13 Tammuz · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Elchanan Bunim Wasserman - Al Kiddush Hashem
Rabbi Elchanan Bunim ben Naftali Beinish Wasserman - Al Kiddush Hashem
Yahrzeit - 13 Tammuz
Burial place - Kaunas, Lithuania
He was born in the town of Birzai (Lithuania). He acquired the foundations of his Torah at the Telshe Yeshiva under the Gaon Rabbi E. Gordon and the Gaon Rabbi S. Shkop, and later under the Gaon Rabbi Chaim of Brisk. In 1899 he married the daughter of the Gaon Rabbi M. Atlas, head of the Torah court of the towns of Salant and Shavli (Šiauliai).
In 1903, together with Rabbi Yoel Baranchik of Riga, he founded a yeshiva in the town of Amcislaw (Mstislavl, Belarus), where he served as head and taught for about four years.
In 1907 he joined the Chofetz Chaim's Kollel Kodashim [a special study program established by the Chofetz Chaim for studying the section of Kodashim, dealing with the sacrifices in the Temple. Sensing the approach of Mashiach, the Chofetz Chaim did a great deal to spread the study of this section], and the Chofetz Chaim became his rav muvhak [leading teacher and mentor, supreme authority]. In 1910 he became a teacher at the Brisk Yeshiva and remained there until the outbreak of World War I. He then returned to Radin and wandered together with the Chofetz Chaim's Yeshiva to Smilovichi, where he founded a yeshiva together with the Gaon Rabbi S. Eiman and taught there for five years.
In 1921 he founded his own yeshiva, "Ohel Torah," in Baranovichi. This yeshiva gained worldwide renown, and many students flocked to it. Besides teaching at the yeshiva, he himself became one of the outstanding leaders of the Agudath Israel movement and fearlessly expressed the Torah's viewpoint everywhere, both orally and in writing.
In 1938, due to the financial difficulties of his yeshiva, he traveled to the United States, where he stood firmly for the Torah's viewpoint with dignity, despite the financial loss this entailed. His presence strengthened Torah Jewry in the United States, in places where it was still in the early stages of its development in those years.
In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the war, he returned to Baranovichi, despite the dangerous situation in Poland.
His sefarim are widely used in yeshivas and include Kovetz Hearos, Kovetz Shiurim, Kovetz Maamarim, and Ikvasa D'Meshicha.
Al Kiddush Hashem
Reb Elchanan was coldbloodedly murdered together with many other Jews when the Nazi army entered Lithuania. Reb Ephraim Oshry, who later became a rabbi on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was 27 years old at the time. He was one of the few who managed to escape. He later related the last words Reb Elchanan spoke to them.
When they saw that the end was near, Rabbi Elchanan stood up and spoke to them. He spoke just as he always did; he was calm, and there was no sign of panic.
He said the following:
"It seems that in Heaven we are considered tzadikim, for we have been chosen as korbanot for Klal Yisrael. Therefore we must do teshuvah now. We have little time. It is better as a korban if we do teshuvah. In this way, we will save the Jews in America. Let no extraneous thought enter our minds, Heaven forbid, for that would make us pigul, an unfit korban. Right now we are performing the greatest mitzvah; Jerusalem was destroyed by fire and will be rebuilt by fire. The same fire that will consume our bodies will one day rebuild Klal Yisrael."
Lesson
"Silence the mouths of our adversaries and accusers
The Vilna Gaon says that everything that happens to us in this world is nothing more than a reflection of what is happening in the spiritual world. If we see growing hatred toward the Jewish people, it means that accusations have been raised against us in Heaven. And when we ask in the prayer "Avinu Malkeinu": "Silence the mouths of our adversaries and accusers," it is precisely these spiritual accusers that are meant. Their mouths cannot be silenced with propaganda literature, but only through Torah and prayer."
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
(https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/425-Rabbi-Elchanan-Bunim; beerot.ru)
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Elchanan Bunim Wasserman