Rav Dessler: The life and impact of Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler
by Jonathan Rosenblum
ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications $
Reviewed by Rabbi Joseph Elias
The Jewish Observer
January 1,
Twelve years are not a long period in which to make one’s mark in the world. In the beginning of this biography, Jonathan Rosenblum points out that Rabbi Dessler’s public life stretched over no more than twelve years – from , when he came to Gateshead to found its Kollel, to his petira (passing) in in Bnei Brak, when he had moved to become the Mashgiach of Ponovezh Yeshiva. Yet during this period he played an extraordinary role in the growth of Torah Jewry, leaving a lasting imprint on posterity.
Our Sages stress that men of great stature are rare, and therefore Divine Providence scatters them through the ages. Rabbi Dessler was such an outstanding personality – and he was chosen to live in a remarkable period and to make a seminal contribution to it. Rosenblum, who has previously earned our gratitude for his outstanding biography of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky, among other writings, has succeeded in this work to capture the essence of his subject.
Rabbi Dessler
Rav Dessler: 25 Teves
Today (25 Teves , CE) is Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler&#;s yahrzeit.
Rav Dessler (or REED, as he is called on Avodah) was a paragon of Kelm Mussar, who was willing to merge that worldview with Chassidus and the philosophy of his era. In particular from Qabbalah-influenced paths, we see the influence of the Maharal and the Tanya. Rav Dessler himself explains his ecclecticism as follows (loose translation, R YG Bechhofer):
In our times: The qualities of &#;Emet&#; that personified the Ba&#;alei Mussar [Mussar Masters] are already extinct. We no longer find individuals whose hearts are full with profound truth, with a strong and true sense of Cheshbon HaNefesh [complete and rigorous reckoning of one&#;s spiritual status and progress]. We have reached the era of Ikvasa d&#;Mashicha [the final generations before the coming of Moshaich], generations that Chazal described as superficial. If we find an individual who does learn Mussar, we find that he is primarily interested in the intellect of Mussar, the profound philosophy and psychology that are linked to Mussar. Even if he learns Mussar b&#;hispa&#;alus [with the emotional impact of
IN the pantheon of 20th-century Jewish thinkers, the Ponevezher Mashgiach, Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (–), stands as a rare beacon of spiritual insight and ethical clarity.
Born in Liepāja (Libau), an important port city in Latvia, Rav Dessler was nurtured in the rich soil of the Mussar movement. His father, Reb Reuven Dov Dessler (–), was a leading student of Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, best known as the Alter of Kelm. His mother, Henne Freidel, was a granddaughter of Rav Yisrael Salanter, the founder of the mussar movement.
When he was a small child, Eliyahu’s mother passed away. His father remarried, and the family moved to the city of Homel (in current day Belarus), where Reb Reuven Dov established a successful business with his brother Chaim Gedaliah.
Young Eliyahu received his education locally until his uncle, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski (Rav Dessler’s mother and Rav Chaim Ozer’s wife were sisters) intervened and suggested that he send one of Vilna’s finest tutors to school the promising young scholar in higher-level Torah studies. However, it wasn’t long before Rav Reuven Dov discovered that this tutor was a student of the Haskalah raging in Vilna at the time — and immedia
Rav Dessler on the Parasha
In over a thousand lectures throughout his lifetime of teaching, the renowned master of mussar, Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler offered countless inspiring and original insights into the ethics and philosophy of Torah Judaism. His shiurim were issued posthumously in a series of five Hebrew volumes entitled Michtav Me’Eliyahu, prepared by Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, one of Rabbi Dessler’s foremost disciples in England (in collaboration with Rabbi Solomon A. Halpern of London and Rabbi Chaim Friedlander of Bnei Brak). Michtav Me’Eliyahu has become a classic of modern Torah thought, widely read and studied.
Rabbi Carmell then went on to render into matchless English selected essays from the Hebrew work, which became a six-part series entitled Strive for Truth! This series which was received with resounding acclaim, introduces us to some of Rabbi Dessler’s basic ideas and penetrating insights on the confusing, bewildering world around us.
The essays in this volume, comprising Parts 5 and 6 of Strive for Truth! apply Rabbi Dessler’s penetrating mussar concepts to the weekly Torah portions, as well as to segments of the Book of Prophets and the W
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