, with the Rosh HaYeshiva listening and understanding their words. And afterwards he would read, and they knew that he had understood that they encountered difficulties in the places they had discussed. He would explain that masekhta and include in his words the true explanation of the difficulties they had raised in the texts. Sometimes he would ask them the meaning of a text, and they would defer to one another and give each other the honor of responding. No one would speak until they received permission from the Rosh HaYeshiva, and even then, after speaking their words, they would ask what the Rosh HaYeshiva thought. After hearing various explanations - each according to the responder’s wisdom - the Rosh HaYeshiva would expand on the words and explanations given and explain every halakhah and halakhah until everything was clear to everyone present. Once this was accomplished, the first row would stand up and explain to the rest of the crowd the true explanation, and the assemblage would reason and attempt to understand the explanation according to its exact meaning. And this is what they would do every single day of the month, until the fourth week. At this point they would call in the Sanhedrin [leadership and teachers of the Yeshiva] and all of the students, and the Rosh HaYeshiva would investigate, question, and test [the students] until he would discern those who were quicker than the others in their grasp and those who did not know the material so well. To those he was very harsh, he deducted from their set allowance, and rebuked and admonished them - but he also showed them the places in which they had been careless with their learning, and he would warn them that if such happened one more time - that is, not paying enough care to the learning - that his allowance would be cancelled. Therefore, they would ensure to memorize and understand well so that they would not stumble before him in a matter of halakhah, and none of the rows would leave until he would announce the masekhta which they would engage in studying [for the next term], everyone in their own home, and to the rest of the attendees he did not need to announce - rather each would read whichever masekhta he desired.