He was the longest-serving rav in modern times, became the mechutan of dozens of chassidic giants, and had close to 1,500 progeny— landing him the title “mesader kiddushin of the generation.” But that was just one dimension ofRav Elchanan Halpern, the venerated rav of Golders Green in London
Until he was 14, young Elchanan Halpern learned with his holy grandfather, Rav Shmuel Engel, who lost his eyesight at the end of his life. Another great tzaddik who lived in Kashau at the time and attracted the young illui was Rav Avraham Shalom Halberstam of Stropkov. With the rumblings of World War II in the air, Rav Elchanan fled Europe, escaping to London. When he went to take his leave of his rebbe, the Stropkover Rebbe wished him success in everything he would do — and that was a brachah that accompanied him throughout his life. His grandchildren relate that whenever he asked them to do something and they were unsuccessful, he would attribute the lack of success to a lack of effort. “The Rebbe blessed me with success in everything I would do, and his brachos were always fulfilled,” he would explain. “If success has not come, it means that the requisite actions have not been taken to bring it about.”
When he moved to London, Rav Chuna became close with Rav Shalom Moskowitz of Shotz — who was also a relative — becoming his talmid muvhak. In addition to being Rav Elchanan’s rebbe, Rav Shalom also became his shadchan. Rav Chuna married a daughter of Rav Nachum Lidzerovsky, an Aleksander chassid and descendant of both the Baal Shem Tov and the Noda B’Yehudah.
Soon after his wedding, at age 20, Rav Elchanan Halpern began his tenure as rav of the Beis Shmuel kehillah, which he founded in Golders Green. For the next 73 years, he never missed a Shabbos Shuvah or Shabbos Hagadol derashah. Today, the beis medrash is counted among the oldest and most significant shuls in the neighborhood, but seven decades ago, Rav Elchanan began a veritable revolution, encouraging community members — many only marginally committed to a religious lifestyle — to send their children to chareidi yeshivos rather than academic institutions. And as the boys of the community filled themselves with Shas and poskim in the yeshivos of Lucerne and Gateshead, they returned home with renewed commitment — coaxing their parents to make their homes spiritually stronger.
In his beis medrash, Rav Elchanan Halpern delivered shiurim in Gemara, halachah, mussar, and chassidus. Throughout the years though, he firmly upheld the rule that no shiur was to be delivered in the main beis medrash in English. Since that was the only language some of the congregants spoke, Rav Elchanan designated a side room for shiurim in English to be delivered by various rabbanim and darshanim. He also appointed marshals to enforce the rule against speaking in the beis medrash during davening. But rather than his congregants — many of whom were Holocaust survivors — bolting at these measures, they flocked to him.
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