Eliyahu Halevi Feinstein, also known as Reb Elye Pruzhaner, (b.

Slutsk Slutsk is a town in Minsk Region, in central Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slutsk District, and is located on the Sluch (Belarus), Sluch River south of the capital Minsk. As of 2025, it has a population of 59,450. Geography ...

, Russia 1843 - d.

Pruzhany Pruzhany is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pruzhany District. The town is located at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal, where the Mukhavets River rises. As of 2025, it has a popu ...

, 1929), was a leading Litvak rabbinic authority of his time.

Education

Feinstein was born in

, in the

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

), in 1843. In 1851-1852, aged ten years old, he became the pupil of Rabbi Joseph Feimer ("Reb Yossele Slutzker") in Slutsk. Afterwards he continued his studies at the

Volozhin Yeshiva Yeshivas Etz Ḥayyim (), commonly called the Volozhin Yeshiva (), was a prestigious LItvak yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin in the Russian Empire (now Valozhyn, Belarus). It was founded around 1803 by Khayim Volozhiner, a student of the ...

, then led by the

Netziv Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (20 November 1816 – 10 August 1893), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was a Russian Orthodox rabbi, rosh yeshiva ( dean) of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several work ...

Rabbinate

Feinstein held many rabbinical posts during his life, but always on one condition: that he be free from non-urgent community concerns until noon every day, so he could study

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

uninterrupted. He became rabbi of Starobin in 1863, of

Kletsk Klyetsk or Kletsk is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Klyetsk District. Klyetsk is located on the Lan (river), Lan River. As of 2025, it has a population of 11,169. History The town was founded in the ...

in 1867, and of Karelitz in 1873. He was then rabbi of Chaslovitz. His final position was as rabbi of

. He was called Rabbi Elya Pruzhaner from that time forward. It was in the time that he was rabbi in Pruzhany that he was often called to serve on a Bet Din for Lyakhovichi. Although he received many offers to be Rav of larger cities, he preferred to stay in

. The town of Pruzhany was one of four so called "Karpes" cities in which the

Hasidim Ḥasīd (, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observance of Jewish ...

did not gain a foothold. He was twice offered the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, but each time turned it down. Possible reasons for his declination are the need to find proper suitors for his unwed daughters, or unwillingness to become entangled in the politics of the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. When this position was instead taken by

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbina ...

Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, also spelled Zonnenfeld (; 1 December 1848 – 26 February 1932), was the rabbi and co-founder of the Edah HaChareidis, the Haredi Jewish community of Jerusalem, during the years of the British Mandate of Palestine. ...

expressed his regret over Reb Elye's decision.

Family

Feinstein was married to Guta Davidovitch, a descendant of a long line of rabbis in the town of Kopyl.The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Volume 1 By Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff
page 11
Reb Elye's brothers-in-law included Rabbi Yaakov Kantarovich, and Rabbi David Feinstein, father of Rabbi

Moshe Feinstein Moshe Feinstein (; Lithuanian pronunciation: ''Moishe Fainshtein''; ; March 3, 1895 – March 23, 1986) was a Russian-born American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, scholar, and ''posek'' (authority on ''halakha''—Jewish law). He has been called ...

. David Feinstein, Reb Moshe's father, was chosen by Reb Elye as a groom for his sister-in-law, on condition that R. David abandon his

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

practices, and agree to study in the

for four years. Reb Elye's daughters married famous Torah scholars. His oldest daughter married Menachem Krakowski, author of the ''Avodat ha-Melech'' on

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE ( ...

. His next daughter married Moshe Soloveitchik, father of

Joseph B. Soloveitchik Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion of the Lithuanian Jewish Soloveitchik rabbinic ...

. A third daughter married Dovid Feigenbaum who succeeded Reb Elye as rabbi of Pruzhany. Reb Elye's youngest daughter married Eliezer Meisels, grandson of Eliyahu Chaim Meisels, Rabbi of Lodz.

Legacy

Feinstein dealt with many critical issues facing the Jewish community at the time. He proposed instituting vocational training within the yeshivos, but was unsuccessful. Feinstein's approach to

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

was influenced by the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman''), also known as the Vilna Gaon ( ''Der Vilner Goen''; ; or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gr"a ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 172 ...

. He sought clear and logical explanations over complicated ''

pilpul ''Pilpul'' (, loosely meaning 'sharp analysis'; ) is a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictio ...

''. Of his many writings only one part has been published, under the title ''Halichot Eliyahu''. He died on October 31, 1929, and was eulogized throughout the Jewish world.

References

Sources

* http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_pages/vol_yes_stu.html
The Soloveitchik Heritage: A Daughter's Memoir, By Shulamit Soloveitchik Meiselman

The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
Volume 1, By Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff * http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lyakhovichi/Rabbonim.htm * http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/slutsk/slu228.html * http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/slutsk/slu246.html * http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=571&letter=P&search=pruzhany פנקס פרוז'אני והסביבה : עדות וזכרון לקהלות שהושמדו בשואה. פרידלנדר, יוסף,1983

External links

Halikhot Eliyahu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinstein, Eliahu 1843 births 1929 deaths People from Slutsk People from Slutsky Uyezd Belarusian Haredi rabbis 19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian rabbis Volozhin Yeshiva alumni