View source for Yosef Shalom Elyashiv

{{Short description|Israeli Haredi rabbi}}
{{Infobox Jewish leader
|honorific-prefix = Rabbi
|name = Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
|honorific-suffix =
|title =
|image = RavElyashiv2.JPG
|caption = Rabbi Elyashiv at home
|denomination = [[Orthodox Judaism]]
|synagogue =
|synagogueposition =
|yeshiva =
|yeshivaposition =
|organization = [[Degel HaTorah]]
|organizationposition = [[Posek]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|1910|4|10|df=yes}}<br/>{{nowrap|<small>[[Nisan]] 1, 5670 [[Anno Mundi|AM]] ([[Hebrew calendar]])</small>}}
|birth_place = [[Šiauliai]], [[Russian Empire]] <br/>(present-day [[Lithuania]])
|death_date = {{death date and age|2012|7|18|1910|4|10|df=yes}}<br/>{{nowrap|<small>[[Tammuz (Hebrew month)|Tamuz]] 28, 5772 [[Anno Mundi|AM]] ([[Hebrew calendar]])</small>}}
|death_place = Jerusalem
|nationality = [[Israelis|Israeli]]
|parents = Rabbi [[Avraham Elyashiv]]<br/>Chaya Moussa Elyashiv
|spouse =
|children = Moshe <br/> Shlomo <br/> Avraham <br/> Binyamin <br/> Yitzchak <br/> [[Batsheva Kanievsky|Batsheva Esther]] (wife of Rabbi [[Chaim Kanievsky]]) (died 2011) <br/> Sarah Rachel (wife of Rabbi [[Yosef Yisraelson]]) <br/> Dina Ettel (wife of Rabbi [[Elchonon Berlin]]) <br/> Shoshana (wife of Rabbi [[Yitzchok Zilberstein]]) (d. 1999)<br/> Leah (wife of Rabbi [[Ezriel Auerbach]]) (died 2010)<br/>Gittel (wife of Rabbi [[Binyomin Rimmer]]) <br/> Rivkah (d. 1948)
|signature =Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, signature.svg
}}
'''Yosef Shalom Elyashiv''' ({{langx|he|יוסף שלום אלישיב}}{{ltr}}; 10 April 1910 &ndash; 18 July 2012) was a [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] [[rabbi]] and ''[[posek]]'' (arbiter of [[Halakha|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 Jews|Lithuanian]]-Haredi community, and many [[Ashkenazi Jews]] regarded him as the ''[[posek]] ha-dor'', the contemporary leading authority on [[halakha]], or Jewish law.<ref name="rabbimeirbaalhaneis">{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbimeirbaalhaneis.com/Rabbi%20Yosef%20Shalom%20Elyashiv.asp|title=RABBI YOSEF SHALOM ELYASHIV|access-date=9 January 2012}}</ref>
He spent most of his days engaged in [[Talmud]]ical study, and delivered lectures in [[Talmud]] and [[Shulkhan Arukh]] at a local [[synagogue]] in the [[Meah Shearim]] area in Jerusalem where he lived.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1157446.html|title=The Invisible Hand|first=Yair|last=Ettinger|work=[[Haaretz]]|date=March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.5043931 |title=The Invisible Hand |newspaper=Haaretz
|access-date=September 13, 2018}}</ref> He received supplicants from all over the world, and answered the most complex [[Halakhic]] inquiries.<ref name="rabbimeirbaalhaneis"/>
== Biography ==
Rav Elyashiv was the son of [[Rabbi|Rav]] [[Avraham Elyashiv]] (Erener) of [[Gomel]], [[Belarus]], and Chaya Mushka, daughter of the [[Kabbalah|kabbalist]] Rav [[Shlomo Elyashiv]] (died 1925) of [[Šiauliai|Šiauliai, Lithuania]].
