Community lines up to receive brachot from renowned rabbi

Giving blessings to the hundreds of people longing to meet him, Rav Yitzchok Ezrachi brought strength and inspiration to the Joburg Jewish community this past week. 

Rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalyim, which with 10 000 students is the biggest yeshiva in the world, Ezrachi, 92, says he is simply doing what Hashem wants from him. 

Slightly hunched over as families clamoured to meet him, when he lifted his head, the rav’s vibrant blue eyes revealed a man still energised by fulfilling his divine mission. This involves teaching Torah and travelling the world to spread chizuk (spiritual or emotional strength) in Hashem. 

A world-renowned talmid chacham (master student and teacher), Ezrachi has served as rosh yeshiva since 1979. He has guided thousands of students, sharing profound Torah learning, tools to live a meaningful and ethical life, and a love for Israel. He has also spent decades travelling to strengthen communities around the world, often attracting thousands who gather to listen to his teachings. 

“If even one person is sad … and that person gets some strength to be close to G-d because of me, that’s the thing that makes me happiest,” he told the SA Jewish Report. “It will all be worth it because that’s what HaKadosh Baruch Hu [The Holy One, Blessed be He] wants from me and that’s what I want to do.” 

While the Joburg community was informed of Ezrachi’s impending arrival only after Shabbat on 29 August, almost 400 people arrived at the airport the next day to welcome him. Their joy was palpable as they sang and danced with him in the arrivals hall. Since then, the rav has barely rested, tirelessly speaking at schools, shuls, yeshivot and kolelim, and community gatherings. 

In separate talks given to the women and men of the community this week, he attracted a total of more than 1 000 attendees, many of whom stayed behind to ask questions and request blessings. He hasn’t received any payment for his visit, motivated instead by his desire to strengthen the Jewish community and inspire people to be better versions of themselves. 

His reception here isn’t just testament to Ezrachi’s immense reputation, but also to his background. His life is steeped in a rabbinical history with ties to South Africa. His late father-in-law was a rosh yeshiva of Mir, HaGaon Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, one of the most influential Torah figures of the 20th century. Ezrachi’s late wife was the granddaughter of Reb Leizer Finkel, also rosh yeshiva of Mir in both Poland and Jerusalem. 

While founded in 1815 in the town of Mir (now in Belarus), the yeshiva temporarily moved to Lithuania during World War II to escape Soviet and Nazi persecution. Therein lies its connection to the South African Jewish community, which largely has roots in Lithuania. 

Ezrachi himself has an even deeper connection to South Africa. His maternal grandfather, Rav Baruch Shlom, was a rabbi of a town in Lithuania called Kelmė. When most of the Jewish families from Kelmė came to South Africa, he came with them, and was instrumental in founding the Jewish community in Oudtshoorn, where he served as a rabbi for 24 years. He died in an accident in Johannesburg while visiting en route to joining his family in Israel. He was buried in the Brixton Cemetery. 

Now, in South Africa for the first time, Ezrachi fulfilled his long-held dream to visit his grandfather’s grave, which he did with tears streaming down his face. “There’s a great power in going to daven to Hashem at my grandfather’s grave,” he said. “What you need, you will get.” 

Ezrachi’s late brother HaGaon Rav Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, rosh yeshiva of Ateres Yisroel, travelled to South Africa annually for many years. He stayed in the same house and bedroom in which Ezrachi is staying now. So, it’s a multigenerational impact that goes back many years and is now extending into a new group of South Africans. 

Sharing his message for Elul, as Rosh Hashanah approaches, the rav said that everyone must aspire to do what Hashem wants of them. “One example is interpersonal relationships,” he said. “Work on them. Let’s get on with each other better and work on matters relating to our relationship with Hashem.” 

While Hashem created the whole world and all the nations of the world, he said, the Jewish people are like children to Hashem and so he is our father. “It’s like a parent with two children. When they give to one another, when they care for one another, it gives tremendous happiness to the parents. So, us working on getting along better, on creating shalom, on rectifying and fixing mistakes, is very important. When a Jew does a mitzvah, it doesn’t stay here in the world, it goes higher forever – the impact is eternal.” 

So, he said, there’s a tremendous ability within the Jewish people. “When we work on these two elements, interpersonal relationships and our relationship with Hashem, and we work on doing more of what He wants from us, it has an unbelievable capacity. There is no comparison with such good deeds and acts of service.” 

Doing mitzvot is especially relevant in a post-7 October world, Ezrachi said, recalling visiting the north of Israel with his students, and staying there until 03:00, sharing their strength in Hashem. “A lot of people have been returned to Hashem because of this. We need to return to ourselves, and we need to return to Him, and we need to do it with love and happiness, as Hashem loves us.” 

The width and length of the Torah is endless, he said. “You need to get very deep because even when you think you perhaps accomplish something, you’re just scratching the surface, so it requires strength.” 

Speaking of the rav’s visit, which he helped to arrange, Rabbi Aharon Zulberg of The Base Shul said the level of passion and electricity around him has exceeded all expectations. “The Rav also said that he couldn’t get over the warmth and kindness and the love and respect for Judaism and Torah that people have here. He just kept repeating how excited he was by it all. Within the context of where he comes from and who he is, this is very inspiring for all of us.”