Rabbi Yerachmiel Eliyahu Botchko was an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

rabbi in Switzerland. He was the founder and

rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...

of Yeshivas Eitz Chaim in

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

, Switzerland.

Early life

Rabbi Botchko was born on January 28, 1888, in Chorzele,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(currently Poland) to Rabbi Dovid and Miriam Leah Botchko. At the relatively young age of 12, his parents sent him to the

Lomza Yeshiva The Lomza Yeshiva ( he, ישיבת לומזה) was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Łomża, Poland, founded by Rabbi Eliezer Bentzion Shulevitz in 1883. Rabbi Yechiel Mordechai Gordon served as the yeshiva's rosh yeshiva for many years, and Rabbi Mo ...

for an advanced

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...

education. Shortly after his bar mitzvah, his father died, and his mother a short time later. At some point, Eliyahu switched to the Novardok Yeshiva where he grew significantly in his Torah studies. He married Rivka Sternbuch, daughter of Rabbi Naftali Sternbuch of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and sister-in-law of

Recha Sternbuch Recha Sternbuch (née Rottenberg; 1905–1971) was a Swiss Orthodox Jewish woman who was a major Holocaust-era Jewish rescuer. Biography Born in Krakow, Poland in 1905, Sternbuch moved to St. Gallen in 1928, with her husband, Yitzchak Stern ...

. The couple settled in Basel.

Rabbinic career

The couple later resettled in

in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss ...

after Rivka fell ill and the doctors suggested relocation to the mountains. There, in the spring of 1927, Rabbi Botchko opened Yeshivas Eitz Chaim (commonly referred to as the "Montreux Yeshiva") under the instructions of his Rabbi, the Saba of Novardok. Rabbi

Yosef Leib Bloch Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch was a prominent rabbi and '' rosh yeshiva'' in Telshe (Telšiai), Lithuania. Early life Rabbi Bloch was born on February 13, 1860, in Raseiniai, Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, to Mordechai and Sara ...

of the

Telshe Yeshiva Telshe Yeshiva (also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College ...

sent five of his students to Montreux, who in addition to four local Swiss boys, made up the yeshiva. As opposed to the yeshivas in Eastern Europe where the students studied Torah the entire day, Rabbi Botchko's yeshiva was for Jewish students who went to college during the day and came only at night. The yeshiva's fame grew and it attracted students from all over Europe, and was one of the only European yeshivas to continue functioning during World War II. Teachers in the yeshiva would include Rabbis

Aharon Leib Shteinman Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman ( he, אהרן יהודה לייב שטינמן), also Shtainman or Steinman (November 3, 1914 – December 12, 2017), was a Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel. Following the death of Yosef Shalom Elyashiv in 201 ...

Moshe Soloveitchik Moshe Soloveichik (1879 in Valozhyn – January 31, 1941) was an Orthodox rabbi. He was the eldest son of renowned Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik and grandson of the Beis HaLevi. He married Pesya Feinstein, daughter of the renowned Rabbi of Pruzany, R ...

, and Aryeh Leib Glickson (the latter two were grandchildren of Rabbi

Chaim Soloveitchik Chaim (Halevi) Soloveitchik (Yiddish: חיים סאָלאָווייטשיק, pl, Chaim Sołowiejczyk), also known as Reb Chaim Brisker (1853 – 30 July 1918), was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker appr ...

Death and legacy

In January 1956, the yeshiva organized an alumni reunion in the United States, with the participation of Rabbi Botchko. En route to America, he stopped in Ireland where he suffered a sudden heart attack and died; his coffin was flown to Israel for burial, and his son, Rabbi Moshe Botchko, became rosh yeshiva. In 1985, the yeshiva moved to Jerusalem and in 1996, to the

Kokhav Ya'akov Kokhav Ya'akov ( he, כּוֹכַב יַעֲקֹב, lit. ''Star of Jacob'') is a religious Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located between Ramah in Benjamin and Beit El near al-Bireh about 10 minutes away by car from the Jerusalem neighborh ...

settlement in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. The yeshiva's name was changed to "Yeshivat Heichal Eliyahu", named after its founder, Rabbi Eliyahu Botchko, and is affiliated with the

Hesder Hesder ( he, הסדר "arrangement"; also Yeshivat Hesder ) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework. The program allo ...

yeshiva program.

Gallery

File:Yechiva Etz Haïm de Montreux - Bacheliers 1979.jpg, Yeshivas Eitz Chaim, 1979 File:Rav Moshé Botschko par Claude Truong-Ngoc 1979.jpg, His son and successor, Rabbi Moshe Botchko

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botchko, Eliyahu 1888 births 1956 deaths Swiss Orthodox rabbis 20th-century Polish rabbis Rosh yeshivas Disease-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland Polish emigrants to Switzerland Novardok Yeshiva alumni 20th-century Swiss rabbis