Born in 1910 at Šiauliai, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv arrived with his parents in [[Mandatory Palestine]] in 1922, aged 12.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=256925|first1=Judy|last1=Siegel-Itzkovich|first2=Jeremy|last2=Shar|title=Rabbi Elyashiv, 101, in critical condition|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=8 February 2012|access-date=18 July 2012}}</ref> He was an only child, born to his parents after 17 years of marriage.<ref name="chazaq">{{cite web|url=http://chazaq.org/?section=articles&categoryId=24&articleId=207|title=Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv shlit"a|access-date=10 June 2010|publisher=Chazaq}}</ref>
At the suggestion of the [[Chief Rabbi]] of Palestine, [[Abraham Isaac Kook|Rav Abraham Isaac Kook]], Yosef Shalom married Sheina Chaya (died 19 June 1994), a daughter of Rav [[Aryeh Levin]].<ref name="chazaq"/> Kook also conducted the wedding.<ref name="toi">{{cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Matti |title=Rabbi Elyashiv, a relentless Torah scholar whose strict rulings sought to resist modernity |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-elyashiv-a-relentless-torah-scholar-whose-strict-rulings-sought-to-resist-modernity/ |access-date=24 July 2018 |publisher=Times of Israel |date=18 July 2012}}</ref>
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.<ref name="chazaq"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mako.co.il/news-channel2/Six-Newscast/Article-71401be84437121004.htm|title=דור שישי לרב אלישיב - בחייו|date=24 May 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4259560,00.html|title=כל יומיים: צאצא נוסף לרב אלישיב|first=קובי|last=נחשוני|date=24 July 2012|newspaper=Ynet}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/rav-elyashiv-dead-ultra-orthodox-rabbi-dies-at-102_n_1682929.html|title=Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Dead: Revered Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Rabbi Dies At 102|first=Ian|last=Deitch|work=[[Huffington Post]]|date=18 July 2012}}</ref> He had seen the beginning of a sixth generation in 2009, when a grandson was born to one of his great-grandchildren.<ref name="haaretz"/>
==Death==
In February 2012, the 101-year-old Rav was admitted into the cardiac intensive care unit of the [[Shaare Zedek Medical Center#Jesselson Heart Center|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 [[Pulmonary edema|edema of the lungs]] and congestion in the heart. He died on 18 July 2012, aged 102,<ref name="haaretz">{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/rabbi-elyashiv-venerated-leader-in-ultra-orthodox-community-dies-at-102-1.451991?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.216%2C2.218%2C|title=Rabbi Elyashiv, Venerated Leader in Ultra-Orthodox Community, Dies|first=Yair|last=Ettinger|work=Haaretz|date=18 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?ID=277967&R=R1|title=Leading Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv dies at 102|first1=Judy|last1=Siegel-Itzkovich|first2=Jeremy|last2=Shar|date=18 July 2012|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]]}}</ref> and was buried on [[Har HaMenuchot]] after a late-night funeral procession that attracted an estimated 250,000 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vosizneias.com/110144/2012/07/18/jerusalem-in-photos-100000-attend-funeral-of-rav-elyashiv-ztl-live-video|title=In Photos: 250,000 Attend Funeral Of Rav Elyashiv Zt'l|access-date=19 July 2012|work=[[Vos Iz Neias?]]|date=18 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=278043|title=250,000 mourn Rabbi Elyashiv at J'lem funeral|first1=Jeremy|last1=Sharon|first2=Judy|last2=Siegel|date=19 July 2012|work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref>
==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|date=March 2019}}. In the early 1970s, he left the state court system.<ref name="toi"/>
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|date=March 2018}} 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.<ref name="ReferenceA">''House of Nobility, Humble Abode: Rav Elyashiv and His Torah Dynasty '' by Nosson Weiss. ''Mishpacha'' Magazine Issue 159 May 23, 2007</ref> While Rav Elyashiv held no official title, neither as head of a congregation, [[yeshiva]], or particular community,<ref name="rabbimeirbaalhaneis"/> 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 yeshiva]]s ("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 (magazine)|Time]]'' referred to Rav Elyashiv as the predecessor of [[Aharon Leib Shteinman|Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman]] as Gadol Hador ("leader of the generation").<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://time.com/5060168/rabbi-aharon-leib-shteinman-israeli-ultra-orthodox-leader-dies |title=Aharon Leib Shteinman, Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Leader, Dies &#124; Time |access-date=2017-12-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215101853/http://time.com/5060168/rabbi-aharon-leib-shteinman-israeli-ultra-orthodox-leader-dies/ |archive-date=2017-12-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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."<ref name="toi"/>
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. 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."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Elyashiv|first=R. Yosef Shalom|date=2010-01-22|title=Nevelah Ne'esta B'Yisroel|trans-title=An Atrocity Done in Israel|work=Yated Ne'eman}}</ref>
== Published works ==
The Halakhic rulings and sermonic insights of Rav Elyashiv have been recorded in several books. The 6 volume ''Kovetz Teshuvos Elyashiv''<ref>{{cite book
|title=Koevetz Teshuvos Elyashiv (3 volumes)
|url=https://www.eichlers.com/seforim/kovetz-teshuvos-elyashiv-3-vol.html
|isbn=978-1600-91459-1
|last1=Pozen
|first1=Yaʻaḳov Yeḥezḳel
|date=November 2016
|publisher=Israel Bookshop Publications
}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=RavElyashiv.Heim>{{cite book
|title=Rav Elyashiv  |isbn=978-1-4226-1345-0
|author1=Rabbi Yehuda Heimowitz |author2=Malky Heimowitz
|year=2013 |publisher=Mesorah/Artscroll}}</ref><ref>Volume 4 was published posthumously</ref>{{rp|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]].''<ref name="rabbimeirbaalhaneis"/> A [[Haggadah]] for [[Passover|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 [[בן ציון קוק|Bentzion Kook]].
