Hashem Giveth and Hashem Taketh Away
Barukh Dayyan HaEmet Rav Shalom Yosef Eliashiv ZTzUK”L was niftar just today. His funeral well be held tonight at 10pm. Rav Shalom Hedayya ZTzUK”L used to say that every Gadol, even those you disagreed with was a gift from Hashem, and should be treated with due respect. Obviously being Sephardi there were some points of disagreement between my halakhic and hashkafic views and those of Rav Eliashiv. However, truly he was a gift from Hashem.
The greatness of his accomplishes surely proceeds him into Olam Haba. Amongst other things he was a staunch supporter of child abuse victims. He was one of the first(if not the first) Gedolim to rule that a child molester was in all cases a rodef and thus the police should be contacted immediately. Even though I disagree with him(more I find myself in agreement with Rav Ovadia and other Gedolim who disagree with Rav Eliashiv, as who am I to disagree with Rav Eliashiv himself) I respect him for his dedication to fighting for the truth of the Torah as he saw it and the holiness of Klal Yisrael.
In a day and age when many Gedolim live in great wealth and have for themselves large homes, Rav Eliashiv lived the life of a pauper in a two room Meah Shearim home. His humility and integrity were beyond question. Even in his later years when he was unfortunately surrounded by many people, some of whom with ulterior motives, who sought to filter the information that came before him, he would take responsibility for his own errors and admit his mistakes. He never passed the blame off on those who fed him bad information, he accepted that as a Rav it was his responsibility to seek the truth. Again just another sign of his great humility.
Klal Yisrael has suffered a great loss with his passing. May we be speedily comforted.
Rabbi, thank you for sharing these words about Rav Elyashiv. I believe your readers would benefit from your thoughts on the fact that so many of our gedolim (Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rav Elyashiv, Rav Chaim Stein to name a few) have passed away in quick succession over the past year or so. What message is Hakadosh Baruch Hu sending us? What can we do personally and as a klall to address this?
Baruch Dayyan HaEmeth.
Thanks for the kinds words. He sounds like he was a great man.
Baruch Dayyan HaEmeth.
Shalom uvra’ha, thank you for this post. I think your post portrayed the honour due a great Rabbi whose life was dedicated to Torah and Am Israel, while preserving at the same time your personal views. I would only ask one question for the moment. Please, would you share a story concerning the ‘filtered information’ and so on?
Maybe after Shabat? In the meantime, wishing you and your family Shabat Shalom!
I am not sure what story he is referring to but R’ Nosson Kamenetzky tells the story of going to see him after his book, “Making of a Gadol”, was banned by many rabbanim who do not speak English. At the meeting, he agreed that his ban was based on faulty information given to him and simply said “I do not have ruach hakodesh.”
Why he continued to issue bans, I am not sure.
I was referring to the Shabbat Elevator “ban”. Which he then reversed, and then reversed again, and then reversed again.
mechila! During the 3 weeks in galut i’ve become sensitive to certain inyanim and have apologized on many accounts to various people — one in particular with tears in my eyes ( re: something i ought to have left alone to begin with, but i pursued what i at that time thought/felt then raged upon as TRUTH– what is truth?…) — so now i regret on one hand having initiated (prolonged?) avak lashon hara or some related avera by asking the question “one story” in order to understand what was being evoked — and
the Elevator question is a good result, however, since it raises a halakhic issue of which I was unaware (except for the fact that it was subject of dispute among the poskim and ultimately depending on various details, etc). The halakhic issue is, in fact, now that these 2 posts help me reflect more clearly, not re: Elevators or Books, but rather
How does a psak halakha come about? What the process itself entails…
A few years ago when enjoying the zechut of living in Mea Shearim/Geula for a short while, i heard some heter re: mikvaot as the result of “many avreichim raising the same question/problem” — Whatever the Topic May Be — the Rabbis of kollels and communities then ask their Rabbis and then a Leading Posek is successively flooded with various questions based on diverse circumstances and finally a Psak is derived through the process of a Gadol’s relationship to Am Israel and dedication to the Torah and HaKadosh Baroukh Hu.
lfi anayis dati — A ban in some cases will serve to invoke — often temporarily — a “SAFEK DORAITA L’HUMRA” until more specific information or further study is carried through. This process may result in reversals — which also indicates great humility and more proof of dedication, since the issue continues to be treated seriously/sincerely.
Hizuk: I learn from this to be more careful about (a) hilchot Shabat in electronic modern world and (b) to learn more about the criteria for banning (c) the process of psak halakha and (d) avak/lashon hara, BS”D.
3 weeks, menachem Av, oy lanu! oy and oy again!
May we merit and live to see the Beit HaMikdash rebuilt in our times!
How great is our poverty! How great is our loss!
oy, and oy again!
BS”D