 He learned for a short time in the Novardok yeshiva in Slonim, where he formed a close relationship with Yosef Yozel Horwitz (known as "the "Alter" of Novardok").In 1889, when Yaakov Yitzchak (Itzele) Rabinowitz was appointed "rosh yeshiva" at Slabodka, Trop returned to Slabodka to study under Rabinowitz.At the age of twenty-one, Trop became engaged to the daughter of Nosson Tzvi Finkel.