More than a family, more than a dynasty: the Elyashiv family tree is a virtual kingdom of Torah scholarship

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.

From the modest house on Chanan Street – with its simple appearance and magnificent spiritual proportions – many branches of the Elyashiv dynasty have taken root and blossomed, spreading throughout the Torah world. Just several miles and a couple of decades lie between the eminent resident of this apartment and his descendants. Yet they all share his Torah, his pleasure in learning, his fervor and his halachic exactitude. The apples haven’t fallen very far from the tree.

If there’d ever be a family reunion attended by all the branches of this “royal family,” it’s doubtful whether the facility would be able to contain their combined greatness. This imaginary gathering would unite a veritable “mizrach vant” of our generation’s greatest Torah leaders and tzaddikim, a significant number of whom are linked in some way to the magnificent Torah dynasty rooted in the apartment on Chanan Street.

Tears and Silence

The history of the Elyashiv family in Eretz Yisrael began in Adar, 5684 (1924), when the grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, immigrated from Shavel, Lithuania, together with his son-in-law Rabbi Avraham, his daughter Chaya Musha, and his grandson Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who was at the time a young boy. Rabbi Avraham’s original family name remains unknown, since he adopted his wife’s family name to facilitate his escape. It is known, however, that he studied under the Chofetz Chaim in Radin, and later in Dvinsk.

Rabbi Elyashiv was close to his grandfather in his youth, and when his grandfather’s eyesight failed, the young Yosef Shalom would write his Torah novella by dictation. He is mentioned once in his grandfather’s works with the designation, “fortunate is the one who gave birth to him.”

The story of that birth is a moving one. Rabbi Elyashiv’s mother, Rebbetzin Chaya Musha, was childless for a long period of time. One day she hid behind the oven and, poured out her pain in copious tears. Her father, the author of the Leshem, passed by and was moved by her weeping. She told him she wanted a son; he thought for a moment, and then blessed her with a son who would enlighten the eyes of the people of Israel.

A commonly told story, whose source is unknown, relates that once Rebbetzin Chaya Musha worked all day washing the family’s laundry, which under the conditions of Jerusalem in those days involved an entire day of backbreaking work with large vats of boiling water and corrosive soaps. After hanging the fresh laundry on a line in a communal courtyard, where the Jerusalemite custom was to hang laundry from the corner of one house to another, she took her leave and returned home. A neighbor passed, and was so annoyed by the laundry that interfered with her path she took a scissors and cut the line, causing the wet laundry to tumble to the ground in a muddy mess.

When the Rebbetzin returned after a while to retrieve her laundry, she was shocked to see the malicious damage. But without a word, she picked it up and steeled herself to repeat the entire exhausting process once again. In the merit of her silence, the story concludes, she gave birth to a son who enlightened Israel with his Torah.

This story is not historically exact, for we know that Rabbi Elyashiv celebrated his bar mitzvah on the ship on the way to Eretz Yisrael. Perhaps the story occurred in Europe with the necessary change of background details.

As a youth, Rabbi Elyashiv spent his days and nights studying Torah in Meah Shearim’s Ohel Sarah shul, located not far from the famous “shtiblach.” Being as his own residence was in the same courtyard, it was said that for two full years, the young Torah scholar never left the courtyard once. Even after his wedding the beis medrash was the furthest destination he ever visited. During that period, Rabbi Elyashiv developed a close relationship with the rabbi of Jerusalem of the time, Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis, who wrote regarding him that “the halachah is as he says in every place.”