Eliyahu Dessler

Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892 – 30 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 in Gomel in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus). His father, Reuven Dov Dessler, was a disciple of one of the main leaders of the Mussar movement, Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, best known as the Alter (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 the Russian Revolution, which would prompt his son to relocate to England.

The young Elya was taught by private tutors. At the age of 14 (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 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 would receive semicha (Rabbinic ordination) from his uncle, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who would be the spiritual leader of Orthodox Lithuanian Jewry until his death in 1939 and rarely granted ordinations.

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