On 7 Cheshvan, HaRav Elozor Michel Levine, son of Rabbi Meir,
one of the France's prominent talmidei chachomim and
the spiritual mentor to many students, returned his pure soul
to His Maker.
Reb Elozor, as he was called in Paris, was a unique person
who overflowed with Torah and shared it with everyone he
encountered. Scores of baalei teshuva who had
absolutely no knowledge of Yiddishkeit or the great spiritual
leaders of our nation became reacquainted with their legacy
through his efforts.
Many of those affiliated with the Yad Mordechai Yeshiva of
Paris as well as Jews from the town where he was
niftar, parted from him with deep pain. His
levaya began Sunday in France and ended on Monday (8
Cheshvan) on Har Hazeisim in Jerusalem.
Reb Elozor was exceptionally unpretentious. He never held an
official position in a yeshiva, but would study in a corner
in a shul and speak with students and various people
who had come to daven, drawing them close with
divrei Torah, citing whole sections of gemora
and midrash from memory. He decried the modern way of
life and the crudeness of the street and persuaded people to
change their lifestyles, to study Torah and engage in
chessed.
In his divrei Torah he would transform olam
haboh into a tangible entity by citing gemoras and
accounts of tzaddikim and gedolei haTorah who
had nullified their olom hazeh. People from all strata
of life -- from roshei yeshiva to Torah neophytes --
attended his shiurim, which took place at first in
shuls and yeshivos, but for the past nine years,
during his illness, were held in hospitals and homes for the
elderly.
Jews who grew up knowing absolutely nothing about Yiddishkeit
learned about the Chazon Ish, Rav Chaim of Brisk, Rav Yisroel
Salanter, the Alter of Kelm, the Admor of Gur, and scores of
other gedolei Yisroel and Chassidic leaders of whom
they had never heard. On Shabbos, he would explain the
kedusha of Shabbos to young people who were unfamiliar
with Torah.
Throughout the years of his illness, when it was very hard
for him to walk, he resided in an old age home belonging to
the philanthropist, Dr. Stern. He was given a spacious room
on the merit of his greatness in Torah. Avreichim from
Yeshivas Yad Mordechai would bring him food. Every erev
Shabbos, Jewish doctors would attend shiurim in
that room. In the final months of his life, after having
undergone a serious operation, he was transferred to a
hospital in a town far from Paris. There, too, he gave Torah
shiurim to the doctors and to avreichim who
would visit him from Paris.
Very little is known about his life prior to his arrival in
Paris. Although his precise age was unknown, records indicate
that he was about 80 at the time of his petirah. His
nephew, HaRav Chaim Levine of Jerusalem, says that Reb Elozor
descended from Karliner Chassidim in Whalen and that he had
studied under the Admor of Karlin as a child.
In 5696 (1936), his family moved to Eretz Yisroel, and
Reb Elozor studied in Heichal HaTalmud in Tel Aviv. He was
very close to the Admor of Zvihl, and visited the Chazon Ish
a number of times.
He arrived in Paris in 5714 (1954) and became deeply attached
to the Admor of Pshevorsk, whom he served for seven years.
When the Admor left for Antwerp, Reb Elozor remained close
with Reb Michel Reisz, the Admor's father-in-law. He also had
a close relationship with HaRav Chaim Yaakov Rotenberg and
the students of Rav Rotenberg's yeshiva, as well as its
rosh yeshiva, HaRav Katz.
On his last motzei Shabbos, he still managed to
observe his custom of studying the parsha, which that
week was Lech Lecho. At chatzos, he called
HaRav Katz and said that he had a gift for him -- a
tallis -- which he was giving him out of gratitude for
the esrog that HaRav Katz had given him. Perhaps he
felt that this was the end. Beforehand he had also called
HaRav Katz and told him a vort about tefillah.
He passed away before daybreak.
