Rav Eliezer Zev Hager — appointed Rebbe of Vizhnitz-Yerushalayim after his father’s passing — has made it his life’s mission to help Yidden heal

Photos: Mishpacha archives

Rebbes don’t usually speak on cell phones, certainly not in public. Yet this Rebbe can often be spotted with the tip of the small flip-phone peering out from under the heavy silver atarah of his tallis, on the phone with doctors, technicians, worried family members and patients, taking calls 24/7 — even on Shabbos — on matters of pikuach nefesh.

Jews across the world know that when a loved one is ill, their address for support, advice, and medical connections is Rav Eliezer Zev Hager, known as the Vizhnitz-Yerushalayim Rebbe (although he is based in New York). And for good reason: Leave a message and he’ll call back. For the past three decades, countless Jews have sought his advice, and rabbanim and rebbes have referred complex medical cases to him, the kind that require rare insight and a heavy sense of responsibility.

Even physicians who’ve never previously met a chassidic grand rabbi are left in awe by this man in distinctive chassidic garb who’s willing to forego a night’s sleep as he waits for the test results of someone he doesn’t even know, or who will run to the hospital during Leil Haseder or before breaking his fast on Yom Kippur to check on one of “his” patients. For the Rebbe, every case becomes personal.

Rabbi, Are You Happy Now?

Rav Eliezer Zev Hager is the fifth son of the Toldos Mordechai (“Rebbe Mottele”) of Vizhnitz-Monsey ztz”l. In 1989 Rebbe Mottele sent his son Rav Eliezer Zev to head the Vizhnitz kehillah in Jerusalem, and although he returned to his father’s court several years later, he became known as the “Yerushalayim Rebbe” after his father’s petirah in 2018. in his tzava’ah, the Vizhnitz-Monsey Rebbe appointed seven sons and one grandson as rebbes (the Rebbe had eight sons and six daughters, and although one son predeceased him, this son’s son became a rebbe), and they each head various Vizhnitz communities around the world.

When Eliezer Zev was a young boy, his father, the Vizhnitz-Monsey Rebbe, sent him to Kiryat Vizhnitz in Bnei Brak to learn with his grandfather, the Imrei Chaim, who became his mentor. Eliezer Zev was just a teenager when the Imrei Chaim passed away in 1972, but the memory of his illustrious grandfather still accompanies Rav Eliezer Zev wherever he goes, and many attribute the modesty and joy that he constantly radiates to his zeide’s early influence.

The tireless holy work of assisting the sick and their families and interfacing with medical professionals on their behalf is a calling the Vizhnitz-Yerushalayim Rebbe acquired from his father-in-law, Rebbe Dovid Twerski of Skver-Boro Park ztz”l, who was himself a veritable one-man medical organization, extremely well-connected with top doctors in all areas of expertise.

Nineteen years ago, when the Rebbe of Skver-Boro Park passed away, a non-Jewish surgeon came to pay a nichum aveilim visit, offering his condolences to the family with the following story: “One night,” the doctor recalled, “the rabbi called me to request that I come over immediately to help a Jew who was in great pain. His appointment with a specialist was a way off, but his condition had taken a turn for the worse and it was imperative that he be treated immediately, preferably privately. ‘For you, I’ll do it, rabbi,’ I said to him. ‘But I want to hear that you’re happy.’

“But your father said he wasn’t so happy. ‘I’ll be happy if you reduce the bill for the procedure, even if only by a little,’ he said to me. ‘The patient isn’t wealthy, and he’ll have a hard time meeting the expense.’

“ ’Okay rabbi,’ I said, because I respected him. ‘I’ll make it half the price I usually take. Now are you happy?’

“ ’Still not,’ was the answer. ‘I would be happier if you wouldn’t charge him for the operation at all. He’s a poor man and this situation really hit him out of nowhere.’

“ ’Fine, for you, rabbi’ — I agreed to this too — ‘but only if I’ll hear that you’re finally happy.’

“But the rabbi apparently hadn’t finished his mission yet. ‘I would ask if perhaps you yourself could give him a few hundred dollars to help him live during the period of recovery, before he can return to work. What will the poor man do? How will he eat?’ What could I do? I’d never refused the rabbi, so I treated him for free and gave the patient a respectable sum, so that the rabbi would be happy. And now, when I heard that the rabbi passed away, I felt compelled to come here to express my admiration for that great man, who never saw anything but good in his fellow Jews.”

That story stayed with Rav Eliezer Zev and made a deep impression. As a young man, the Vizhnitz-Yerushalayim Rebbe — who already had many admirers drawn to him for his intense level of avodah and breadth of Torah knowledge — closely observed his father-in-law, learning about this sort of chesed from close-up. But he’d actually accrued an arsenal of medical knowledge before that. When the Rebbe was young, his mother (who was the daughter of Rebbe Yaakov Yosef of Skver) fell severely ill. Eliezer Zev spent seven months with her in the hospital, his young mind absorbing everything — the medical teams, their terminology, the rules, the equipment, the way doctors related to each other. It was as if his brain took in everything and stored it away in anticipation of the time when he’d put his storehouse of knowledge to use in alleviating the suffering of others.