Елияху Элиезер Десслер: Жизнь и учение раввина

Latvian rabbi

Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892 – 31 December 1953) was an Orthodox rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and Jewish philosopher of the 20th century. He is best known for being the mashgiach ruchani ("spiritual counselor") of the Ponevezh yeshiva in Israel and through collections of his writings published posthumously by his pupils.

Eliyahu Dessler, who was known throughout his life as Eliyahu Leizer or Elya Lazer, was born in 1892 (5652) in Gomel. His father, Reuven Dov Dessler, (in 1906), he was to be one of the youngest students at the yeshiva of Kelm, 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 received semicha (Rabbinic ordination) from his uncle, Rabbi Chaim 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 in Vilna. 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 the East End and later in Dalston, 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 wealthy Sassoon 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 formed Gateshead kollel, an institute of religious study for married men, then a novelty in Western Europe. During the ensuing years he led the kollel, 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 of Bnei Berak convinced Dessler to become mashgiach 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 Ponevezh mashgiach.

Rabbi Dessler died quite suddenly on December 31, 1953 (Hebrew date 25 Tevet 5714), presumably of ischemic heart disease. He had suffered from peripheral vascular disease in the months prior to his death.

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 in Kabbalah and works of Hasidic Judaism and Jewish philosophy. His method in interpreting tenets of Jewish philosophy reveals an adherence to the principles of the Maharal (Rabbi Loeb of Prague, 16th century). He drew inspiration from the teachings of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav.