Rabbi (Moreinu Ha Rav) Elyashiv Shtaigging - Learning - Rare Vide

Harav Chaim Kanievsky Shlit''a and his wife Rebbetzin Batsheva Esther Kanievsky A''H visiting the Rebbetzin's father, Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Zt''l on sukkos in his sukkah

A Day In The Life Of A Gadol - Tribute To The Posek Hador Maran Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Zt''l

A One-Man Supreme Court Why a quarter of a million people turned out to mourn Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who died on July 18, 2012, at the age of 102, never graduated from any yeshiva, never had any degrees, or a lot of money. The one formal position he did hold, working as a rabbi and later serving as a judge on the Supreme Rabbinical Court for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, he walked away from over a matter of principle: He thought that the chief rabbi at that time was issuing a wrong decision on a matter of Jewish law, and so he resigned.

And yet, Elyashiv was generally regarded as the final arbiter of his generation, a one-man Supreme Court in all matters of halakhah and communal policy for a large segment of the non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodox communities in both America and Israel. And like the Supreme Court, his jurisdiction ran to all cases arising under this Set of Laws, in law, and equity, and because Jewish law is so encompassing, beyond into the areas of proper and ethical behavior as well. What made Elyashiv’s analysis so brilliant, and what made his decisions so compelling to read even if you do not agree with his worldview, was profound simplicity. His judicial style was to break big questions into little ones and then to seek the most compelling answer to the littlest question and to build from there, until the right answer to the biggest question appeared obvious—as if all Elyashiv had done was to show you what you already must have known. In an age of flashy comparisons and analogies within Jewish law, Elyashiv’s decisions were presented in a way that often seemed to just be the straightest line between two points; they were clear, with no extraneous material, and left you with hardly any questions to ask or points to argue with.

While it is true that we have elements and examples of many different kinds of leadership in Jewish history and culture, from the traditional inherited authority of the Kings of Israel down to the current Hasidic dynasties, and from the charismatic leadership styles of Abraham down to (in the last generation, for instance) the dynamism of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, one of the interesting facts that distinguishes Judaism as a religion is our preference for, and reliance on, the third type of leader, the rational-legal authority; the jurisprude. From Moses, the Lawgiver, and down; from Rabbi Judah HaNasi, redactor of the Mishna, to Maimonides and Rabbi Yosef Karo (the author of the Shulchan Aruch), these individuals have been among our nation’s greatest heroes. And while this kind of leadership is not uncommon in a legal or political setting (see for instance Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and his impact on American society), it is somewhat unique in religious life. Whether or not you agree with any one or all of Elyashiv’s numerous halakhic rulings, his life is a testament to a real and important kind of Jewish leadership.

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Elyashiv was a quiet man, one who spent his life thinking through complex problems and offering solutions to a public that eagerly awaited them—not because of his noble lineage, and not because he was a particularly dynamic and engaging speaker, but simply because his answers were so often correct and helpful to his community. Consider for example the issue of gender separation on Haredi buses; some favored forcing such separation, and some opposed such separation. Elyashiv’s view was almost unique: Jewish law mandated such separation, he said, but no one was to be coerced into separating if they chose not to do so on their own.

There is no test to take to become such a manager and no appointment process to become such a judge; his was purely a position of unappointed trust, given by a community, and built up over decades of listening carefully to questions and giving answers that were reliably correct. His rulings were never enforced by any executive branch, and he was never provided with a car and driver or a bodyguard to protect him. He publicly decried violence or coercive measures, even when it came to protecting the religious values he held so dear; to force someone to listen to him was the antithesis of his leadership style. He thought that his job was to show people the right way to live by dint of logical persuasion and factual correctness. And, not incidentally, he worked very, very hard. From his youth until just a few months before his death at 102, Elyashiv spent almost all his waking hours engaged in the serious study of Jewish law: Unlike other great rabbinic personalities of his generation, there are no pictures of him on vacation, because he seemed not to have taken any. He appeared to be a living embodiment of the argument that sweat and toil do pay off—no politics, and little charisma, is needed.

From a historical perspective, it is worth noting several things about his life and legacy. Elyashiv sat on nearly every case in the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel in its early years of existence, and it was his jurisprudential approach that helped establish that court and its methodologies. Elyashiv in fact had two, full-length 40-year careers: His stint for the Chief Rabbinate wasn’t a quick or youthful fling; he was a judge until the age of 65 before he shifted gears and became a global religious leader. The closest analogy one can find in U.S. history is President and Chief Justice Taft, who managed to pull the switch in reverse. To do both, and do both in peerless fashion, is the stuff of legend.

As a judge, Elyashiv believed in hearing cases and resolving matters rather than using cases to score points. Indeed, one of the first cases that catapulted him to fame is still widely read and discussed today. Published in 1957 (3 PDR 3, 5717), it dealt with a Yemenite girl who arrived in Israel after having been betrothed by her mother in Yemen to a man who subsequently converted to Islam. In Israel, her status was officially that of an aguna, a wife trapped in marriage, which meant that she could not marry again. Rabbi Elyashiv, in what was widely hailed as a penetrating and profound opinion, found a technical way out of the marriage, ruling that because the girl’s father had not been present and she was too young to agree herself to the marriage—she was perhaps 11, though no one knew her precise age—the marriage was annulled. This case, still widely cited, established the practice of the rabbinical courts that de facto marriages would not be considered valid in the rabbinical courts of Israel.

