Gedalyah Nadel - Biography

Biography

Gedaliah Nadel was born in Šiauliai, Lithuania to Rabbi Reuven Keshel. In 1936, his family immigrated to Palestine and settled in the Balfouria Colony in what is now Northern Israel. After briefly studying in Yeshiva in Tel Aviv, he switched to the Lomzha Yeshiva in Petach Tikvah. There, he studied under Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach. As a child, Gedaliah was known for his diligence and devotion to studying Torah, reportedly studying for up to eighteen hours consecutively. Afterwards Gedaliah studied under Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, known as Chazon Ish, who molded him into his principal student.

Rabbi Nadel married the daughter of Rabbi Eliyahu Weiner, a student of the Chofetz Chaim. Following the wedding, they lived in Jerusalem for a short while, before moving to Bene Barak. There he lived an ascetic life. When the Chazon Ish realized his dream of establish a special community of religious devotees, he chose Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel to lead the community. As leader of the community, such leaders as Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, and his son Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, turned to Rabbi Nadel for decisions. Rabbi Nadel's house was used as a gathering place for the Rabbinic personalities of his day, such as Rabbi Shach and Rabbi Y.Y. Kanievsky.

Rabbi Nadel also briefly served as the Rosh Yeshiva of the Vishnitz Hasidic community.

Rabbi Nadel asserted that certain concepts mentioned in the Torah and Talmud that were not of a legalistic nature were not necessarily to be taken literally.. His writings were analyzed and taken into account during the Slifkin affair. Rabbi Natan Slifkin himself subscribes to the views espoused by Rabbi Nadel, much to the chagrin of many Hareidi leaders (see also ).

Rabbi Nadel also claimed that his mentor, the Chazon Ish, garnered a vast knowledge in medical science by studying medical journals in his spare time..