Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv

Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, known after his books as the Leshem Shevo Ve'Achlamah and called for that reason the Baal HaLeshem, was one of the greatest kabbalists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A consummate scholar who followed the path of the Vilna Gaon, he expounded and expanded the system of the Ari in Kabbalah and set out an ordered, comprehensive teaching of the worlds, and alongside his many books he bequeathed to the generations a way of studying the hidden Torah anchored in the sources of the Talmud and halachah. He was the grandfather of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. He was born on the 12th of Tevet 5601 (January 1841) in the town of Zhager (Žagarė) in Lithuania, to Rabbi Chaim Chaikel and Sirtira Gita. He learned Torah from his father, and later with Rabbi Gershon Tanchum of Minsk and at the yeshivah of Telz. In Telz he was not content with the revealed Torah and turned as well to the hidden Torah, studying it with the town's rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Reizin; there he also learned in chavruta with Rabbi Meir Atlas and Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Rabinowitz-Teomim. In later years, during the tenure of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook as rabbi of Žeimelis, the two studied together as colleagues and friends. For years he was the teacher of his townsman Rabbi Aharon Shlomo Maharil, and in the years before his immigration he lived in the home of his son-in-law, Rabbi Avraham, rabbi of the village of Homel. His books, known collectively as Leshem Shevo Ve'Achlamah, are among the most systematic and comprehensive works expounding the teaching of the Ari. In them he sets out the order of the descent of the worlds from the tzimtzum and the shattering of the vessels to the tikkun, explains the discourses of the world of Tohu, and argues sharply with the approaches of other kabbalists. His first book, Sefer HaKedosh, introductions and gates, was printed in 5670 (1910), when he was about seventy; after it came Sefer HaDe'ah, on the world of Tohu, and the two principal parts of the work: the part of Kelalim, on the weaving and descent of the worlds, and the part of Be'urim, a commentary on Etz Chaim of Rabbi Chaim Vital. After his passing there appeared Gilyonei Leshem Shevo Ve'Achlamah, drawn from the notes he wrote in the margins of his books, and Niglot Leshem Shevo Ve'Achlamah, which gathers from his books the matters belonging to the revealed Torah, with an introduction by Rabbi Aryeh Levin. Further works of his, commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah, on Sifra DeTzniuta and on Sefer HaTemunah, still remain in manuscript. The Baal HaLeshem was a staunch supporter of the Vilna Gaon's approach in Kabbalah, which insisted on adherence to the Talmudic sources. On that basis he came out against the kabbalistic approaches of the Ramchal and of the Baal Shem Tov, and even polemicised over it with Rabbi Kook, in a controversy whose echoes were heard among the students of the hidden Torah of that generation; elsewhere in his writings he appears to have retracted what he had attributed to the Ramchal. In 5684 (1924), at the age of 83, he immigrated to the Land of Israel and settled in Jerusalem. Together with his son-in-law Rabbi Avraham Elyashiv he founded there the beit midrash Tiferet Bachurim, where he continued to study and to teach the hidden Torah. He passed away on the 27th of Adar 5686 (13 March 1926) in Jerusalem, at the age of 85, and was buried in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. He was married to Batsheva-Esther, daughter of Rabbi David Fein of Šiauliai; his daughter Chaya Masha married Rabbi Avraham Elyashiv, who took his father-in-law's surname, and their son was Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, later a leader of the generation.

Leshem Shevo Ve'Achlamah is the name of the book and of its author for the generations. The books of the Baal HaLeshem are regarded as the central systematic exposition of the teaching of the Ari in the path of the Vilna Gaon, and students of the hidden Torah in batei midrash in Jerusalem and Lithuania learn from them. His writings were completed for print by students and those close to him, Gilyonei and Niglot appearing after his passing, while further works of his, on Sefer Yetzirah, Sifra DeTzniuta and Sefer HaTemunah, still await discovery in manuscript. And from his family came a leader of the generation for the generations that followed: his grandson, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.