Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (Hebrew: יוסף שלום אלישיב; 10 April 1910 – 18 July 2012) was a Haredi Rabbi and posek (arbiter of Jewish law) who lived in Jerusalem. Until his death at the age of 102, Rav Elyashiv was the paramount leader of both Israel and the Diaspora Lithuanian-Haredi community, and many Ashkenazi Jews regarded him as the posek ha-dor, the contemporary leading authority on halakha, or Jewish law.[1]
He
spent most of his days engaged in Talmudical study, and delivered lectures in Talmud and Shulkhan Arukh at a local synagogue in the Meah Shearim area in Jerusalem where he lived.[2][3] He
received supplicants from all over the world, and answered the most
complex Halakhic inquiries.[1]
Biography
Rav
Elyashiv was the son of Rav Avraham Elyashiv (Erener) of Gomel, Belarus, and Chaya Musha, daughter of the kabbalist Rav Shlomo Elyashiv (died 1925) of Šiauliai, Lithuania.
Born
in 1910 at Šiauliai, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv arrived with his parents in Mandatory Palestine in
1922, aged 12.[4] He was
an only child, born to his parents after 17 years of marriage.[5]
At
the suggestion of the Chief Rabbi of
Palestine, Rav Abraham Isaac Kook,
Yosef Shalom married Sheina Chaya (died 19 June 1994), a daughter of Rav Aryeh Levin.[5] Kook
also conducted the wedding.[6]
The
couple had five sons and seven daughters. Six of their daughters married
significant Rabbinic figures. During Elyashiv's lifetime, six of his children
died. Two died in their youth: a son who died of illness as a child, and a
daughter killed by Jordanian shelling in 1948. Four other children died over
the course of his lifetime. At the time of his death, he had approximately
1,400 descendants, including two sixth-generation descendants.[5][7][8][9] He had
seen the beginning of a sixth generation in 2009, when a grandson was born to
one of his great-grandchildren.[10]
Death
In
February 2012, the 101-year-old Rav was admitted into the cardiac intensive
care unit of the Jesselson Heart Center at
the Shaare Zedek Medical
Center under the supervision of cardiology branch head Dan
Tzivoni and his personal physician. He was admitted due to an acute condition
of edema of the lungs and
congestion in the heart. He died on 18 July 2012, aged 102,[10][11] and was
buried on Har HaMenuchot after
a late-night funeral procession that attracted an estimated 250,000 people.[12][13]
Spiritual
and political leader
In contrast to his later positions vis
a vis the State of Israel, Rav Elyashiv began his Rabbinic career as a judge in
the government's religious court system, and was a protégé of Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog[citation needed]. In the early 1970s, he left the state court system.[6]
In
1989, upon the establishment of the religious political party Degel HaTorah, its spiritual leader Rav Elazar Shach asked Rav Elyashiv to join in the public
leadership, and he acceded to his request.[citation needed] He came to the major public gatherings of Degel HaTorah,
currently part of the umbrella United Torah Judaism list
in the Israeli Knesset (parliament), and shared in
the task of rendering decisions.[14] While
Rav Elyashiv held no official title, neither as head of a congregation, yeshiva, or particular community,[1] after
the death of Rav Shach he took his position and held great influence over the
policies of the party, which abided by all his rulings and instructions.
