Eliyahu Chaim Rosen - Yeshiva Founder

Yeshiva Founder

In 1937, he founded the Breslover Yeshiva in the Old City and served as its rosh yeshiva.

Sixteen years later, he spearheaded the construction of a larger Breslover synagogue and yeshiva in Meah Shearim. His ambitious plans for a four-story structure were ridiculed by some, since there were only about 150 Breslover Hasidim in the entire country at the time. Today, however, the building is not large enough to house the many people who come to it for prayers and study. The yeshiva building also operates gemachs (free-loan funds) for needy families, medical expenses and general loans.

Beyond his responsibilities as rosh yeshiva, Rosen was a central address for all who sought a sympathetic ear for their problems and worries. Invariably visitors would leave his study wondering what had bothered them so much in the first place. The problems didn't disappear, but Rosen was able to cut away all the surrounding anxieties and pressures and zero in on the one issue that the person needed to work on to improve his situation. Rosen often explained, "The Torah has five Books. The Shulchan Aruch has four volumes. What happened to the fifth volume? That corresponds to one's common sense, knowing where and how to apply your knowledge."

Weakened by typhus and other ailments during his youth, Rosen nevertheless radiated strength, joy and serenity throughout his life. Even when he grew very weak near the end of his life, he arose every night at midnight to recite the Tikkun Chatzot (Midnight Lament) and practiced hitbodedut regularly. When people asked him how he found the strength to pursue these rigorous devotions, he answered, "If you get used to it when you are young, it comes automatically after so many years." In the last year of his life, when he was bedridden most of the time, he remarked, "What would I be able to do now, if I didn't have Rebbe Nachman's advice of hitbodedut?"