The Jerusalem sun was low in the western sky as my photographer and I waited on the steps of the beis din at Kikar Zupnik, the center of the old chareidi yishuv. This spot is often the scene of protests, demonstrations, clashes, and funerals, but this afternoon it bore the quiet monotony of routine.We were to meet Rav Yaakov Yeshaya Blau ztz”l, one of the elder dayanim of the Eidah HaChareidis and one of its most respected leaders — a communal leader who served as a rav and halachic guide for the masses, both those within and without the ranks of the Eidah.

If Rav Blau had not shunned honor, his name would have been accompanied by a string of titles reserved for the most illustrious gedolim of the generation. But Rav Blau, who passed way last week at 84, preferred to remain behind the scenes, although he was considered the Torah world’s foremost expert on monetary law, and as rav of the Sanhedriah neighborhood in Jerusalem, he was accessible to anyone who needed his psak, receiving the public without using gabbaim as intermediaries and without having set reception hours.

Back to the steps of the beis din: I was on an assignment about the Badatz and Rav Blau had agreed to speak to me. As the Rav climbed up the steps, he watched as the photographer alongside me did his job from a safe distance. “This is the photographer’s parnassah,” I hesitatingly told the dayan, nervously anticipating his reaction. But Rav Blau was exceptionally pleasant. He stood still for a moment or two, smiled, and straightened out his coat, as if in an effort to help the photographer improve the quality of his picture, even if it displeased some of the other askanim who looked on with displeasure.

“Nu, you took the picture?” he asked the photographer in that blunt, raspy, nicotine-coated voice of the old-style Yerushalmi Yid. Upon being answered in the affirmative, Rav Blau hurried to join the Minchah minyan that preceded another grueling session in the beis din.

As I was still standing on the steps, two distinguished-looking figures appeared on the beis din’s porch: Rav Chaim Weiss, the shamash of the beis din, and Rav Yitzchak Shlomo Blau, the beis din’s scribe and Rav Yaakov Blau’s grandson. “Rav Blau asked us to tell you,” they said somewhat apologetically, “that you can’t write about the beis din, in order that you shall not sin or cause others to transgress the prohibition that blinds the wise and corrupts the words of the righteous.”

I didn’t get it. “What’s this all about?” I asked. “Rav Blau received us with such warmth. He knew in advance that I would be coming, and he even agreed to be photographed.”

“The Rav just remembered,” Rav Chaim Weiss explained, “that someone who is related to a person involved with your magazine currently has a case in the beis din. The Rav is concerned that this situation may involve a trace of shochad, bribery. You will have to wait. It is not advisable to disobey the Rav.”

Last week at the shivah house in the now-forlorn apartment at 4 Rechov Elashah in the Sanhedriah (Pagi) neighborhood, Rav Blau’s grandson Rav Yitzchak Shlomo Blau reminded me of that incident, and recalled many others like it. Once, someone gave his zeideh a ride in his car. The next day, that same man appeared in the beis din for a court case. Rav Blau literally trembled, fearing that he would be in violation of the Biblical prohibition of shochad. He refused to see the man in his beis din.

About a year ago, as Rav Blau’s health declined, a certain piece of medical equipment was purchased for his use. An expert in this particular device offered the Rav his services, volunteering to come once a week to Rav Blau’s home in order to help him operate it. The day before the appointed visit, the man appeared in the beis din to register for a din Torah. Rav Blau summoned the man and told him, “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you come to my home to help me. I’m concerned that it may be a form of shochad.”

Said Rav Yitzchak Shlomo, “If my grandfather ever caught someone in a lie, the person didn’t have a chance.”

“My father was a man of truth,” eulogized his son Rav Chaim Yosef Blau — a dayan in the Eidah HaChareidis — at the funeral. “Many years ago, when international calls were prohibitively expensive, someone called him from abroad and kept him on the phone. My father, concerned that the call was costing him so much, wanted to make it as short as possible. But the caller explained that he’d discovered a trick to keep the call cheap, and when my father realized it was illegal, he raised his voice and said, ‘so you are a thief and a cheat and I have nothing more to say to you,’ and slammed down the phone.”

