Rabbi Elyashiv and His Torah Dynasty

For close to a century, an unforgettably melodic tune has been sounded in Jerusalem’s Meah Shearim neighborhood. Though he holds no public position, the sound of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv’s Torah learning echoes and resounds throughout the world. From his modest apartment on 10 Chanan Street, Rabbi Elyashiv has built a glorious Torah empire, a virtual kingdom of Torah scholars. Over the years, the branches, fruits, and saplings of the Elyashiv home have intertwined with the leading families of the Torah world. Yet even as they provide shade and sustenance for the entire Jewish nation, the Elyashiv descendants remain firmly rooted to their esteemed patriarch.

In a room filled with sefarim covering every wall from floor to ceiling, in a modest apartment on the narrow cobblestone street that ranks among the narrowest in Meah Shearim, beats the heart of today’s Torah world. The halachic rulings for the generation originate in this humble abode, at 10 Chanan Street, the home of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.

Though Rabbi Elyashiv studies alone, you might think there’s a chavrusa in the room with him: as he dissects the give and take of the Talmudic discussion, he asks questions aloud, answering them himself, even responding, “Ah gutte pshat, a good explanation.”

The only furnishings in Rabbi Elyashiv’s home are those that facilitate his Torah learning: shelves filled with sefarim, a shtender for davening, a table piled with sefarim, and a bed, which Rabbi Elyashiv uses for a scant few hours so he can regain his strength for the next day’s Torah learning. The only decorations adorning the simple home are the pictures of the Torah giants that are the roots of this dynasty of Torah— his grandfather, the kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, ztz”l, author of the Leshem Shevo V’Achlamah, and his father-in-law, “the tzaddik in our times,” Rabbi Aryeh Levine.