Eliezer Palchinsky

Eliezer Palachinsky delivering a lecture on Tractate Kiddushin]. Rabbi Eliezer Manoach Palczynski (November 11, 1911 – October 6, 2007), known affectionately as Reb Leizer Palachinsky, was a famed Rosh Yeshiva in Jerusalem and alumnus of the Mir Yeshiva . Rabbi Eliezer was born on November 11, 1911, to Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Leib Palchinsky near the town of Dvinsk in Latvia . Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Leib was the son-in-law of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel , the Alter of Slabodka and briefly served as the Chief Rabbi of Dvinsk. As a lad in Dvinsk, Rabbi Eliezer developed a close relationship with the Rogatchover Gaon , often conversing with him about detailed Talmudic topics. He also served as a personal attendant to Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk . Rabbi Eliezer studied in Slabodka and eventually moved to Mir Yeshiva were excelled in his studies, becoming a favorite of its Rosh Yeshiva, his uncle, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel , and Mashgiach Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz . In the winter of 1937, Rabbi Eliezer was chosen to be amongst an elite group of students from Mir Yeshiva sent to learn under the tutelage of the Brisker Rav in Brisk . There Rabbi Eliezer became a close protege of the Brisker Rav, a relationship which continued until the latter's death in Jerusalem in 1959. He survived the Holocaust which occurred during World War II to European Jewry through the efforts of Rabbi Mordecai Dubin an Agudath Israel activist [1] , and thus emigrated to Palestine in 1940. In 1944, he married Ettel, the daughter of Rabbi Aryeh Levin a prominent leader of Orthodoxy in Jerusalem , thus making Rabbi Eliezer a brother-in-law to Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv . During this period, Rabbi Eliezer began a correspondence with the Chazon Ish of Bnei Barak , eventually moving there to help his uncle, Rabbi Issac Sher open a branch of the Slabodka Yeshiva there. In 1948, he established his own Yeshiva , named Beis Aryeh as homage to his illustrious father-in-law. He served as the head of this yeshiva until his death, sixty years later. In the 1960s and 1970s he also served as Rosh Yeshiva of the Tomchei Temimim system in Kfar Chabad and Lod and for a brief while lead the Kollel of the Gateshead Yeshiva in England . His life expired on October 6, 2007, at the age of 96 and he was eulogized in Mir Yeshiva in the presence of thousands of mourners. Amongst those who addressed the audience at his funeral were his colleague from Mir Yeshiva Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum and the present Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel .¹