My Nephew, My Friend

Rav Yaakov Blau was the son of Rav Baruch Yehudah Blau ztz”l and grandson of Rav Moshe Blau ztz”l, both of whom were Agudah leaders in Eretz Yisrael. Rav Elyakim Shlesinger, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas HaRamah in London, is the son-in-law of Rav Moshe Blau and uncle of Rav Yaakov. Although last week in Rav Shlesinger’s son’s home in Jerusalem, the elderly rav mourned more than just a nephew — he mourned his closest friend.

“Reb Yaakov lost his mother when he was just two years old,” his uncle Rav Shlesinger explains. “Since then, he was raised by my father-in-law, his grandfather, Rav Moshe Blau. When he was 16, I married into the family and my father-in-law asked me to learn with him. For me, it was a tremendous zchus. We learned together every day, and I soon saw that he had a moiredige kup — an excellent head. He was known for his unusually quick grasp and phenomenal memory; he never forgot anything he learned.”

Rav Shlesinger says his nephew was destined for greatness even as a youngster. “When he was in cheder, everyone knew that this child was destined to be a gadol. Besides his genius in Torah, he also had incredible mathematical skills and other intellectual gifts. With those gifts, he was able to write dozens of works on the most complicated areas of halachah. Once every few generations,” he continues, “a unique gaon enters the world and provides the Jewish people with a rare sefer without which the Torah world simply could not manage.”

Rav Shlesinger was referring to the nine-volume set on Choshen Mishpat entitled Pischei Choshen, the most definitive halachic work on monetary and business law that exists today. Rav Blau, who was in charge of the kashrus and eiruvin departments of the Badatz and specialized in cases of ribis, heter iska, and other business-related halachos, wrote over 20 seforim on other complex subjects such as Chovas Hadar on mezuzah, Pischei Nedarim on the halachos of oaths, Melo HaOmer on the halachos of challah, Pischei Mikvaos on the halachos of mikveh, Bircas Yaakov on the halachos of brachos, Malbushei Yesha on the halachos of shatnez, and Nesivos Shabbos on halachos of carrying and eiruv.

Rav Blau, who suffered for years from excruciating back pain before his recent diagnosis of a malignancy, kept up his grueling schedule until he collapsed two weeks ago. “I visited him on the last night before his petirah — and the next day, the generation lost one of its greatest poskim. Not only was he a pillar of support in rendering halachic decisions, but he helped so many Jews in many hidden ways.”

Rav Blau had the quick wit and sharp tongue of a seasoned Yerushalmi, yet he also had the patience to field every query that came his way. Even so, he bemoaned the fact that today, everyone runs after a rav for every aspect of one’s life instead of relying on the mesorah of his grandfathers. “What happened to sheal avicha v’yagedcha?” he would say. Yet even as he lived for his writing and his learning — his neighbors talk about how passersby could see him through the window writing for hours on end — he was always available, and totally approachable, and although he was the Eidah’s most eminent dayan, simple folk came to him at all hours with their personal dilemmas. During The Nine Days, one woman came with an urgent question: Was she allowed to wash doll clothing in addition to soiled baby clothes? Rav Blau furrowed his brow in contemplation and responded, “How old is the doll?”

Forever Big Brother

Rav Tuvia Blau yblch”t, rav of the Chabad community in Neve Yaakov and one of the most prominent figures in chinuch in Jerusalem, was seven years his brother’s junior, born after their father remarried. But other than an age difference and a subtle ideological divide, Rav Tuvia says he lost his halachic guide.

Rav Moshe Blau was the prestate leader of Agudas Yisrael, and his son Rav Baruch Yehudah was secretary general of Chinuch Atzma’i from the time of its founding. Rav Tuvia Blau and his two other brothers became Chabad chassidim. How, then, did Rav Yaakov Blau come to the Eidah HaChareidis?

“During our grandfather’s lifetime,” Rav Tuvia explains, “the Agudah and the Eidah were still united. Over time, they parted ways. My two other brothers and I chose to follow the derech of Chabad, and Rav Yaakov continued in the same direction he had inherited from our grandfather.

