Photos: Eli Cobin

Thursday night in Jerusalem is always hectic —but this one was particularly so for Rabbi Yaakov Rosenes. Two large orders had come into his seforim website: Dvir in Raanana wanted 12 volumes of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv’s he’aros, along with the last three volumes of his Sh’eilos U’Tshuvos; and Jeff in New Jersey was seeking the 18-volume Tiferes Tzion by Rav Yitzchak Zev Yadler.

Google often lists Rabbi Rosenes’s website, Virtual Geula, among its top results for Torah literature title searches, offering hope to seforim hunters like Dvir and Jeff who have exhausted every other possibility. Rabbi Rosenes has built an extensive list of contacts and seforim purveyors over the years; for Dvir and Jeff, he knew exactly where to turn.

Rabbi Rosenes set out from his home office in Ramat Shlomo in the family car. The first pick-up — Rav Elyashiv’s seforim, for Dvir — took Rabbi Rosenes to the old part of Givat Shaul, the home of Rav Chaim Zeivald. Rav Zeivald was the editor for most of Rav Elyashiv’s seforim, and a formidable talmid chacham in his own right. The particular volumes that Dvir in Raanana wanted were nearly impossible to find in stores. Rabbi Rosenes knew that Rav Zeivald was the world’s sole source for these works.

The door to the Zeivald home opened and the rich aromas of Erev Shabbos wafted out. Rebbetzin Zeivald explained that the rav was at the beis medrash, but she invited Rabbi Rosenes in to take the seforim while she and her daughters continued with preparations. He surveyed the 1950s décor in the salon and made his way around the family table, at that moment serving as a staging area for baked goods.

Stepping around baskets of clean laundry and grandchildren’s toys, he arrived at the tall bookcases, where Rav Zeivald had prepared the order. Most of it, that is — a few stray items had to be located at the top of the packed shelves. A chair was provisioned for him to climb on to reach the last volumes. Rabbi Rosenes collected the box of simple black books containing Rav Elyashiv’s treasured divrei Torah and left for his next pick-up — in the cozy back alleys of Beis Yisrael, near Yeshivas Mir.