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Yosef Sholom Eliashiv

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Rabbi Eliashiv

Yosef Sholom Eliashiv (יוסף שלום אלישיב) (b. 1910) is a Haredi rabbi and posek (arbiter of Jewish law) who lives in Jerusalem, Israel.

Presently well into his nineties, he is active and remains the paramount leader of Israel's Lithuanian non-Hasidic Haredi Ashkenazi Jews (sometimes called by the old label of misnagdim) who regard him as the posek ha-dor (Hebrew: "decisor [of] the generation"), the modern leading authority on halakha, or Jewish law.

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[edit] Family

He is a grandson of the famous kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Ben Hayim Haikel Eliashiv (the Leshem) (1841-1925) from Shavel, Lithuania. His father was the noted Rabbi Avraham Elyashiv of Homel. His mother's given name was Chaya Moussa. His late wife was the daughter of Rabbi Aryeh Levin. His sons-in-law are:

[edit] Work and influence

Rabbi Eliashiv served for many years as a dayan (rabbinical judge) in the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, which is notable as most Haredim generally avoid contact with religious institutions associated with the Israeli government. (Rabbi Elazar Shach, specifically urged his followers to avoid becoming government dayanim.) He resigned from the Israeli Supreme Rabbinical Court in 1972 at the time that Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who had previously served as chief chaplain of the Israel Defense Forces, was elected as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel. The two rabbis had several diasagreements and a protracted falling-out regarding interpretations of Jewish law (particularly the mamzer affair in relation to issues of [illegitimate births], and agunot [wives denied a divorce by their husbands]). Rabbi Eliashiv concluded that Rabbi Goren was too willing to bend halakha in high-profile cases in order to garner popularity with the secular Israeli public, and refused to serve under his authority as a dayan. Since his resignation, he has refused to hold any position affiliated with the government.

Rabbi Eliashiv is presently the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party which has representatives in the Knesset (Israel's parliament). He holds great influence over the policies of the party, currently united with Agudat Israel through the umbrella United Torah Judaism list in the Knesset. Degel HaTorah abides by all his rulings and instructions. Similarly, he continues to have great influence over the formal Orthodox rabbinate of the State of Israel, and it is reported that Israel's most recent Chief Rabbis were appointed because of his recommendations.

He does not head a congregation, or a yeshiva, or a community as such, but spends his days in deep Talmudical study, and delivers advanced lectures in Talmud and Shulkhan Arukh at a local synagogue in the Meah Shearim area in Jerusalem where he lives, and receives supplicants from all over the world, answering multitudes of complex Halakhic inqueries.

Most rosh yeshivas ("yeshiva deans") associated with the Agudath Israel of America movement actively and frequently seek out his opinions and follow his advice and guidelines concerning a wide array of policy and communal issues affecting the welfare of Orthodox Judaism.

Among many Torah scholars, he is also regarded as a Kabbalist, but this aspect of his work is almost never publicly revealed.

The Halakhic rulings and insights of Rabbi Eliashiv have been recorded in many books. The multi-volume Kovetz Teshuvos contains the responsa resulting from questions asked of him over the years. His insights on the Torah are in his book called Divrei Aggadah. The material from this book dates to the 1950s. A Haggadah for Pesach including Rabbi Eliashiv's insights and Halachic rulings was recently printed. Another work that published many of his opinions was entitled Yashiv Moshe, but that work included many explanations by its author, which were not necessarily in consonance with the halachic understandings of Rabbi Eliashiv.

[edit] Rulings

Most of Rabbi Eliashiv's opinions in matters of Jewish law have been recorded by rabbis seeking his opinion and are considered to be Daas Torah. This phenomenon, rare before the 20th century, has occurred with several other prominent decisors, such as Rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. He has not published all his rulings himself (while Rabbis Feinstein and Auerbach mostly did). There is some quiet debate as to why he has chosen not to put all his major rulings into print, and opinion varies that it may be because he has issued some lenient rulings that may anger some to the right of his positions, or that his decisions are of a highly secretive and confidential nature.

As an example of his rulings, in 1999 he was asked if Kollel scholars who engage in outreach work by teaching basic Judaism to secular or assimilated Israelis should still be paid as "full time scholars" even though they must leave the study halls of their yeshivas in order to go out and teach those with a lesser background. Rabbi Eliashiv stated forcefully that it would be a sin to decrease the stipend, as the time taken off was spent on matters affecting the whole Jewish people, and not for the students' own pursuits. By doing so, he "gave [...] recognition to the principle that doing [outreach] work one evening a week is a mandatory obligation incumbent upon every single member of the [...] community.1

Due to some of his positions, he has been involved in several controversies. A notable example is his ban on the use of hair procured from certain Hindu religious ceremonies in the wigs worn by many observant Jewish women as sheitels, a form of head covering.2

[edit] Policy positions

As is somewhat typical with many Haredi political and spiritual figures, it is difficult to identify Rabbi Eliashiv's religious politics accurately. In 1998, he issued a ruling giving a permit to relocate graves in Jerusalem in order to make a new road. He suffered a small backlash from angry protestors, who engaged in minor vandalism against his property.3, 4, 5

