Rav Eliyahu Gutmacher of Greiditz

Early years

Rav Eliyahu Gutmacher of Greiditz zt"l, son of Rav Shlomo and Tzipora, was born on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av 5556 (1796) in Burk, in the province of Posen. His father sent him at a young age to learn Torah in the yeshivah of Shalziya, and later he studied for many years in the yeshivah of Rabitsch.

At nineteen he went to the great yeshivah of Rav Akiva Eiger in Posen, where he learned diligently for four years and earned the affection and praise of his Rosh Yeshivah. He drank thirstily from his rebbe's fountain of knowledge, hung on his every word and nuance, and was deeply influenced by his rebbe's derech halimud (method of study). Even as a young man he began writing down his chiddushei Torah, and he kept at it all his life. By nature he was a loner and often learned in hisbodedus (solitude).

Among his rebbe's sefarim he once found a copy of the Zohar, its margins filled with handwritten notes. He realised that Rav Akiva Eiger studied Kabbalah too, though he had thought him opposed to it. This was the turning point at which Rav Eliyahu began to study Kabbalah himself, and he was enchanted by its hidden teachings. In time he developed his own approach to the great themes of Jewish thought: man and his mission in the world, the Jewish people, the Torah, Eretz Yisroel and the final redemption. Through the sifrei Kabbalah he was also drawn to Chassidus.

Torah and leadership

In 5582 (1821) he was appointed Rav of Pelshan. There he began to live by the ways of mussar (character refinement) and self-purification, which he understood to be the path to personal redemption. He withdrew from the pleasures of the physical world and devoted his days and nights to Torah and chesed. He gave away his wages to the poor, supported orphans and widows, and helped the downtrodden in every way he could. Still he felt it was not enough, and he recorded his deeds in a journal each day and reviewed them at night, rebuking himself in order to improve.

In Pelshan he founded a yeshivah of some four hundred talmidim, whom he sought to educate according to his methods into a generation of pure scholars and masters of mussar. Whenever his hopes were not realised, he blamed himself and saw his own shortcomings as the root of the failure.

His reputation reached its height when he moved in 5599 (1838) to Greiditz, the seat of his second rabbinate. There his self-refinement deepened, and he would go into the forests in hisbodedus to pour out his soul in prayer. Word spread that a tzaddik had arrived, and the masses came to him for advice, blessings and wondrous cures.

Rav Eliyahu was taken aback at the thought of becoming a chassidishe Rebbe and tried to dissuade people from coming. He even placed a notice in the journal HaMaggid (5634, gilyon 12) declaring that his blessings were only the berachos of a hedyot (an ordinary person) and that no one, man or woman, should come to him any longer. He added that if his prayers were indeed accepted, it was only because he never davened selfishly for himself alone, but for all of Klal Yisrael. The notice did not help. His followers multiplied daily until he reluctantly took on the role of a Rebbe in every sense. Tales of his wonders and miracles became oral legends, and some were later printed as Hadras Eliyahu, which was translated into Yiddish as Der Greiditzer.

Eretz Yisroel and redemption

Rav Eliyahu's studies of Kabbalah led him to see a three-part bond between the Jewish people, the Torah and Hashem, with Eretz Yisroel as the focal point and seat of power of that bond. Because of our sins we were exiled from the Land and the bond was severed at its core. When the three are reunited, redemption will come. He taught that each person's spiritual refinement brings his own personal redemption, and that these, joined together, would form a nation of purified individuals who would hasten the final redemption. Contrary to the view that redemption would come miraculously with no human effort, he stressed that the Jewish people must act to bring it about in a natural way. He also felt that every effort was needed to bring it quickly, because the people grew weaker in exile day by day and the task would only become harder.

These thoughts gave him no rest, and he concluded that the only way was to live in Eretz Yisroel. When he received the kuntres (pamphlet) Derishas Tzion from Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, a former colleague from Rav Akiva Eiger's yeshivah, he heard its call to resettle the Land. Rav Kalischer found in him a friend of his own views and looked up to him as a leader and a great Torah scholar. In one of his letters he described Rav Eliyahu as a holy, Divine genius, who in Torah, in Chassidus and in the wisdom of Kabbalah weighed his soul against thousands of Jewish souls. In 5616 (1855) Rav Kalischer designated Rav Eliyahu as Nasi (presiding authority) of Eretz Yisroel, and the rabbanim of Yerushalayim sent him halachic questions about korbanos.

In the winter of 5620 (1859) he wrote and spread his letter Igeres HaKodesh, together with Rav Yaakov Etlinger of Altona as cosignatory. It called on Jews of the diaspora to join together to study the Torah of Eretz Yisroel and to establish batei midrash and yeshivos for that purpose. Together with Rav Kalischer he also helped establish a society for the settlement of Eretz Yisroel. The two wished to lead a minyan of talmidei chachamim to settle there, hoping others would follow.

Rav Eliyahu supported Rav Yaakov Mordechai Hirschenson, the father of Rav Chaim Hirschenson, in maintaining his small yeshivah in Tzfas. Through Rav Hirschenson he also bought a small courtyard in Yerushalayim, where he founded a beis midrash called Shnos Eliyahu, along with the Sukkas Shalom and Maor Yaakov yeshivos, with special attention to the study of Kabbalah. He supported them until his final days. The Jews of Yerushalayim, including its mekubalim, returned his love and appreciation, and when he passed away they wrote a eulogy and published it as Aliyos Eliyahu in his memory.

Teachings and seforim

Though he wrote prolifically, Rav Eliyahu did not publish any sefarim in his lifetime. Among his works published later are his chiddushim on Mishnayos and sugyos of Shas, Tzafnas Pa'aneach on the Aggadah of Rabba bar Bar Chanah in Gemara Bava Basra, and assorted teshuvos (responsa). Shalom B'Pamalya Shel Maalah seeks to resolve contradictions between the writings of the Beis Yosef and the Rama, and Sukkas Shalom contains prayers for the deceased. Many handwritten manuscripts remain in university libraries and family collections. Machon Yerushalayim has begun publishing some of his chiddushim and pilpulim on Shas in two volumes, and Mosad HaRav Kook has published a two-volume collection of his teshuvos called Aderes Eliyahu.

He also left a collection of amulets and an archive of papers, which are now in the National Library.

Later years and passing

Rav Eliyahu passed away on the 24th of Tishrei 5635 (1874) and was laid to rest in Greiditz. Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in the Beis Shean Valley is named in his memory.

He left four learned sons: Rav Tzvi Hirsch, who succeeded him in Pelshan, Rav Meir, Rav Zelig and Rav Yaakov. All are cited in his chiddushim and teshuvos. Rav Tzvi Hirsch, who also studied under Rav Akiva Eiger, passed away in his father's lifetime, on the 24th of Shevat 5631 (1870). His father eulogized him and printed his son's sefarim, Nachlas Tzvi, chiddushim on Yevamos and Kerisos, and Kan Meforeshes on Kinim. In his introduction to Kan Meforeshes, Rav Eliyahu explained that a person in need of salvation should study it and recite its tefillah, and if the salvation does not come, he should continue for up to three days. The tefillah and segulah (spiritual remedy) for its study became well known.