==See also==
*[[Nachum Eisenstein]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Schapiro, Moshe. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120325211832/http://www.chareidi.org/archives5759/ach_ked/AKruling.htm "Halachic Ruling Redefines Role of Kiruv Work in Eretz Yisroel".] ''Dei'ah veDibur'', April 21, 1999.
* Eliashiv, Yosef Shalom. [http://www.chareidi.org/archives5764/BHL64asheitel1.htm "Letter from HaRav Eliashiv".] ''Dei'ah veDibur'', June 2, 2002.
* Avraham(Rami) Reiner. [https://www.academia.edu/5513589/R_YOSEF_SHALOM_ELYASHIV_AS_A_HALACHIC_DECISOR_MODERN_JUDAISM_33 '''"R’ Yosef Shalom Elyashiv as a halachic decisor"''']{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Modern Judaism 33
==External links==
{{Commons category|Yosef Shalom Elyashiv}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150514102603/https://sites.google.com/site/mosdosbostonarchives/bostoner-rebbe-shlit-a Picture of Rav Elyashiv deep in conversation with Grand Rav Mayer Alter HaLevi Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe Shlita]
* [http://www.rebbeclips.com/2011/02/rebbes-visiting-r-elyashiv.html Video footage of Chassidic Rebbes meeting with Rav Elyashiv]
* [http://www.aish.com/jw/s/A_Portrait_of_Greatness.html?s=rab Who was Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv? -Aish.com biography]
* [http://www.kolhalashon.com/New/Ravs.aspx?Lang=Hebrew&Path=Hebrew|HGmr|R0600&English=True Lectures by Rav Eliashiv on various topics] (in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]])
* [http://www.greenfieldjudaica.com/search.asp?advs=1&author=Rabbi+Yosef+Shalom+Elyashiv List of Rav Elyashiv's printed works]
* [http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/ipad/rabbi-yosef-shalom-elyashiv-a-giant-among-the-ultra-orthodox.premium-1.452205 "Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, a giant among the ultra-Orthodox"] [[Haaretz]], 19 July 2012
* [http://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-elyashiv-a-relentless-torah-scholar-whose-strict-rulings-sought-to-resist-modernity/ "Times of Israel" obituary]
* [http://5tjt.com/rulings-from-rav-elyashiv/ Rav Elyashiv’s Rulings By Rav Yair Hoffman]
* [http://5tjt.com/more-of-rav-elyashivs-rulings-by-rabbi-yair-hoffman/ More of Rav Elyashiv’s Rulings By Rav Yair Hoffman]
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[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2012 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Šiauliai]]
[[Category:People from Shavelsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Lithuanian Jews]]
[[Category:Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Israeli Orthodox Jews]]
[[Category:Haredi rabbis in Israel]]
[[Category:20th-century rabbis in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:21st-century rabbis in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Israeli men centenarians]]
[[Category:Rabbis in Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Exponents of Jewish law]]
[[Category:Authors of books on Jewish law]]
[[Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot]]
[[Category:Haredi poskim]]
[[Category:Jewish centenarians]]
[[Category:Haredim in Mandatory Palestine]]