Rav dessler biography of martin
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“If I give them mussar as they once did, they’ll just run away.”
Rav Dessler’s embrace of chassidus did not signify a departure from mussar; rather, it was an expansion of it. Every week, the students had to write their own synopses of the Thursday class, and Rabbi Dessler personally read over their efforts and commented on them. Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, who was then traveling to Eretz Yisrael for the first time to attend the 1956 Knessiah Gedolah, consulted with the Steipler, who clarified the issue.
Though he allowed himself no more than one vote in any matter to be decided, and did not demand or allow any deference to be shown to him, somehow he always managed to persuade each member of his position in private conversations long before any vote was taken.
Rabbi Dov Sternbuch, a member of the Kollel, said, "I never met another person with his phenomenal ability to plumb a subject to the depths.
Under Rav Dessler’s tutelage, the young prodigy finished Shas in five years. Consequently, Man's task in life is to consistently raise his Nekudas Habechira, thus growing ever greater in his service of God.[9]Script error: No such module "Unsubst". See Template:Slink generally. He remained deeply connected to the teachings of his ancestors, yet saw no contradiction in incorporating the insights of chassidic masters into his worldview.
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Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler – Michtav Me’Eliyahu
Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler
(d. He states that a man has one point in his service to God where he has to fight his evil inclination, while at other points there will be no struggle, for the levels below this have already been conquered, and he will easily win those battles of will; whereas levels higher are not yet within his grasp.
This period was marked by intensive study and discussion of the Tanya, deepening Rav Dessler’s understanding and appreciation of chassidus.
Rav Dessler’s relationship with chassidus represents a fascinating departure from mussar norms. After a pilot visit in 1947, he agreed to accept the position, first traveling to America to visit his son Rav Nochum Velvel (1921–2011), who had recently married Miriam Finger and was leading the newly founded Hebrew Academy of Cleveland, as well as making another trip in 1948 for the wedding of his daughter Henya to Rav Yehoshua Geldzahler (1926–2015), a leading student of Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz.
For his many followers in England, his departure to Ponevezh was a painful goodbye — for he had become much more than a rav or a rosh kollel to the masses.
This incident made it clear to him that the time had arrived to send his 13-year-old son to the institution that was near and dear to the Dessler family: the Talmud Torah of Kelm.
For the next 22 years (with the exception of four years as a refugee during World War I), the future gadol would be shaped by the teachings of Kelm’s mussar greats, absorbing the profound moral lessons that would later permeate his own teachings and writings.
The entire financial burden of the Kollel fell on the frail shoulders of the naturally self-effacing Rabbi Dessler. In time, Rabbi Sassoon took his place as one of the most significant philanthropists in the Jewish world.
Rabbi Dessler's circle of private students gradually expanded to include, among others, twin brothers Sam and Fred Kahn, Rabbi Mordechai Miller, who would one day head the famous Gateshead Teachers Seminary for six decades, and Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, the co-editor and driving force behind the publication of Rabbi Dessler’s monumental five-volume Michtav Me’Eliyahu.
Rabbi Dessler’s students furnished him great delight.
Perhaps one of his most influential ideas, discussed throughout his works but especially in an essay in the first volume of Michtav me-Eliyahu entitled Kuntres ha-Chesed (Heb. He replied that there was no one left capable of listening to old-fashioned mussar.
“What should I do?” he once asked rhetorically.
The Gateshead Rav, Rabbi Naftali Shakovitsky also learned together with the Kollel. He was its animating spirit. Driven by the nationalization of businesses and the increasing hostility toward religious life in Homel, Rav Reuven Dov returned to Kelm.
As the senior surviving student of the Alter, he was tasked with the administration of the Talmud Torah, which was reorganizing itself following the four years of upheaval.
Philosophy
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Michtav me-Eliyahu
Most of Rabbi Dessler's work has reached the public through the pupils he reared in England and Israel, chiefly [6]Aryeh Carmell and Chaim Friedlander. "What Rabbi Dessler did in England, Rav Aharon did in America," he said.
Rabbi Dessler’s arrival in England, however, was far from auspicious.
Citing the responsa of the Chida, he ruled that while the deceased may influence a tombstone’s inscription, he or she has no say in the actual erection of a tombstone.
The Dessler family followed the ruling and a very basic matzeivah was erected for Rav Dessler and his rebbetzin. He also collected money for the kollel, yet he himself took no salary.