Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler | |
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אליהו אליעזר דסלר | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | 1892 (1892) |
| Died | 31 December 1953(1953-12-31) (aged 61) |
| Nationality | Latvian |
| Spouse | Bluma (m. 1920) |
| Parent | Reuven Dov Dessler |
| Known for | Mashgiach ruchani ofPonevezh yeshiva |
| Other names | Elya Lazer |
| Occupation | Rabbi, Talmudic scholar, Jewish philosopher |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Denomination | Orthodox |
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (Hebrew:אליהו אליעזר דסלר; 1892[1] – 31 December 1953[2]) was anOrthodoxrabbi,Talmudic scholar, and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century. He is best known for being themashgiach ruchani ("spiritual counselor") of thePonevezh yeshiva inIsrael and through collections of his writings published posthumously by his pupils.
Eliyahu Dessler, who was known throughout his life asEliyahu Leizer orElya Lazer, was born in 1892 (5652) inGomel.[3] His father,Reuven Dov Dessler,[1] was a disciple of one of the main leaders of theMusar movement, RabbiSimcha Zissel Ziv, best known as theAlter (Elder) of Kelm. Eliyahu was orphaned of his mother at a young age. His father remarried, and would become a successful timber merchant in the city of Homel over the ensuing years, although he would lose virtually his whole fortune after theRussian Revolution, which would prompt his son to relocate to England (1929).
The young Elya was taught by private tutors. At the age of 13[4] (in 1906), he was to be one of the youngest students at theyeshiva ofKelm, which was then being led by Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Braude, the son-in-law of the founder. Rabbi Dessler would later speak in fond terms on the study and self-perfection in the Kelm yeshiva. It was unusual in the sense that it provided its pupils with a secular education parallel to their religious studies, enabling them to earn a livelihood rather than having to take up rabbinic positions.
In Kelm, Eliyahu was a diligent student, and receivedsemicha (Rabbinic ordination) from his uncle, RabbiChaim Ozer Grodzinski, who became the spiritual leader of Orthodox Lithuanian Jewry until his death in 1939 and rarely granted ordinations.
In 1920 Rabbi Dessler married Bluma, a granddaughter of the "Alter" of Kelm. He entered business with his father, and declined a position as a rabbinical judge inVilna.
After the death of his stepmother in 1928, Dessler was obliged to accompany his father to London for medical treatment, and decided to remain in the United Kingdom. His wife and children stayed behind for the time being.
In London Dessler served in the rabbinate, initially in theEast End and later inDalston, Northeast London. His family joined him in 1931.
In Dalston he started tutoring a number of young people, and for a while he was the private tutor of the children of the wealthySassoon family. A pupil from this time,Aryeh Carmell, became one of the main disseminators of Dessler's ideas after his death.
His son left London in the early 1930s to study in the yeshiva of Kelm. During the war they escaped to the Far East, and eventually settled in the United States. Several months before the outbreak of World War II, his wife left for Lithuania with her daughter to visit relatives. The war separated them, and the women spent the war mainly in Australia.
In the early 1940s, Dessler assumed leadership of the newly formedGateshead kollel, an institute of religious study for married men, then a novelty in Western Europe. During the ensuing years he led thekollel, raised its funds, and also tutored small groups of young people.
In the late 1940s, the leadership of the Ponevezh yeshiva in the Israeli town ofBnei Berak convinced Dessler to becomemashgiach ruchani (spiritual counsellor and lecturer on ethical issues). He relocated to Israel, again gathering a small circle of students. One of his pupils, Chaim Friedländer, would later fill his position as Ponevezhmashgiach.
Rabbi Dessler died quite suddenly on December 31, 1953 (Hebrew date 25 Tevet 5714),[5] presumably ofischemic heart disease. He had suffered fromperipheral vascular disease in the months prior to his death.
Most of Rabbi Dessler's work has reached the public through the pupils he reared in England and Israel, chiefly[6]Aryeh Carmell andChaim Friedlander.Together, they edited his collected correspondence and ethical writings posthumously in the six-volumeMichtav me-Eliyahu ("Letter from Elijah" which alludes to the letter that the prophet Elijah sent to the King of Judah that arrived after Elijah ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire), later translated into English and published as "Strive for Truth".
Perhaps one of his most influential ideas, discussed throughout his works but especially in an essay in the first volume ofMichtav me-Eliyahu entitledKuntres ha-Chesed (Heb. קונטרס החסד "Pamphlet [on the topic] ofLovingkindness), is the "Jewish philosophy of love." He observes that the perfect love from the point of view of Jewish philosophy is not "give and take" but focuses exclusively ongiving.
Dessler also believed that the acquisition of secular knowledge came at the expense of Torah knowledge. He warned against studying foreign or secular ideas.[7]
He also warned against preoccupation with materialism and technology, which, in his view, distance mankind from spirituality and detracted from believing inDivine providence in Judaism § Haredi Judaism. He writes that a civilization which is preoccupied with developing the external and the material, and neglects the inner moral content will eventually degenerate to its lowest possible depths.[8]
One idea of his, expounded on in Michtav me-Eliyahu, is theNekudas Habechira (point of free will). He states that a man has one point in his service to God where he has to fight his evil inclination, while at other points there will be no struggle, for the levels below this have already been conquered, and he will easily win those battles of will; whereas levels higher are not yet within his grasp. (For example, someone who adheres to Orthodox Judaism will have no problem keeping kosher, but may sometimes be tempted to rely on unreliable kosher supervision, while somebody farther away from religious practice will have to struggle with whether to eat a ham sandwich (which is non-kosher regardless of supervision).) Each time one defeats the evil inclination by choosing to do good over evil, his Nekudas Habechira is raised a bit higher, and that choice will be easier for him to make in the future. Consequently, Man's task in life is to consistently raise his Nekudas Habechira, thus growing ever greater in his service of God.[9][citation needed]SeeFree will in theology § Judaism generally.
While it is difficult to determine which teachers had most influence on Rabbi Dessler, it is apparent that he is a child of the yeshiva world of the early 20th century, which was then influenced heavily by the ethical Musar movement, but has similarly gained proficiency inKabbalah and works ofHasidic Judaism andJewish philosophy. His method in interpreting tenets of Jewish philosophy reveals an adherence to the principles of theMaharal (Rabbi Loeb of Prague, 16th century). He drew inspiration from the teachings ofRabbi Nahman of Bratslav.[7] A minor influence appears to have been the 19th century Hasidic work,Tanya.[citation needed] Rabbi Dessler did, however, maintain that it is acceptable to believe that the Zohar was not written by RabbiShimon bar Yochai and that it had a late authorship.[10]
Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler was born in 5652 (1892) to Rabbi Reuven Dov
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