Mesorah and minhagim have always been a mainstay of Judaism; they are what differentiate our communities from one another. Minhagim often date back more than a thousand years and have multiple sources and explanations. The Mishnah in Maseches Avos begins with the oral transmission of the Torah. The Rambam, too, begins the introduction to his magnum opus with the transmission of the Torah from Sinai all the way down to Ravina and Rav Ashi. The mefarshim underscore the value of keeping our chain of tradition intact. This is an important part of Rav Eliezer Halevi Dunner’s work as Rav of the Maayanei Hayeshua Shul and the Adas Yisroel shul network, which is dedicated to keeping alive ancient German (Yekkish) minhagim. Rav Eliezer, or Rav Lazer as he is more commonly called, is among the leading rabbanim of Bnei Brak; he is also rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Tiferes Tzion and helms the Daas Shmuel kollel network and Be’er Miriam seminary. He is from the foremost poskim in Bnei Brak and answers sh’eilos daily for hours on end.
Rav Lazer lives in Shikun Ponevezh, the older neighborhood of Bnei Brak. He warmly welcomes me into his study and offers me a seat opposite his own. One of his sons joins us as well. “Make yourself comfortable,” Rav Lazer says in perfect English, still as crisp as it was in 1960 when he first moved from his hometown of London to Eretz Yisrael. After hearing that I am from Switzerland, the Rav tells me about his relationship with Rav Moshe Soloveitchik. “Rav Moshe was the son of Rav Yisrael Gershon, the bechor of Rav Chaim Brisker. Not many people know that Rav Yitzchak Zev, the Brisker Rav, was actually Rav Chaim’s youngest son.”
Rav Lazer recalls that every year, for a few weeks after Tishah B’Av, the Brisker Rav would visit Switzerland for its health benefits. “When I was 18, I told my father [Rav Yosef Tzvi Dunner] that I would like to visit the Rav and he agreed, since England is only a short distance away. Unlike today, in those days there was no way to confirm in advance whether the Rav would actually be there. Unfortunately, the Brisker Rav was not well and he did not go that year. This was just one year before his petirah. However, since I was in Switzerland already, I decided to see the Rav’s nephew, Rav Moshe Soloveitchik; he was already known to be a big tzaddik, a very special person. He was the rosh yeshivah in Lucerne then, and I decided to stay there until after Yom Kippur and then return to yeshivah in Gateshead. I became very close to Rav Moshe, and because of those two months that I spent with him, he became my rebbi muvhak. We kept in touch long after I got married (in London). On my way to Eretz Yisrael, I stopped in Switzerland to receive a brachah from Rav Moshe. He would even stay by us before he had sons who moved to Eretz Yisrael. I have a picture of him in my front room,” Rav Lazer says, smiling fondly and gesturing in that direction.
What drew Rav Lazer to Rav Moshe Soloveitchik was not just his geonus in Torah. “Every movement of his was al pi cheshbon; nothing was superfluous,” says Rav Lazer. “His davening, his speech, his learning—he was special in every way.
“I will share one vort of his with you,” Rav Lazer says. “The pasuk says that tefillin have to be l’totafos bein einecha. People might think that, quite literally, you place the tefillin between your eyes. That is what the apikorsim did, because they did not believe in Torah Sheb’al Peh. Why did the Torah not clarify this? In giving a dvar Torah on Parshas Va’eschanan, Rav Moshe cited a study from a professor who said that people mistakenly think that it is the eye that sees, which is not the case. Rather, the eye serves as a window for light to come in, and it is the brain that ‘sees.’ The light sends a picture to the brain, and that creates an image for the person to see. The place where the connection to the brain happens is here and here.” Rav Lazer points to the spots to the immediate right and left of where the tefillin are placed, and continues with an infectious smile. “When the Torah says bein einecha, the makom hatefillin is the true ‘bein einecha,’ where a person’s true vision is. The eyes are just windows.”
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