Various reports had him endorsing George W. Bush during the 2004 elections, who he deemed an Oheiv Yisrael ("lover of Israel"). 6, 7 Eliashiv quietly opposed Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza in August 2005, but repeatedly stated his support for a public referendum, in contrast to some of his rabbinical colleagues who opposed any measure that would have granted the plan "legitimacy", such as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.8 Although Rabbi Eliashiv's Degel HaTorah MKs voted against Sharon's plan in 2004 Knesset sessions 9, he later permitted them to join Sharon's coalition in January 2005, mainly in exchange for funding Haredi schools and for maintaining the status quo not to conscript Haredi youth into the Israeli army.10, 11

In 2004, Rabbi Eliashiv was the subject of some controversy in the secular Israeli media, following the publication of a collection of his responsa in which he claimed cancer was a "punishment (because) people distanced themselves from religion".12 The comment, found in the introduction to Rabbi Eliashiv's responsa, attributes a general increase of cancer among the population to the population's sins. In early August, 2006 he went against the official position of the Israeli government, and expressed his support for a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon. He said "...the decision makers must take into account the position of the world's nations. They shouldn't ignore or take lightly the ideas raised by other nations. If the United States raises solutions that could bring about the end of the war and save Jewish lives, they should be heeded. No offer or idea should be dismissed offhand. We mustn't anger the nations of the world."13

[edit] Role in banning books

In 2002, Rabbi Eliashiv, along with approximately twenty other sages from the Lithuanian community in Israel and America, issued a ban against the book Making of a Godol by Rabbi Nathan Kamenetzky, which contained stories and anecdotes about Orthodox rabbis of the 19th and 20th century, with a particular focus on American sages. The book was accused of containing stories that might degrade the memory of some of its subjects. 14 A revised edition was re-released in 2005, along with a list of changes in its index. 15 It was subsequently banned again in 2006 by the same group of rabbis. In 2005, Rabbi Eliashiv signed a document along with many other prominent Haredi rabbis banning the books of Rabbi Natan Slifkin (popularly known as the "Zoo Rabbi") citing concerns about "heretical comments". This referred to Slifkin's published opinions about Judaism's views of science and the positions held by sages in the Talmud.

Both authors protested that the procedures in issuing the bans were flawed, that they had no chance to defend themselves or their work, and pointed out that as Rabbi Eliashiv does not read English, he was basing his rulings on second-hand information which may have potentially been inaccurate. Some of Kamenetzky's supporters cited the text of the second "Godol" ban as proof of this, as it stated, "the second edition is the same as the first". 16 Another point made by the authors' supporters was that Rabbi Eliashiv's dependence on his advisors makes it all the more crucial that he receive accurate information when rendering decisions about topics as serious as heresy or slander.

Though both authors contested the bans against their books, they also made sure to point out that they were protesting the way some members of their community were carrying out their investigations and treating them after the bans were announced, and held no grudges against the individual rabbis involved (a distinction not always shared by some of the authors' supporters). Rabbi Kamenetzky in particular has repeatedly stated his profound respect for Rabbi Eliashiv and continues to pray in his minyan when in Israel. Defenders of the bans and Rabbi Eliashiv's decision have accused opponents of the bans of holding deeply jaded views towards the haredi Rabbinic leadership, and charge that many of the attacks on Rabbi Eliashiv and others over this issue have resorted to oversimplifications and distortions of the hashkafic (philosophical issues) involved.

Rabbi Eliashiv's involvement in the banning of the two books remains a controversial topic for many in the Modern Orthodox community. The majority of Orthodox Jews, particularly haredim, have stood behind Rabbi Eliashiv's ruling. Opposition to the bans seems to largely stem from more liberal-minded segments of the Modern Orthodox movement. Supporters of the ban argue that the concerns voiced by some of the authors' more vocal supporters suggest that the controversy may flow more for a general distaste for Rabbinic leaders than anything else. They also note that any decree by the Rabbinical establishment ruling against the "general will" of the laity would likely result in similar levels of controversy and dissension in the modern Orthodox community. [citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  • Note 1: Moshe Schapiro. Halachic Ruling Redefines Role of Kiruv Work in Eretz Yisroel. Dei'ah veDibur, April 21, 1999 (article).
  • Note 2: Yosef Shalom Eliashiv. Letter from HaRav Eliashiv. Dei'ah veDibur, June 2, 2002 [1]
  • Note 3: Rachel S. Hallote and Alexander H. Joffe. The Politics of Israeli Archaeology: Between 'Nationalism' and 'Science' in the Age of the Second Republic. Israel Studies, 7:3, 2002.

"Also in 1998, an interesting dispute arose within the ultra-Orthodox community when Rabbi Shalom Eliashiv of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Council ruled that a Roman burial ground on the course of a planned road to the new suburb of Pisgat Ze'ev could be moved, a decision which was met by denunciations and stoning of the elderly rabbi's car."

"On Thursday night, protesters who accuse Eliashiv of disrespect for the dead threw stones and bottles at the rabbi's car and at the windows of a yeshiva, or religious school, where he was teaching a lesson at the time. Abraham Ravitz, an ultra-Orthodox member of the Israeli parliament, condemned the attacks, calling the stone throwers "hooligans and fanatics.""

[edit] External links

yi:יוסף שלום אלישב

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