Elyashiv was judicially conservative. Changes in the status quo needed to be explained more readily than preservation of the historical rules. Thus, he resisted liberalizing conversion standards to address the reality of Russian immigration to Israel and rejected directly the argument that the establishment of the state of Israel itself changed at all the fidelity to Jewish law that a convert needed to undertake.

As a leader and policymaker he was not closed off to a changing world; he understood that technological change was inevitable, and even very late in his life he sought to be up to date on changes driven by modernization. His regular writing on different aspects of technology and Jewish law reflected a realization that technological change was part and parcel of the present and needed to be analyzed.

Particularly as he grew older, he became a sharp critic of a liberal reexamination of Jewish family law and sought to enhance the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts—in their political battles with the secular courts of Israel—by reviving the doctrines of coerced divorce. Although we ourselves find ourselves very clearly on the other side of this technical matter of Jewish law, this too was part of Elyashiv’s jurisprudence; he passionately believed that the rabbinical courts were central to the religious life of the community and encouraged fierce resistance to political meddling in religious law.

Indeed, Elyashiv remained for his entire life an active and influential member in Israeli politics, with nuanced and complex positions on land for peace, and many other matters. In the end, his life is a testament to the idea that Jewish leadership need not be about self-enrichment or getting votes, and can instead reward those capable of applying ancient truths to new realities. May his memory be for a blessing.

AISH: A Portrait of Greatness; Who was Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv?

Last week, over 300,000 people flocked the streets of Jerusalem to mourn the passing of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, age 102. Rabbi Elyashiv was the undisputed leader of the Lithuanian Torah community and to a great degree his legal rulings were respected across the board in Chassidic, Sefardi, and Modern Orthodox communities around the world. He was viewed by many to be the contemporary leading authority on halacha, Jewish law. Despite his exceptional scholarship and influence, Rav Elyashiv was neither the head of a congregation, yeshiva, or particular community.

Destined for Greatness

Rav Elyashiv was the son of Rabbi Avraham Erener and Chaya Musha, the daughter of the kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv known as the Leshem. Born in 1910 in Šiauliai, Lithuania, Rav Elyashiv was the only child, born to his parents after 17 years of marriage. He arrived with them to British Mandate Palestine in 1922 at the age 12. His father adopted his father-in-law's surname, Elyashiv, in order to gain a certificate to enter the country at the advice of the famed Chofetz Chaim of Rodin, Poland.

At the time of his death, Rav Elyashiv had nearly 1,000 descendants and had seen the birth of a sixth generation of offspring.

In 1929, Rav Elyashiv married Sheina Chaya Levin, the daughter of the esteemed “Tzaddik of Jerusalem,” Rabbi Aryeh Levin, also known affectionately as the "father of the prisoners" due to the care he showed to the Jewish underground members incarcerated by the British during the Mandate period. The couple had 12 children – all of whom were raised in their modest two room apartment in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Meah Shearim. At the time of his death, Rav Elyashiv had nearly 1,000 descendants and had seen the birth of a sixth generation of offspring when one of his great-great-grandchildren gave birth to a son in 2009.

Although Rav Elyashiv never attended a formal yeshiva framework, he was recognized as a genius in Talmud study at a young age. He was appointed as a Rabbinic Court Judge (dayan) to the High Court of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel by Israel’s Chief Rabbi at the time, Rav Yitzchak Herzog – who exempted him from the rabbinical examinations due to his high level of scholarship. He resigned from this position in 1972 and for the next 40 years of his life, held no official positions. Although he never wrote any Torah works, his family members and students wrote down numerous volumes of his halachic rulings and Talmudic insights, while he devoted all of his time to his incessant studies and daily lectures.

Although Rav Elyashiv was the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah political party for the past 30 years, he only entered politics at the behest of the great Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Menachem Mann Shach. He personally despised politics and only agreed to get involved because he felt that he was genuinely needed, as it says in Ethics of Our Fathers, “In a place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader.”

“He had one interest – to help the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein, the rabbi of the Maalot Dafna neighborhood of Jerusalem and a close disciple of Rav Elyashiv. “He had no ulterior motives or personal interests.”

Related Article: Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv: Man of Truth & Tranquility

Maximizing Every Single Moment

For the past 80₊ years since his wedding, Rabbi Elyashiv's daily schedule began at 2 a.m. and included anywhere between 16 to 20 hours of intensive Torah study – despite the fact that he was stricken with several illnesses throughout his childhood and adult life. On one occasion, members of his household noticed that he had been standing during his learning and asked why he did not sit down. He answered that since he was tired, he feared that he may drowse while learning. If he stood, he would be sure not to doze off. Rav Elyashiv used to receive visitors from around the globe on a daily basis in addition to leading rabbis and politicians of Israel, answering their complex halachic inquiries. Despite his advanced age and illness, he continued responding to questions from rabbis around the world with total lucidity until the very end. Even when he was sick in hospital, he continued to rise at 2:00 a.m. for his regular studies.

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Rabbi Hillel Weinberg with Rav Elyashiv, zt”l

For many years, Rabbi Hillel Weinberg, the Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah, would visit Rav Elyashiv almost every week, on Friday afternoons. Rav Elyashiv would receive people about an hour before the beginning of Shabbat, usually in the synagogue, where he would sit and study without interruption all day. “I always tried to arrive a little earlier than his official ‘office hours’ to watch him learn aloud,” Rav Hillel said. “Although he usually studied alone, he would explain the Gemara to himself, out loud, as if he were sitting with a study partner. He embodied the fulfillment of all the 48 Ways to wisdom which facilitate the acquisition of Torah, with an ear that listens, with lips that explain, and learning by teaching.