“I can tell you with certainty that there was nothing in the Torah hidden from him,” Rav Tuvia continues. “He knew it all: halachah, Kabbalah, mussar, Chassidus — everything. At nights, we would sit and study mystical topics. He knew Tanya backward and forward. But that’s how he learned everything. Even when he was occupied earning a living, he made sure to finish his quota of learning by three o’clock in the morning.”

As a youngster, Rav Yaakov learned in Yeshivas Torah V’Yirah, in Eitz Chaim, and later in Mir, soon developing a close relationships with the gedolim of Yerushalayim. As a young man, Rav Blau developed a close bond with Rav Dovid Jungreis, the head of the Eidah HaChareidis, who was very fond of the young genius and granted him semichah. “The semichah was contingent on my brother not participating in elections,” relates Rav Tuvia Blau.

“My brother told the Raavad that he would have to ask his father before agreeing to such a commitment. My father, one of Agudah’s most ardent political activists, gave him permission.” Years later, when he became a member of the Badatz, Rav Blau’s signature began to appear on the Eidah’s announcements prohibiting participation in the elections. But that was all. He never signed on the Eidah’s other edicts or proclamations.

Was he considered a kana’i?

“Once he took his position, he adhered to the principles of the Eidah HaChareidis,” Rav Tuvia explains. “But a kana’i? He always avoided any form of kanaus, and his admiration for Torah leaders crossed party lines: He was close to the Beis Yisrael of Gur, the Tschebiner Rav, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

“We may have had our ideological differences, but all of us brothers looked to him for guidance. I consulted him regarding every detail of my personal life. His unusual sagacity, alongside the general knowledge that he had amassed regarding financial matters, technology, and many other surprising areas, guided my every step.”

In the Bank

Despite his brilliance in Torah, Rav Blau made a living working as a teller and later as an account manager at the Israel-British Bank (which liquidated in 1974), although Eidah HaChareidis head Rav Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss ztz”l — the Minchas Yitzchak — spent many years trying to persuade him to accept a position as a dayan on the Badatz. The two initially met when the Minchas Yitzchak sent a heter iska contract to the bank where Rav Blau worked, and it was returned several hours later with a large number of halachic corrections — piquing the Minchas Yitzchak’s curiosity. The Minchas Yitzchak spent years insisting he join the ranks of the Badatz, but Rav Blau refused to use his Torah knowledge to earn a living, until all his children were married. Ironically, just after the Minchas Yitzchak’s passing, Rav Blau finally joined the beis din of the Eidah, after the marriage of his youngest son.

Rav Blau was self-educated in myriad subjects, and initially the bank didn’t want to hire him until he proved that he could calculate mortgages and interest rates faster than the clerk using a calculator. He would review the halachos of ribis before approving a loan, and in later years his combined financial knowledge and familiarity with the banking industry helped him become known as the Torah world’s foremost dayan on monetary matters.

His understanding of technology boosted him to the head of the Eidah’s kashrus division, and, familiar with every sort of raw material, he traveled around the world in order to conduct personal inspections of the manufacturing process in Eidah-certified factories.

“No one ever managed to deceive him,” said his brother.

Still, was it accepted back then for a talmid chacham of his stature to hold positions that were not centered around Torah? “My brother was unique and original,” Rav Tuvia explained. “He was never concerned by what others would say about him. If he needed parnassah, he went to work. But those few hours when he earned a living were always secondary to the hours he spent learning. There was no area of Torah in which he was not an expert.”

“It was impossible to make a claim before him if you weren’t one thousand percent certain that it was correct,” related Rav Yosef Ashkenazi, a rabbinical court pleader who often appeared before Rav Blau. “I was at the last din Torah he presided over, about two weeks ago. It was a dispute that had to do with stocks, and Rav Blau was a master of the entire subject, from the intricacies and loopholes relating to the corporations and the complexities of owning shares. Seasoned businessmen were often astounded by Rav Blau’s unusual breadth of knowledge. Everyone with a din Torah wanted the Sunday session, when Rav Blau was sitting.”

During that last din Torah of his life, when Rav Ashkenazi was representing one of the litigants, Rav Blau, whose body had been racked with pain for years, collapsed.

