Comments on: Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum, zt”l: Mechanech

By: Asher Heber

Asher Heber — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:14:26 +0000

Kudos to Jonathon Rosenblum for the short but well written biography of Eli Teitelbaum.Having been a close friend of Eli during our Yeshiva years together and working as asst.head counsellors under Zisha Heshel Z”L in camp Gan Israel NY during the early 60’s,I can attest to the fact that he was a multi talented and fantastic individual.
What struck me however,was the glaring omission of two very important facts.One,the Yeshiva he attended and was a Musmach of,The Lubavutcher Yeshiva.Two, the fact that he was an ardent chosid of the The Lubavitcher Rebbi ZT”L.
I hope that this was a simple oversight by the author,even though these are two central facts about Eli’s back round,rather then revisionist history that has been cropping up at an alarming rate in Anglo-Jewish publications in recent years.

By: ploni b almoni

ploni b almoni — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:01:41 +0000

I was in the hospital and unable to attend the Levaya. I worked for Rabbi Teitelbaum for several summers in Camp S’Dei Chemed. Then I checked the Yeshivaworld website - and lo and behold - they posted a teleconf # to dial up and hear the hespedim live. What a fitting tribute to this giant of harnassing technology for Torah causes!

By: Chaim Wolfson

Chaim Wolfson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:25:56 +0000

Reb Yonasan,
Thank you for a beautiful post that captured the essence of Rabbi Teitelbaum. Because I knew him (not well, but the frum world being small as it is, our paths did cross on several occasions), I was both laughing and crying as I read it. You mentioned the Pirchei tapes he helped produce, but you forgot the “Sdei Chemed” tapes. Many of those songs became instant classics. [His "al kein tzion" is still my favorite song.]

One enduring memory I have of Rabbi Teitelblum is of participitating in a matzah baking “chaburah” as a “bochur” studying in Eretz Yisrael some twenty years ago. In the midst of the controlled (?) chaos taking place in the bakery, who should walk in but Eli Teitelbaum, with a very large, professional quality video camera on his shoulder. He didn’t know anyone in the “chaburah”, but he wanted to video matzah baking in Yerushalayim. Knowing him, I’m sure he put the video to good use.

By: lacosta

lacosta — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:38:14 +0000

the fact that this tzaddik recently risked condemnation for deriding widespread banning as talibanizing judaism–for that ish haemes element alone he is kone olama. yehi zichro baruch

By: Steve Brizel

Steve Brizel — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:29:49 +0000

This brief comment is noted as I am in the middle of my second cycle of Daf Yomi, which I commenced in the late summer of 2005, after the Siyum in February or March of that year. I first visited the TCN’s headquarters in Boro Park when I thought of starting Daf Yomi in the mid 1980s. I was blown away by the entire operation. I then commenced and finished much of Shas thanks to a then existing tape library in KGH. For this cycle, I have been using an Ipod which has “Gantz Shas” and a small Gemara in which I underline and make references to mareh mkomos, etc.

A number of years, I was learning on a train proceeding from Brooklyn to Manhattan and a Charedi family commented that I appeared to be using their zaideh’s tapes. Anyone who learns Daf Yomi today is greatly indebted to the efforts of R Teitelbaum ZTL.

While R Teitelbaum ZTL did not circulate tapes of shiurim of RYBS, I would be remiss in noting that a wonderful person in KGH, R M Nordlicht sells and distributes tapes of shiurim from RYBS, RHS and many other Gdolim via his website and home.

By: Yisroel Moshe

Yisroel Moshe — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:25:12 +0000

Baruch Dayan Emes.

I went to S’dei Chemed many years ago. I was amazed to meet a rabbi who was a black belt in Karate. Just one of the things that made him unique.

He will be missed.