“He was meticulous about utilizing every moment of the day to study Torah, even during the hours he would receive people. When one person would leave the room and the next entered, Rav Elyashiv’s eyes would be on the page of the book before him, and his attention was wholly on the subject that he was presently studying to such an extent that one could stand before him for several minutes until he noticed that someone had come into the room.”

Every word of Torah was so dear to him that he never forgot it.

In his classes and writings he often quoted obscure texts entirely from memory. “If you have so much love for something, your brain remembers,” Rabbi Eisenstein explained. “Every word of Torah was so dear to him that he never forgot it. The only pleasure he had in this world was learning Torah.”

Whenever he issued a legal ruling, he made sure to examine the issue from all possible sides. When dealing with a question of technology he would always assign experts to research the situation in depth, so as to assure himself that he fully understood the facts before ruling.

The Wisdom of Silence

Despite his busy learning schedule, Rav Elyashiv used to meet with dozens, if not hundreds of people a day from every walk of life. Many were world renowned rabbis or politicians. “He would welcome all who came to him, treating them kindly and respectfully, and patiently answering any questions without hurrying the person who had come to seek his advice,” Rav Hillel recalled. “He also always gave priority to women and their questions.”

He made a point to never try to argue with someone unless he felt his opinion might be heeded. There are those who say that he attributed his long life to the fact that he never got angry. “He never told anyone what to do,” Rabbi Eisenstein said. “If anyone asked his opinion, he would gladly tell them, but if someone came to argue with him, he always remained silent. He never raised his voice, never gave people admonishment, and never insulted anyone. Even if he disagreed with something someone said, he wouldn’t say they were wrong unless he knew that they wanted to hear his opinion. Many people left a meeting with him thinking that he agreed with them even though he was vehemently opposed, simply because he remained silent. Why try to convince someone of something if he knew they wouldn’t listen? He spoke only when he felt he could make a difference.”

There was one exception to this rule: his students. “He was very demanding from his students and never supported them in something that he disagreed with,” Rabbi Eisenstein continued. “He didn’t cover up for their mistakes and he was fast to tell them if he felt that they were wrong because he knew that they wanted him to guide them.”

One time, someone accidentally pushed into the Rav at a crowded event. The man was devastated and asked for permission to request forgiveness from the Rav. Rav Elyashiv’s response was that he didn’t feel a thing and therefore there was nothing to ask forgiveness for. He knew that even if he forgave the man, that he would still feel bad, so instead he acted as if the incident had never even happened.

Gratitude for Life

Eight years ago, a vein in his heart burst, and the doctors said there were two options: if they operated on him, the chances of success were only three percent. If the surgery were not performed, he would live no longer than three days. The decision had to be made there and then, on a Shabbat. The Rav’s relatives travelled to his son-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in Bnei Brak on Shabbat, to hear his opinion on the matter, and he ruled that in the meantime, nothing should be done. On Saturday night, they found out about a specialist from the U.S. who could take care of the matter without anesthesia and surgery. The doctor, together with all his instruments, was flown to Israel and, miraculously, the treatment was successful. Everyone could see that God had answered the prayers of those hundreds of thousands who had prayed for Rav Elyashiv’s recovery.

He defied medical statistics again and again and attributed his recovery to the prayers of the Jewish people around the world.

“He defied medical statistics again and again,” Rabbi Eisenstein said. “There were many times that the doctors gave up, but he always pulled through. He attributed his recovery to the prayers of the Jewish people around the world.”

The Rav used to receive numerous invitations to serve as the sandek, or godfather, at circumcision ceremonies each day, but he traditionally only made rare exceptions to take time off from his busy schedule. After his miraculous recovery eight years ago, however, he began accepting every single offer that came to him. For the last eight years of his life he often attended three to five circumcision ceremonies each day – even when he was too sick to attend prayer services in synagogue. “He felt tremendous gratitude to the Jewish people for praying for him and wanted to pay back a minimum by becoming more accessible,” Rabbi Eisenstein said. “Although it was difficult for him to walk or even go to synagogue to pray – he still accepted each invitation. He had given them his word that he would attend, and his word was set in stone.”

Rabbi Elyashiv didn’t want to accept gifts from anyone. Each year, Rabbi Eisenstein used to bring him a set of the four species for the holiday of Sukkot. Rav Elyashiv used to force him to accept a check in return for them. When he saw that the checks weren’t being deposited, he started giving cash.

A world renowned heart specialist from America used to check him whenever he was in Israel, but refused to take any money. Rav Elyashiv didn’t understand that this was the doctor’s greatest honor of his career. At the Bar Mitzvah of the doctor’s son, Rav Elyashiv had someone buy him a huge, beautiful leather bound set of books on his behalf. He was so happy to be able to finally pay him back. On the inside cover of one of the books, he wrote a handwritten inscription. “It was probably the best present that the boy got,” Rabbi Eisenstein said, “but Rav Elyashiv didn’t realize that the greatest part about it was the inscription!”

Rav Elyashiv’s wish was that no eulogies be recited at his funeral and that he be buried at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery alongside his wife, despite the fact that a burial plot was reserved for him at the Mount of Olives – the traditional burial place for renowned Torah luminaries. This is testament, once again, to the fact that this Torah giant and leader of the Jewish people saw himself as nothing more than a simple Jew.

