Eliezer Shlomo Schick

Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo Schick
Position Founder
Organisation Mesivta Heichal Hakodesh
Began 1962
Ended 2015
Other Founder and leader of "Breslov City" in Yavne'el, Israel
Personal details
Birth name Eliezer Shlomo Schick
Born May 29, 1940
Jerusalem
Died February 6, 2015(2015-02-06) (aged 74)
New York City
Buried Yavne'el, Israel
Denomination Hasidic Judaism
Residence Brooklyn, New York
Parents Rabbi Menachem Zev Schick
Malka
Spouse Shifra Rotenberg
Children Nachman Alexander Zusia
Toba
Perel
Devora
Nussen Moshe Shmiel[1]
Alma mater Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem

Eliezer Shlomo Schick (May 29, 1940 – February 6, 2015),[2] also known as Mohorosh (acronym for Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Shlomo, "Our teacher, our rabbi, Eliezer Shlomo"[3]) was a Hasidic rabbi and prolific author and publisher of Breslov teachings. He wrote and disseminated approximately 1,000 different pamphlets based on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. He was the founder and leader of the self-styled "Breslov City" in the Galilee town of Yavne'el, Israel, and had thousands of Hasidim around the world.

Early life

Eliezer Shlomo Schick was born in Jerusalem to Rabbi Menachem Zev, the gaavad (head of the rabbinical court) of Tokay, Hungary, and his wife Malka.[3][1] As a young boy, he learned in the Etz Chaim cheder.[1] When he was a youth, his family relocated to New York City, where he studied in the Kashau yeshiva and then in Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem under Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.[3]

At the age of 15, Schick came across the popular Breslov booklet Meshivat Nefesh by Rabbi Alter Tepliker, which attracted him to Rebbe Nachman's teachings.[3] He began to spend many hours each day in hitbodedut per Rebbe Nachman's instructions, and studied more Torah in accordance with Rebbe Nachman's system of learning.[4]

In 1962 he married Shifra Rotenberg, daughter of the Kossoner Rav, Rabbi Asher Yeshaya Halevi Rotenberg.[1][3]

Breslov teacher

After his marriage, he began delivering shiurim in Hasidic thought to avreichim (married Torah students) and bochurim (unmarried men) in Boro Park, and began corresponding with students and others who sought his advice to strengthen their own religious observance.[3][1]

In the 1970s Schick began writing small pamphlets distilling the lessons and teachings of Rebbe Nachman. He eventually authored, printed, and distributed approximately 1,000 titles in Hebrew, hundreds of which were translated into English.[3][5] He also printed thousands of copies of Rebbe Nachman’s Likutei Moharan and Sippurei Maasiyos and sold them at cost price, popularizing Breslov teachings around the world.[3][6] Among present-day Breslov leaders who were introduced to Breslov teachings through Schick's pamphlets was Rabbi Shalom Arush.[3]

Additionally, Schick wrote dozens[1] of sefarim, among them Erech Apayim (on anger management), Ilan Hachaim (on not wasting time), and commentaries on Rebbe Nachman's works.[3]

Breslov leader

Rabbi Schick at an upsherin in Yavne'el

Beginning in the 1980s, Schick began visiting his Hasidim in Israel regularly, and established a synagogue in Safed.[3] In 1985[1] he founded the Heichal Hakodesh Breslov community – largely consisting of baalei teshuvah (newly religious adherents) – in the Lower Galilee town of Yavne'el, Israel. This community, which calls itself "Breslov City", numbered nearly 400 families as of 2015, representing 30 percent of the town's population.[1] The community maintains its own schools and civic organizations, including a Talmud Torah, girls' school, yeshiva ketana, yeshiva gedola, kollel,[7] and chesed and tzedaka organizations.[1] A large beis medrash (study/prayer hall) was completed in 2012.[1]

Schick was known for encouraging early marriage among his adherents, conducting weddings in Yavne'el for girls aged 16 and younger, in contradistinction to Israel law.[8][9]

Schick divided his time between his homes in Yavne'el and Boro Park. He also established synagogues in Monsey, Monroe, and Williamsburg, and spoke at them frequently. He had thousands of Hasidim around the world.[3]

Final years

In April 2012, Schick suffered a heart attack and underwent surgery, from which he recovered.[10][11] In 2015 he was treated for the final stages of leukemia at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he died on February 6, 2015.[2] He was buried in Yavne'el.[1]

Schick left more than 120 volumes of responsa, consisting of nearly 75,000 letters and other unpublished writings. The collection is known as Shailas Uteshuvos Asher B'Nachal.[3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Harav Eliezer Shlomo Shick, zt"l, of Yavne'el". Hamodia, Israel news, February 12, 2015, p. 9.
  2. 1 2 "Rav Eliezer Shlomo Shick zt"l". Yeshiva World News. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Gantz, Nesanel. "Mohorosh – The Tzaddik of Yavne'el". Ami, February 11, 2015, pp. 30-31.
  4. ↑ "About Mohorosh". mohorosh.com. 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  5. ↑ Shapiro, Gary (3 April 2012). "Rabbi Who Writes Too Much". The Forward. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Persico, Tomer (Winter 2014). "Hitbodedut for a New Age: Adaptation of Practices among the Followers of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav". Israel Studies Review. 29 (2): 99–117.
  7. ↑ Tzoren, Moshe Michael. "Away From the Hustle and Bustle of the Big City: Investors from Israel and abroad are buying up large lots in Yavniel, a quiet village in the Galilee, with an eye on building hundreds of housing units for the chareidi public". Hamodia Israel news, 23 December 2010, pp. A26-A27. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  8. ↑ "The Rationale of Child Marriage & the Case for Early Marriage". academia.edu. February 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Ashkenazi, Eli; Levy-Barzilay, Vered (31 October 2005). "Hassidic rabbi suspected of officiating marriages of underage couples". Haaretz. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Rabbi Eliezer Shlomo Schick Improving After Surgery". Israel National News. 16 April 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Breslov Rov's Miraculous Vision". COLLive. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
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