The next time that Rav Blau passed through the gates of the beis din, where he had spent the last 24 years, it was Monday afternoon of last week as his pure body was wrapped in a tallis as the thousands of people who had stood before him in judgment, sought his advice, learned from him, and loved him now came to weep over their tragic loss.

THE YERUSHALMI AND THE AMERIKANER

“Rav Yaakov Yeshaya Blau was both brilliant and humble, a Yerushalayimer Yid who embodied the grace of the Holy City. And here I was, an American yungerman, eager to learn halachah at his feet, yet from a milieu and mindset so different than his own,” remembers Rabbi Tzvi Fischer, rosh kollel in Portland, Oregon.

“He said no.”

In Rav Blau’s humility, he didn’t see himself as the correct address for American yungeleit looking to learn the ins and outs of practical halachic psak. But at one point, he needed a favor from Rabbi Fischer’s father, Monsey mohel Rabbi Yitzchak Fischer. “He was the prototypical makir tov, so he relented,” said Rabbi Fischer. “Each Friday morning, he welcomed me to his home, where we discussed the sheilos and issues that had arisen during the preceding week.

“Our group of four yungeleit was among his first talmidim, an unwilling admission of his role as a gadol in halachah. The Rav’s seforim, rulings, and reputation established him as a preeminent poseik, but we, his talmidim, saw the breadth of his vision as well. Later, when I moved from Eretz Yisrael and became a rav in Portland, I began to appreciate how relevant the decisions rendered by this Yerushalmi Yid, heir to the path of the old yishuv, was to every Jew, everywhere.”

The Pacific Northwestern United States is the country’s coffee capital, and a fresh cup of brewed coffee is taken very seriously in the Northwest. Some of the locals had developed a method of pouring hot water over coffee grinds for a freshly brewed coffee. “I asked the Rav about this practice for Shabbos morning,” Rav Tzvi remembers how this Eida dayan grasped the subtleties of Jewish life on the West Coast, “and he explained that since the grounds aren’t kalei habishul [easily and quickly cooked], in addition to the fact that they’d already been roasted, it was permissible. Then he looked at me and added, ‘Ubber nisht far dir, not for you.’$$$separatequote”

Rabbi Fischer flew to Israel last week for the shivah, and while he was there, the family was visited by a delegation from Tnuva Dairy, where Rav Blau had been a kashrus supervisor. They said there was never a problem he identified for which he did not also offer a solution. His mastery of the mechanical enabled him to point out problem areas, but his creativity and innovation empowered him to solve the problems too.

“Someone present at the shivah related that when Menachem Begin was prime minister and the religious parties first joined the government, they asked if they could create a ‘heter iska’ for the entire country, saving tens of thousands of residents from the prohibition of ribis [taking interest],” said Rav Tzvi. “Begin agreed, and Rav Weiss, the Minchas Yitzchak, was approached to draft a halachic plan. He explained that as the av beis din of the Eidah HaCharedis, he couldn’t come to the Ministry of Finance to create an agreement, but that he would send someone suited to the task. A young Rav Blau came.

“At one point in the review, he encountered a law that was ribis d’Oraysa, and he told the representatives that there was no solution, no loophole or halachic way around it. They were adamant that the law wasn’t negotiable, claiming that the economy depended it on it. The next day, he offered an innovative plan, a way to rewrite the law that would not just be halachically permissible, but one that would save the government millions of shekels.”

The Rav suffered greatly from physical ailments, yet if he was Yerushalmi tough on the outside, he was warm and loving on the inside. “He would always walk me to the door and kiss me before I left. One of the other talmidim was driving the Rav somewhere, and he had his toddler in the back seat. He heard giggling, and turned to see Rav Blau, facing the back seat and tickling the child.

“Seven years ago, the Rav married his second rebbetzin and immediately welcomed her family as his own, treating them with love and concern. When one of the rebbetzin’s grandsons was considering a rabbanus position in a small American community, Rav Blau called me to ask my opinion, and if I would help the new rav get settled.

“Rav Blau was my rebbi. He understood facilities, ingredients, chemicals, and numbers — but most of all, he understood people, giving each one what he needed.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 444)