Lipa Schmeltzer Sings For Rav Elyashiv Zt"l 98th Birthday

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv: Man of Truth & Tranquility

The pillar of Torah Jewry, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, passed away today at the age of 102. Until a few months ago, he was still active, the world-recognized authority on Jewish law and acknowledged leader of the non-Chassidic Torah community.

Of the many great Jewish personages in the last era, he is probably the most difficult and enigmatic to describe to anyone who is not himself an active Torah scholar of the old school. It is easy for us to relate to acts of kindness and empathy as acts of spirituality. But the concept of Torah study in and of itself and the person who embodies those qualities is something that simply cannot be grasped by those who have never experienced or at least seen it.

When I arrived in Israel in 1970, Rav Elyashiv was still very accessible. He lived (until his demise) in a tiny, two-room apartment off Meah Shearim Street. He would study in a secluded synagogue nearby. The door was usually locked, but tiptoeing at a window one could peer in and watch him study hour after hour. He would gently sway, read over the words clearly and calmly, and reason back and forth out loud. He would be focused and oblivious to anything going on outside. There would be regular hours for the public to come and present questions and problems. Once a day he would deliver a lecture for lay people at a nearby synagogue.

Maimonides writes in his Guide to the Perplexed that while it is true that we are enjoined to emulate God in our actions, i.e. just as He is kind and merciful, so are we to be kind and merciful, it is even more important to emulate God as regards the “motive” for His kindness. Just as God’s kindness and benevolence is directed by His wisdom and by His determination of what is the right course of action, so too perfection in man requires him to act out of wisdom and truth, rather than passion and sentiment.

Rav Elyashiv was the embodiment of this noblest form of emulating God. He was first and foremost a man of the mind and a person of study. He was not naturally extraordinarily brilliant, but his intense love for truth and study stemmed from the very core of his being. He was always calm, focused and thought out. It was only after going through a careful judgment process and determining the truth that he would allow some emotional inflection into his response.

Asking him a question was a profound experience in searching for the truth. He would listen, focused and thoughtful. He did not display impatience, but his presence did not encourage idle prattle. With a few short comments, he would do away with the unimportant points of the narrative, and ferret out points not presented. He would think a moment or two, and the response would be laconic and to the point, not missing any words, yet not excess verbiage.

Sometimes a person would try to argue, this way and that way, especially if it represented some difficulty for him. Rav Elyashiv had a way of opening his hands in simple query, as if to say, “But two plus two still equals four, doesn’t it?” You could feel your contrivances fall away.

A brilliant friend of mine once presented to him a Talmudic argument. Rav Elyashiv listened, and commented, “Brilliant, but you do know that this is not what’s meant by the text.”

What made his lectures and responsa unique were not brilliant flashes, deep hair-splitting or voluminous quotes. Rather they were unfailingly “the straightest line between two points.” When one studies it, one is confounded by how obvious it should have been. Whatever he personally wrote was clear, concise and devoid of any personal interdiction.

He did not like things that were contrived or pretentious.

He did not like things that were contrived or pretentious. I once asked him about taking on a particularly popular stringency. He answered softly, “Why doesn’t following the letter of the law suffice?”

I once asked him about a particular obligation that our community wished to undertake for the sake of piety, but may impact some people negatively. He replied, “Piety that impacts people negatively is highly suspect.”

He was totally apolitical, though he has been painted to the contrary. By political I mean looking at the end to justify means. In politics one pays lip service to something he does not much believe in order to gain something more significant that one fervently believes in. One takes positions out of loyalty rather than out of true belief. One speaks in hyperbole in order to gain the public approval.

Rav Elyashiv looked at each point as it came up and opined accordingly. In videos of him meeting with people with whose general positions he agreed, he would not be automatically giving sweeping approvals. He would nod in assent at points that he agreed with, and would shrug away things that he felt were questionable, no matter how passionate the presentation. He was sometimes lambasted by the “right wing” (e.g., when he was part of the official rabbinate, or when he gave his approval to a certain halachically acceptable method of building a road on a graveyard), and many times by the left wing. Not only didn’t it faze him; it did not interest him in the least. Public opinion is not the determinant of right and wrong.

He never gave a public speech. He did not understand why words were needed to tell people to do what’s right or to refrain from wrong. Right is right and wrong is wrong.

He did not like to appear at public events. The hullabaloo of the events was anathema to him, and the precious time taken away from the study of Torah was unforgivable.

He was the embodiment of pure and simple truth and tranquility.

The great scholar, the Chazon Ish, once wrote words about himself that aptly describe Rav Elyashiv. An issue was stirring up the religious community in Israel, and an impassioned letter begged the Chazon Ish to become personally involved in some protest. He replied, “The heart of every Torah Jew resonates with the emotion you have so passionately expressed. But as for me, having spent a lifetime toiling in Torah study under the most difficult of circumstances, I have become accustomed to weighing my actions with the scales of my mind (rather than the passions of my heart) and I cannot join you.”

The wicked person is described as “raging in turmoil like the seas,” while the righteous know of peace and tranquility. When a person’s actions are determined by untamed drives and passions, and impulsive sentiment and emotion, he can know no tranquility. But the righteous man, who weighs his actions with the scales of truth and reason, and does not allow himself to be swayed by self-interest desire, is the happy and tranquil tzaddik.

Rav Elyashiv’s name was “Yosef Shalom,” literally meaning “increase of peace/tranquility.” When one would see him walk in the street, he would immediately feel the presence of greatness. Tall and slender, walking straight – yet no sense of self or arrogance – forehead furrowed in thought, proceeding calmly yet swiftly to his destination, without allowing his gaze to wander.

