Eliyahu Halevi Feinstein, also known as Reb Elye Pruzhaner, (b.

Slutsk Slutsk ( officially transliterated as Sluck, be, Слуцк; russian: Слуцк; pl, Słuck, lt, Sluckas, Yiddish/Hebrew: סלוצק ''Slutsk'') is a city in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2022, its population is ...

, Russia 1843 - d.

Pruzhany Pruzhany ( be, Пружа́ны, ; russian: Пружаны, pl, Prużana, yi, פרוזשענע, Pruzhene) is a town in Brest Voblast, Belarus. Pruzhany is the center of the district in Brest Region, Belarus. Its population is about 18,500 people. ...

, 1929), was a leading rabbinic authority of his time.

Education

Feinstein was born in

, in the

Minsk Governorate The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partition ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

), in 1843. In 1851-1852, aged ten years old, he became the pupil of Rabbi Joseph Feimer ("Reb Yossele Slutzker") in Slutsk. Afterwards he continued his studies at the

Volozhin Yeshiva Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious Lithuanian ''yeshiva'' located in the town of Volozhin, Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Rabbi Ḥayyim Volozhiner, a stude ...

, then led by the

Netziv Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (20 November 1816 in Mir, Russia – 10 August 1893 in Warsaw, Poland), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox rabbi, '' Rosh yeshiva'' (dean) of the Volozhin ...

Rabbinate

Feinstein held many rabbinical posts during his life, but always on one condition: that he be free from non-urgent community concerns until noon every day, so he could study

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 ...

uninterrupted. He became rabbi of Starobin in 1863, of

Kletsk Kletsk ( be, Клецк, Klieck, originally known as ''Klechesk'', russian: Клецк, pl, Kleck, ) is a city in the Minsk Region of Belarus, located on the Lan River. In 2015 it had 11,237 inhabitants. History The town was founded in the ...

in 1867, and of Karelitz in 1873. He was then rabbi of Chaslovitz. His final position was as rabbi of

. He was called Rabbi Elya Pruzhaner from that time forward. It was in the time that he was rabbi in Pruzhany that he was often called to serve on a

Bet Din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

for Lyakhovichi. Although he received many offers to be Rav of larger cities, he preferred to stay in

. The town of Pruzhany was one of four so called "Karpes" cities in which the

Hasidim Ḥasīd ( he, חסיד, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observ ...

did not gain a foothold. He was twice offered the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, but each time turned it down. Possible reasons for his declination are the need to find proper suitors for his unwed daughters, or unwillingness to become entangled in the politics of the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. When this position was instead taken by

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one ...

Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, also spelled Zonnenfeld (1 December 1848 – 26 February 1932), was the rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, a Haredi Jewish community in Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. He wa ...

expressed his regret over Reb Elye's decision.

Family

Feinstein was married to Guta Davidovitch, a descendant of a long line of rabbis in the town of

Kopyl Kapyl ( be, Капы́ль, Kapyĺ, russian: Копыль, Kopyl; pl, Kopyl; lt, Kapylius; yi, קאפּוליע) is an urban settlement and the capital of Kapyl District in Belarus. It is located west-northwest of Slutsk and south-southwest o ...

.The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Volume 1 By Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
page 11
Reb Elye's brothers-in-law included Rabbi Yaakov Kantarovich, and Rabbi David Feinstein, father of Rabbi

Moshe Feinstein Moshe Feinstein ( he, משה פײַנשטיין; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moshe Faynshteyn''; en, Moses Feinstein; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—J ...

. David Feinstein, Reb Moshe's father, was chosen by Reb Elye as a groom for his sister-in-law, on condition that R. David abandon his

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

practices, and agree to study in the

for four years. Reb Elye's daughters married famous Torah scholars. His oldest daughter married Menachem Krakowski, author of the ''Avodat ha-Melech'' on

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''h ...

. His next daughter married

Moshe Soloveitchik Moshe Soloveichik (1879 in Valozhyn – January 31, 1941) was an Orthodox Judaism, 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 Ra ...

, father of

Joseph B. Soloveitchik Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion ...

. A third daughter married Dovid Feigenbaum who succeeded Reb Elye as rabbi of Pruzhany. Reb Elye's youngest daughter married Eliezer Meisels, grandson of Eliyahu Chaim Meisels, Rabbi of Lodz.

Legacy

Feinstein dealt with many critical issues facing the Jewish community at the time. He proposed instituting vocational training within the

yeshivos A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

, but was unsuccessful. Feinstein's approach to

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

was influenced by the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( he , ר' אליהו בן שלמה זלמן ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman'') known as the Vilna Gaon (Yiddish: דער װילנער גאון ''Der Vilner Gaon'', pl, Gaon z Wilna, lt, Vilniaus Gaonas) or Elijah of ...

. He sought clear and logical explanations over complicated ''

pilpul ''Pilpul'' ( he, פלפול, loosely meaning 'sharp analysis'; ) is a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any appare ...

''. Of his many writings only one part has been published, under the title ''Halichot Eliyahu''. He died on October 31, 1929, and was eulogized throughout the Jewish world.

References

Sources

* http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_pages/vol_yes_stu.html
The Soloveitchik Heritage: A Daughter's Memoir, By Shulamit Soloveitchik Meiselman

The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Volume 1, By Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff * http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lyakhovichi/Rabbonim.htm * http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/slutsk/slu228.html * http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/slutsk/slu246.html * http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=571&letter=P&search=pruzhany פנקס פרוז'אני והסביבה : עדות וזכרון לקהלות שהושמדו בשואה. פרידלנדר, יוסף,1983

External links

Halikhot Eliyahu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinstein, Eliahu 1843 births 1929 deaths People from Slutsk People from Slutsky Uyezd Belarusian Haredi rabbis 19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian rabbis