Most rosh yeshivas ("yeshiva
deans") associated with the Agudath Israel of America movement
frequently sought out his opinions and followed his advice and guidelines
concerning a wide array of policy and communal issues affecting the welfare
of Orthodox Judaism. Time referred to Rav Elyashiv as the predecessor
of Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman as
Gadol Hador ("leader of the generation").[15]
Yossi
Elituv, editor of the influential ultra-Orthodox paper Mishpacha,
remarked: "Rav Elyashiv will be remembered as the ultimate assiduous
yeshiva scholar of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He was not seen as a
political leader or as the head of group or party. He was a man who made Torah
study his entire life, and this will remain an inspiration."[6]
In
2010, Rav Elyashiv published a letter criticizing the Shas Party for joining
the World Zionist Organization (WZO). He wrote that the Party "is turning
its back on the basics of Charedi Jewry of the past hundred years. In the words
of Gedolei Yisroel: 'Zu Neveilah she’ein kamosa'." He compared this move
to the decision of the Mizrachi movement to join the WZO [over one hundred
years ago] which was the deciding factor in their separation from
"authentic Torah Judaism."[16]
Published
works
The
Halakhic rulings and sermonic insights of Rav Elyashiv have been recorded in
several books. The 6 volume Kovetz Teshuvos Elyashiv[17][18][19]: p. 430 contains responsa resulting from questions asked of him over many
years. Many of his ethical and sermonic comments on the Torah, most dating from
the 1950s, were collected and published as Divrei Aggadah.[1] A Haggadah for Pesach including his comments and Halachic rulings was
recently printed. Another work that includes his Halakhic rulings is titled
"Yashiv Moshe".
His
Talmudic insights were printed in the 18 volume series of Haoros and
more recently Shiurei Maran Hagrish Elyashiv on Tractate
Berachot and the following books: "Pniney Tefila"' "Pniney
Chanuka" and "Pniney Nisuin". These works were not
written by Rav Elyashiv, but compiled by his relatives and students; the "Pniney"
series was published by Rabbi Bentzion Kook.
References
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "RABBI YOSEF SHALOM ELYASHIV". Retrieved 9
January 2012.
2. ^ Ettinger,
Yair (March 2010). "The
Invisible Hand". Haaretz.
3. ^ "The Invisible
Hand". Haaretz. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
4. ^ Siegel-Itzkovich,
Judy; Shar, Jeremy (8 February 2012). "Rabbi Elyashiv, 101, in critical condition". The
Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv shlit"a". Chazaq.
Retrieved 10 June 2010.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c Friedman, Matti
(18 July 2012). "Rabbi Elyashiv, a relentless Torah scholar whose strict rulings
sought to resist modernity". Times of Israel. Retrieved 24
July 2018.
7. ^ "דור שישי לרב אלישיב - בחייו".
24 May 2009.
8. ^ נחשוני, קובי (24 July 2012). "כל יומיים: צאצא נוסף לרב אלישיב". Ynet.
9. ^ Deitch,
Ian (18 July 2012). "Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Dead: Revered Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Rabbi
Dies At 102". Huffington Post.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Ettinger, Yair (18
July 2012). "Rabbi Elyashiv, Venerated Leader in Ultra-Orthodox Community,
Dies". Haaretz.
11. ^ Siegel-Itzkovich,
Judy; Shar, Jeremy (18 July 2012). "Leading Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv dies at 102". The Jerusalem Post.
12. ^ "In Photos: 250,000 Attend Funeral Of Rav Elyashiv Zt'l". Vos Iz Neias?. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
13. ^ Sharon,
Jeremy; Siegel, Judy (19 July 2012). "250,000 mourn Rabbi Elyashiv at J'lem funeral". The
Jerusalem Post.
14. ^ House
of Nobility, Humble Abode: Rav Elyashiv and His Torah Dynasty by
Nosson Weiss. Mishpacha Magazine Issue 159 May 23, 2007
15. ^ "Aharon Leib Shteinman, Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Leader, Dies |
Time". Archived from the original on 2017-12-15. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
16. ^ Elyashiv,
R. Yosef Shalom (2010-01-22). "Nevelah Ne'esta B'Yisroel" [An
Atrocity Done in Israel]. Yated Ne'eman.
17. ^ Pozen,
Yaʻaḳov Yeḥezḳel (November 2016). Koevetz Teshuvos Elyashiv (3 volumes). ISBN 978-1600-91459-1.
18. ^ Rabbi
Yehuda Heimowitz; Malky Heimowitz (2013). Rav Elyashiv.
Mesorah/Artscroll. ISBN 978-1-4226-1345-0.
19. ^ Volume
4 was published posthumously