Talking with him allowed you for a brief moment to share a sense of pure and simple truth, and the calm and tranquility that is the lot of these men of unvarnished truth.

At a political rally in 5769 the Belzer Rebbe surrounded by misnagdim announces that he is only speaking because he was told by R' Elyashiv

The ascetic who controlled the lives of the haredim

From his modest apartment, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ran the lives of the Lithuanian haredim and made important political decisions • A man of contradictions, he ruled out army service but was sensitive to soldiers • He made few public statements, but even rabbis who did not belong to his community obeyed him • Followers describe him as “the generation’s leader,” but only days after his death, the war over the succession has begun.

Yehuda Schlezinger

Pious and uncompromising. The late Rabbi Elyashiv.  |  Photo credit: Archives

Wednesday evening, bus stations in Bnei Brak. Thousands of haredim (ultra-Orthodox) are waiting for buses to Jerusalem, hoping to attend the funeral of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, “the generation’s leader,” who died on Tuesday at the age of 102.

A group of yeshiva students waits for a bus, frustration evident. “Look what a mess this is,” says one of them. “Everything’s ruined. Where you live, you’d call it chaos. The rabbi is dead, the terror attack in Burgas and even public transportation is collapsing, and it’s all because of the law mandating the draft for haredim. If you think that there’s no connection between these things, you’re very wrong.”

Elyashiv was the leader of the Lithuanian haredi community and the highest-ranking rabbi in Israel. From his modest home in Jerusalem, with hard-line positions on issues of Jewish religious law and almost without opening his mouth, he toppled governments and put together coalitions, led important haredi struggles, directed the decisions of high-ranking rabbis and was responsible for almost every issue of religion and state on the current agenda.

He was born in 1910 in the Lithuanian city of Siauliai, the scion of a well-known rabbinic dynasty. He was an only child, born after 17 years of marriage. When he was 13, his family came to Israel and settled in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood. At 20, he married Sheina Chaya, a daughter of Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the well-known “rabbi of the prisoners” during the British Mandate era. From then on, he lived in the same modest, old apartment at 10 Hanan Street, where he and his wife had 12 children.

His relatives say proudly that he has more than a thousand descendants. He is one of the few people who lived to see a fifth generation of offspring — a grandchild of a great-grandchild — though he did not know most of his descendants personally.

‘Even his most zealous opponents respected him’

Two of his children died young under tragic circumstances. His daughter Rivkah was killed by Jordanian shelling during the 1948 War of Independence, and his son Yitzhak died shortly after he was born. Afterward, three other daughters died: Shoshana Zilberstein, Leah Auerbach and Batsheva Kanievsky. It is said that he never mentioned Rivkah and her unborn child at home, as part of the absolute self-control that was one of his most outstanding traits.

Among his followers are pragmatic people, at least as much as he was, including Rabbi Dov Halbertal. But he, too, uses the superlatives of haredi language as he explains from where Elyashiv drew his strength. Halbertal speaks of “an enormous influence on the entire world” and “the first time in Jewish history that all the various Jewish communities agreed upon one person, and everybody recognized him as the greatest of the generation.”

Halbertal continues with his praises: “He led the Jewish people because he was compelled to. Even Rabbi Ovadia Yosef [the spiritual leader of the Shas political party] recognized his greatness. There were instances when Rabbi Ovadia submitted to his dictates and religious rulings. Even his most zealous opponents, who had to oppose him ideologically, were full of respect for him.”

Unlike other prominent rabbis, Elyashiv never gave speeches or classes. He never expressed himself in public. He did not attend political conventions or other public forums, nor did he head any well-known yeshiva. Very few people actually heard him speak.

Elyashiv began his public career as the rabbi of the city of Ramle. His reputation as a Halachic decisor with rare abilities reached then Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog. Wishing to add to the existing number of religious judges in Israel, Herzog appointed Elyashiv to the rabbinical court in the Jerusalem region. From there it was only a short step to the national rabbinical court.

The first incident in which Elyashiv was publicly involved was the conversion of Helen Zeidman at the beginning of the 1970s. Zeidman, a Christian who grew up in Maryland and developed close ties with the Jewish community, underwent a Reform conversion. She later immigrated to Israel and asked to be registered at the Interior Ministry as a Jew.

When Zeidman was turned down by the clerks at the ministry, which was then controlled by the National Religious Party, she petitioned the High Court of Justice. Then Attorney-General Meir Shamgar recommended that the state recognize Reform conversions — and created a coalition crisis.

Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who was then the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel, was asked by Prime Minister Golda Meir to resolve the issue. When he investigated, he found that there was nothing to prevent Zeidman from undergoing an Orthodox conversion. For this purpose, he convened a special rabbinical court. Goren hoped to protect the rabbinate and avoid a situation in which the High Court of Justice would set a precedent that would grant approval to the Reform movement.

While the main part of the media dispute took place between rabbis Goren and Yosef, the judges of the national rabbinical court recalled later that they had received instructions from Elyashiv as to how to invalidate the conversion process. This was done by mentioning again and again that Zeidman lived on a non-religious kibbutz, Nahal Oz. In the end, the war led by Elyashiv failed. Zeidman’s conversion was recognized not only by the Interior Ministry but also by most of the rabbinical establishment, including Yosef.

