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30 Nissan 5764 - April 21, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
HaRav Eliyohu Menachem Bodan, zt"l

HaRav Eliyohu Menachem Bodan zt"l, among the outstanding members of Kollel Heichal HaTorah in Manchester, passed away on the night of Shabbos Chol Hamoed Pesach at the age of 45.

Rav Bodan was born in London. His father was Rav Osher Bodan zt"l. At Yeshivas Gateshead and Yeshivas Brisk he was totally absorbed in his studies and was such an exceptional masmid that his friends felt uncomfortable speaking about mundane matters with him. To Rav Bodan there was no difference between the beginning of the zman and the end of the zman, for all of his time was devoted to toiling in Torah.

He would set goals and stick to them unswervingly, come what may. After every study session he would linger for a few minutes to summarize what he had learned. He never let anything interfere with his learning. Burning with a desire for Torah he went from one maseches to the next, acquiring broad knowledge of Shas and poskim.

Even during the pain and suffering of the last six months he maintained his tremendous zeal for Torah, sometimes even going to kollel as usual.

He invested great efforts in avodas hatefilloh. He always used a siddur with a simple explanation of the words printed on the page and devoted great energy to every tefilloh. He constantly made use of seforim on tefilloh and even wrote down his own thoughts and ideas on the words of the tefilloh, which he recently began to prepare for print as a zikui horabim.

He spoke about Hashem constantly, always recognizing Hashgochoh protis in every situation he encountered, and his bitochon was exceptional. During his illness he emphasized Hashem's kindnesses and accepted his suffering with love and simple faith, saying, "Kol man de'ovid Rachmono letav ovid."

As he lay in pain on his deathbed he asked to be woken up to recite Krias Shema and the tefilloh on time, though he hardly had the strength to utter a word after long, sleepless nights.

On Erev Pesach he was too weak to eat, but when the Seder arrived he gathered the last of his strength to eat a kezayis of matzoh and to read the Haggadah, adding his own ideas on emunoh and bitachon.

Rav Eliyohu Menachem Bodan zt"l is survived by his wife and children, who follow his path of Torah and yir'oh.

 

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