Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler

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Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (* 1891 in Homel , Russian Empire ; † December 30, 1953 in Bnei Brak , Israel ) was a rabbi , Talmud scholar and Jewish philosopher. He played an important role within the Mussar movement .

Life

Rabbi Eliyahu spent his early youth in the Stetl in Homel, where his father Reuven Bär Dessler ran a shop. He later studied at the Bet ha-Talmud ("Talmud House ") in Kelmė with his father, who was the headmaster there, and other representatives of the Mussar movement (literally: "morality"), which was founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter and im Orthodox Judaism , mainly among Lithuanian Jews, emphasized the value of ethical reflection. Dessler emigrated in 1929, first to England, where he worked in London took his first position as rabbi in a shul Yaakov in London's East End, while his wife and two children remained in Lithuania. He was later Talmudic philosopher and teacher known in England and founded the Kollel of Gateshead . In 1947 he followed Rabbi Josef Kahaneman's call to take over the spiritual direction of the Ponewiescher Synagogue in Bnei Brak in Israel, where he remained until his death.

Teaching

Dessler's teaching was a combination of the "Mussar" principles, as he had learned them in Kelme, combined with concepts of Jewish philosophy , Kabbalah and Hasidism . He assumes an inherent tension in the pursuit of spiritual and material satisfaction, with the importance of the spiritual being incomparably more important. In his most famous essay, Kuntras HaChessed , he divides the world into givers and takers. According to his definition love is "giving without the expectation of receiving" and the abolition of self-love is a prerequisite for any worship. His students published excerpts from his manuscripts and his speeches under the title Michtaw me-Eliyahu ("A Letter from Eliyahu") in three volumes 1955-64. The work contains approaches to a comparison of Jewish and general philosophy, based on the questions posed by his students who had completed a philosophical degree.

Works

literature

  • Yonason Rosenblum: Rav Dessler: The Life and Impact of Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler the Michtav M'Eliyahu . Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn, NY 2000, ISBN 1-57819-507-1 .

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personal data
SURNAME Dessler, Eliyahu Eliezer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dessler, Eliyahu Eliezer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lithuanian-British rabbi, Talmud scholar and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Homel , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1953
Place of death Bnei Brak , Israel