Several years later, a major rift came between the state’s official institutions and Elyashiv. A brother and a sister each found themselves prevented from marrying their respective fiances because they had been declared mamzerim, the Jewish legal designation for the children of prohibited unions (such as adultery or incest). Goren was asked to examine the problem. The siblings were considered mamzerim because their mother had apparently not been divorced from her first husband before she remarried and had the children. It was learned that the first husband, whom she had married abroad, had been an unconverted non-Jew who had been listed as a convert due to pressure from the woman’s haredi family.

Goren ruled that because the first husband was not a convert, the first marriage was invalid and therefore the children from the woman’s second marriage were not mamzerim.

But in this instance the haredi establishment, unable to back down or admit its error, waged war. Elyashiv quit the national rabbinical court as a result, and some say that this was when his opinions on issues of religion and state solidified under the slogan, “Respect them and suspect them, with the emphasis on suspect them.”

In 1988, Elyashiv began his official public involvement in Israel when he accepted Rabbi Elazar Shach’s invitation to serve as one of the leaders of the Degel Hatorah political party. There, too, Elyashiv continued to stand out with his unequivocal religious rulings, and mainly his influence on life in Israel.

‘He was like a fortified wall’

In 1999, Elyashiv decided that his people would join the left-wing coalition that Ehud Barak had formed with Meretz to prevent yeshiva students from being drafted to the army. Several weeks later, he instructed his people to leave the government in the wake of the “Turbine Affair,” in which the Israel Electric Corporation transported an enormous generator on the Sabbath to prevent the blocking of traffic routes on a weekday.

Elyashiv was sharply criticized for instructing his people to join Ariel Sharon’s government against the background of disengagement. His people said that he had instructed his representatives to vote in favor of postponing it. Right-wing officials claim that he agreed that Degel Hatorah would enter the coalition after he received a promise that core curriculum subjects would not be taught in haredi schools. Accusations of political bribery were also made against him.

“To think that the rabbi would have agreed to allow such subjects in haredi schools is twisted,” Halbertal says. “There’s no question about it. All the education ministers think that they can impose the core curriculum on the haredi sector, but they’re very wrong indeed. He would not have allowed it to be touched. He was like a fortified wall.”

The issue of the core curriculum was not the only subject in which Elyashiv was involved. “He definitely had the greatest influence on relations between the haredi and non-religious populations. With a word he could get 400,000 people out into the street — one example of this is the demonstration against the Supreme Court and the rallies in support of the prisoners from Emanuel,” said Halbertal, recalling the uproar about the discrimination against Sephardic girls in the haredi school there.

Elyashiv’s politics were also clear. “The rabbi was not a man of war, but a man of peace who could assess the political situation on the ground. One of the things that disturbed him was the situation with Iran. He also understood our dependence upon the United States,” says Halbertal.

“While the rabbi was firmly opposed to army service, he was careful to show sensitivity to the soldiers. When he was asked during the Second Lebanon War whether yeshiva students could go on summer vacation with things as they were at the time, he wisely said, ‘Go to hospitals, see the wounded soldiers and then you decide what should be done.’”

But Elyashiv was not quick to participate in every struggle. According to a close associate, “The public can tell when the struggle is important to the rabbi and when it is not. They asked him to sign a call to protest against the parade of abomination [the Gay Pride Parade], but he thought that it was not a good idea to give that subject publicity. It was clear that he could not refuse to sign, and when I asked him whether the yeshiva should be closed and the students sent out to demonstrate, he said, ‘Protest at home.’”

Zionism was a particularly sensitive subject for Elyashiv. “While the rabbi had no good word to say about Zionist values, he accepted the concept of dina demalkhuta dina [the Talmudic concept that the law of the state is binding and must be obeyed] in everything that had to do with running the country well, such as taxes, land law and such,” Halbertal said.

“He opposed anything that might cause a decline in piety, and feared that mixing with the non-religious world would cause that. It sounds aggressive, and it needs to be said that he respected every human being as a human being and behaved respectfully toward the high-ranking figures who came to visit him, such as President Shimon Peres. But he was completely opposed to idea of relationships between religious and non-religious people.”

And now — the war over the succession

In recent months, Elyashiv was hospitalized with his final illness. During that time, dramatic and even historic incidents occurred in the haredi community. The first was the ruling by the High Court of Justice that the state must allocate funds to non-Orthodox rabbis, an event that occurred quietly, with no large demonstrations, but only a small protest in the haredi press. The second incident that might be described as historic is the confrontation over the haredi draft.

The dramatic issue that can already be felt on the ground, and will have a strong effect on issues of religion and state and on relations between the haredi and the non-religious populations is the question of who will succeed Elyashiv. The two main candidates, whose names have come up only secretly over the past several months (out of respect for Elyashiv) are Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach of Jerusalem and the elderly Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman of Bnei Brak.

During Elyashiv’s absence from public life, Shteinman's control over the haredi world grew stronger thanks, among other things, to his close connections with representatives of United Torah Judaism and Shas.

The choice of Shteinman as a successor is very significant. Shteinman advocates a “quieter” policy. He is not militant and is not quick to participate in excommunications or large demonstrations. Several weeks ago, he met with Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, with whom he discussed the planned rabbis’ demonstration against the decision to allocate funds to non-Orthodox Jewish movements. During the conversation, Shteinman mentioned the legend about the plague of frogs in Egypt before the Exodus. According to this legend, the more the frogs were struck, the more they multiplied. He used this story when he came out against public demonstrations and protests, which would only give such movements more status and publicity.

Because of his unique approach, extremist elements connected to groups within the Edah Haredit put up posters against him containing the ultimate insult: “Reform Jew.”

His approach has not won him the unanimous support of the Lithuanian stream. Haredi elements connected to various well-known rabbis even say that the Lithuanian stream may split. “To the non-religious, all the haredim are the same, but there are actually extremely significant differences among them. It’s not far-fetched to say that we may see one Lithuanian group in control in Jerusalem and another Lithuanian group in control in Bnei Brak,” Halbertal says.

However, he believes that when it comes to “crucial decisions” like the draft, Shteinman will be the one to set the tone. “He is easier for the non-religious to take,” Halbertal says. “For Rabbi Elyashiv, the issue of allocating funds to Reform Jews would never have gone by quietly. He would have ordered a protest immediately. Rabbi Shteinman's approach is different, and that will affect everything that has to do with issues of religion and state.”

LAZERBEAMS: The Nine Days and Licking our Wounds

The closer we get to Moshiach, the more Hashem is exposing previously concealed things. In other words, the truth is becoming more apparent daily.
People often ask me, how does one differentiate between a true Jew and a person with the spiritual makeup of erev rav (the tag-alongs that attached themselves to our people during the Exodus from Egypt and who initiated the Golden Calf fiasco)? Up until now, discerning between the two has been difficult. But, events in recent years reveals exactly who the erev rav are:
1. No Jew would force another Jew to lose his home, especially in the Land of Israel. Only the erev rav would do that.
2. No Jew would clamor for another Jew to go to jail because the latter truly devotes his life to learning Torah. Disdain of Torah is also another clear sign of erev rav.
Rav Elyashiv of saintly and blessed memory (image left courtesy ofjpost.com) left the physical world yesterday. We, the Jewish people, are licking a painful wound. The Rav zatza"l was surely a sacrifice for the World of Torah, which so many petty, self-serving, miniscule politicians yearning for notoriety have decided to attack in recent weeks. It's truly amazing how the same party and politicians that initiated the devastating disengagement and destruction of Jewish Gaza, known popularly as Gush Katif, are the ones who have been demanding fierce sanctions including jail sentences for Torah learners who desire to cling to Torah. These are without a doubt the erev ravwithin our midst.
Do not take the passing of Rav Elyashiv zatza"l lightly; on the same day - yesterday - tragedy struck the Jewish people in the form of the terror attack in Bulgaria. Not only that, but with the Syrian mega-hit in Damascus yesterday, the final nail has been put in the coffin of Syrian stability. We now have highly volatile, instable borders with Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria. Tensions are very high, and a match could set off an explosion between Israel and Hizbolla/Iran.
So what do we do? During the Nine Days, beginning tonight, we must put aside virtually everything else and concentrate on getting closer to Hashem. That means more Torah, more teshuva, more emuna, and more personal prayer. Men, it's time to start guarding your eyes and to take personal holiness seriously. Women, it's time to start covering your hair and dressing modestly. People with fake emuna, even though they look the part, must begin serving Hashem for real. And yes, the fakes who are listed as Torah learners but who are walking around doing nothing should be drafted, right away along with all the secular kids who are dodging the draft too. We all have to fight with dedication; if not with a Gemara, then with an M-16.
The voice of Moses is calling once more, Mi L'Hashem ai'lie! He who chooses Hashem, join me! The People of Israel are down, but certainly not out. We'll soon see big miracles, but on the way, there will be a tremendous birur, or sifting process. Make sure you make the right choice.

Chief Rabbi Metzger Speaks About Rabbi Elyashiv

Rav Elyashiv on America

נפטר הגאון הגדול רבי יוסף שלום אלישיב זצ"ל

End of An Era: Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Zt'l

Jerusalem - The breadth and depth of knowledge of Rav Elyashiv is something that will not be replaced. Torah Chigri Sak. Nafla Ateres Rosheinu.

This morning Rav Shalom Yoseph Elyashiv, the Posaik haDor passed away after a weakening of his general health. Rav Elyashiv was 102.

Rav Elyashiv was known for his incredible hasmada, dedication in learning and his penetrating analysis of all parts of Torah. He was an only child born after seventeen years of marriage. Rav Elyashiv lived in the Meah Shearim section of Yeruhalayim. He taught at an adjacent synagogue, all until very recently.

Rav Elyashiv arrived in Eretz Yisroel during the period of the British Mandate in 1922. A year after his arrival, he was Bar Mitzvah’ed. When Rav Elyashiv was fifteen his grandfather, a well known Mekubal, passed away.

The greatest Rabbinic minds in Eretz Yisroel took notice of this young Talmudic master when he was very young. Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Kook suggested a shidduch with one of the daughters of Rav Aryeh Levin, Shaina Chaya,the famed Tzaddik of Yerushalayim. The Shidduch went through and Rav Kook was mesader Kiddushin.

Rav Elyashiv had five sons and seven daughters. Two of his very prominent sons-in-laws are Rav Chaim Kanievsky ilc"t and Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein ilc"t.

Rav Elyashiv dealt with many issues in the fast-paced changing world of today. His halachic rulings have had significant and far-reaching ramifications. When the majority of people stopped smoking on account of health issues, Rav Elyashiv issued a stern warning that the heter or leniency to smoke on Yom Tov was now very very questionable if not altogether forbidden. The majority of Bnei Torah stopped smoking on Yom Tov because of Rav Elyashiv’s ruling.

Rav Elyashiv’s position on the issue of hatmanah, insulating on Shabbos, changed the way Bnei Torah used cholent pots on Shabbos. The use of an insert type cholent pot dropped dramatically and even those who did use them adopted the idea of placing three or four stones on the survace of the outer container to avoid the problem of hatmanah.

When faced with numerous abuses of software licensing, Microsoft had actually approached Rav Elyashiv for a ruling on the matter and Rav Elyashiv ruled stringently regarding software. The dramatic difference in software piracy within our own community seriously declined, When asked whether Bnei Torah should remain silent during the moment of silence held on Israel’s Veteran’s Day, Rav Elyashiv responded that they definitely should. This ruling set a new tone in the relationship between the Hareidi world and the secular world in Israel.

Rav Elyashiv’s ruling that when there is evidence that a religious instructor is molesting a child, Heaven forbid, rabbis should rule that the violator should call in the authorities has been hailed by child advocates as a game-changing ruling.

Rav Elyashiv was one of the leaders of the Degel HaTorah party after Rav Eliezer Menachem Schach had appointed and urged him to the position. Many years prior to this Rav Elyashiv was a dayan in the Rabanut and ruled on many thousands of cases, now found in the Piskei HaRabbanut. His role in the Rabbanut was a initially a cause of consternation among the Hareidi world, but Rav Elyashiv’s breadth of knowledge, saintly deportment, and towering intellectual stature soon ameliorated their concerns.

Rav Elyashiv was quick to recognize the scholarship and erudition of others. On a number of occasions he informed visiting Rabbis from America that Rav Feivel Cohen shlita was one of the most outstanding Poskim in America. He informed a friend of mine that Rav Dovid Morgenstern was proficient and knowledgeable in Kol HaTorah Kulah, the entirety of Torah. These are just two examples.

Some rulings that this author had posed to Rav Elyashiv throughout the years were: Is there an obligation of Chinuch for the Laws of Shnayim Mikreh Echad Targum? (He answered that there was not.) When the leining of the Torah is missed at Shacharis, when is the Torah leined at Minchah? (He answered before Shmoneh Esreh just like on Shabbos Mincha.) Is “time is of the essence” ever to be reckoned with when dealing with a possible molestor (He answered that it was definitely dependent upon time is of the essence as well.)

Rav Elyashiv’s halachic positions have been collated in a three volume work called “Ashrei HaIsh.” Three volumes of his responsum have been published and a series of books on mesechtos has been published called “Haaros.”

The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com 

Chaim Veshalom Yosifu Loch: Maran Rav Elyashiv Turns 102

Yesterday, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the posek hador, Maran Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv shlit”a, marked a milestone: his 102nd birthday.

Rav Elyashiv remains in critical condition at Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center, where he has been hospitalized for many weeks now.

Rav Elyashiv underwent a procedure back on March 12 to address his failing kidney, and doctors said that while the procedure may have to be repeated a number of times, it was successful. He remains, however, is serious condition and is on need of rachamei Shomayim.

Born on Rosh Chodesh Nissan Tof Reish Ayin, April 10, 1910, Rav Elyashiv is a grandson of Rav Shlomo Elyashiv zt”l, the Leshem, who was niftar in 1925 and hailed from Šiauliai, Lithuania. His father was Rav Avraham of Homel and his mother was Rebbetzin Chaya Moussa, daughter of the Leshem. His wife, who passed away in June, 1994, was a daughter of Rav Aryeh Levin zt”l, the “Tzaddik of Yerushalayim.”

Rav Elyashiv and his Rebbetzin had eleven children. His daughters’ husbands include Rav Chaim Kanievsky; Rav Yosef Yisroel Yisraelson zt”l; Rav Elchonon Berlin, rov of the Achva shul; Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, rov of Ramat Elchanan (whose wife was nifteres and who has since remarried); Rav Ezriel Auerbach; and Rav Binyomin Rimmer, a rosh yeshiva at the Tshebiner Yeshiva and at Yeshiva Kiryas Melech in Bnei Brak.

One of Rav Elyashiv’s daughters was killed in 1948 by Jordanian shelling.

When Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman was once asked if there is anyone in our generation who understands Kabbolah, Rav Steinman thought for a while, and then nodded his head and answered affirmatively. He was then asked who it is, and after a moment’s silence, Rav Steinman answered, “Rav Elyashiv.”

The halachic rulings and insights of Rav Elyashiv have been published in severalseforim. The multi-volume Kovetz Teshuvos contains teshuvos from questions asked of him over many years. Many of his drashos and chiddushim, most dating from the 1950s, were collected and published as Divrei Aggadah. Another work that includes his p’sakim is titled “Yashiv Moshe.” These works were not written by Rav Elyashiv himself, but were compiled by his relatives and talmidim.

May Hakadosh Boruch Hu give Rav Elyashiv kochos and gezunt to continue leading Klal Yisroel for many, many more years, amidst good health.

Klal Yisroel is asked to continue davening for Rav Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha.

Fast For Rav Elyashiv

Due to Rav Elyashiv's failed health and deteriorating situation, Rav Chaim Kanievsky has requested, according to statements published in the 3 daily Haredi newspapers, that people accept upon themselves to fast tomorrow, Thursday - the last day of the special "Shovavim period", for the health of Rav Elyashiv.

Rav Kanievsky said that the best is for people to accept a full-day fast, but those who cannot should at least fast for half a day. As well, only someone who's regular learning schedule will not be affected should fast. One who will not be able to maintain his regular learning, should not fast.

Tefilos for Maran Rav Elyashiv Shlita at the Kosel