This article originally appeared in Yated Neeman, Monsey NY. and is reprinted here with their permission

Rav Eliyahu Dovid Rabinowitz-Te'omim, the Aderes, was one of the most illustrious figures of the old yishuv in Yerushalayim. Though he served as chief rabbi of Yerushalayim for just four years, he instituted many changes that greatly benefited the city.

"Aderes" is the acronym formed by his name, while Te'omim denotes the fact that he was a "te'om," or twin.

BEGINNINGS

Rav Eliyahu Dovid, the son of Rav Binyomin Rabinowitz, was born on Shavuos in 5603. His mother, Chana, was a descendant of the Baal Halevushim and the Chacham Tzvi. Eliyahu Dovid's twin brother, Tzvi Yehuda, was also an outstanding talmid chacham.

In his youth, Eliyahu Dovid learned primarily with his father. When he was 12, he began to write chiddushim, which he jotted down in a small notebook. He called these chiddushim Nishmas Shabbos.

By the age of 13, he began to write seforim. In his humility, he never showed those writings to anyone, and on the title page of each work he wrote, "If you have learned much Torah, don't think highly of yourself for your achievements."

After his marriage, Rav Eliyahu Dovid moved to his wife's birthplace, Ponovezh, where he delivered Gemara shiurim to his fellow townsmen. When he was 29, he was invited to serve as the rav of Ponovezh, a position he held for 18 years.

As rav of Ponovezh, he was also a regional rav, but when other cities asked him to mediate in complicated dinei Torah, he declined. Sometimes, they would offer him large fees for his services, but he would still forego these offers.

The only times he agreed to arbitrate in a dispute of another city was when the honor of a rav was at stake.

In the winter of 5646, for example, he traveled to Krakinova to mediate a dispute between its rav and residents. On another occasion, he went to Shovatz to help settle an argument that also involved the city's rav.

Once, representative from a certain city summoned him to settle a dispute between two talmidei chachamim, but he refused their request, fearing that as a result of the mediation, the honor of one of the parties might be denigrated.

ZIKKUI HARABBIM ON THE ROAD

During Rav Eliyahu Dovid's travels throughout Poland, he would engage in a unique brand of zikkui harabbim. In his sefer Nefesh Dovid he writes: "On my travels, I would take a suitcase, which contained mezuzos and tiny nails, so that I could affix the mezuzos in inns and hostels along the way. I often affixed mezuzos on the homes of Jews in small villages.

"That suitcase also contained a few pairs of tefillin, yarmulkes and tzitzis, as well as some small siddurim and copies of tefilas haderech, which I would distribute to Jews who needed them."

As rav of Ponovezh, he was involved in numerous acts of chessed, such as visiting the sick, securing kosher food for Jewish soldiers, and rebuilding the city's shul, which had been destroyed in 5642.

TO MIR

In 5650, he was asked to serve as rav of the city of Mir. Although Mir was smaller than Ponovezh, Rav Eliyahu Dovid accepted the offer because he felt that in Mir he would be able to devote more time to his Torah studies than he could in Ponovezh.

After serving in Mir for eight years, he was asked to assume the position of mara d'asra, or chief rabbi, of Yerushalayim.

A CHALLENGE

Serving as the mara d'asra of Yerushalayim in the 19th century was an immense challenge. The Ashkenazic community consisted of individuals and groups from different regions throughout Eastern and Western Europe. Due to their diverse customs and backgrounds, it was difficult to forge these groups into a collective structure.

Nonetheless, Rav Shmuel Salant managed to unify these groups, and to lead them successfully for 50 years. When he turned 80, he began to search for a successor. However, he wanted his successor to work alongside him for a while, before assuming the actual position of mara d'asra, so that he could train him properly. That person, Rav Salant felt, had to command the respect of all the different circles in the city.

Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky was very active in the search for a suitable successor for Rav Shmuel Salant. When the Rav Eliyahu Dovid visited Vilna, Rav Chaim Ozer persuaded him to accept the position. Afterward, Rav Chaim Ozer sent a letter to Yerushalayim's rabbanim, recommending Rav Eliyahu Dovid for the position. With the consent of Rav Shmuel Salant, Yerushalayim' s rabbanim wrote to Rav Chaim that they had agreed to the appointment.

GRAND WELCOME

Rav Eliyahu Dovid arrived in Jaffa on Friday morning, 26 Adar, 5660. He was greeted at the port by a large entourage of Yerushalayim's most eminent residents, among them dayanim, roshei yeshiva and roshei kollel. The residents remained in Jaffa over Shabbos, and visited him at his lodgings.

On Sunday morning, the entourage returned home. As it proceeded toward Yerushalayim, groups of talmidei chachamim and rabbanim from settlements along the way greeted Rav Eliyahu Dovid with song and dance. From Motza to Yerushalayim the road teemed with people who sought to welcome him.

Once in the city, a gala reception was held in Rav Eliyahu Dovid's honor at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital. Immediately after the ceremony, Rav Eliyahu Dovid, accompanied by all of Yerushalayim's chachamim, headed for the home of Rav Shmuel Salant.

When Rav Eliyahu Dovid entered Rav Shmuel Salant's room, the aged rav rose from his seat and said, "I hereby extend the seat of the Rabbinate to you." However, Rav Eliyahu Dovid refused to sit in Rav Shmuel's chair, and retreated to the side of the room where the rest of the visitors had gathered.

Rav Shmuel then began to praise Rav Eliyahu Dovid for his proficiency in Shas, in both Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi. However, Rav Eliyahu Dovid intervened and said with genuine humility: "Chazal state that if people pay tribute to a person because they mistakenly assume that he is well versed in a particular mesechta, he must correct their misconception. I, then, am obligated to inform you that you are mistaken."

The following day, Rav Eliyahu Dovid visited Rav Shnuer Zalman of Lublin, author of Toras Chessed. On Shabbos Hagadol, he delivered a drasha in shul.

ATTENDING TO THE CITY'S NEEDS

Immediately after his arrival in Yerushalayim, Rav Eliyahu Dovid summoned the city's finest yeshiva students to a meeting in his home, and asked them to help him take various measures to improve the city's spiritual welfare. This function included supervising various religious services in their neighborhoods.

He then assured them that both he and Rav Shmuel Salant were willing to guarantee that their ruchnius would not be adversely affected as a result of their involvement in these communal tasks. The Rav of Brisk, Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin, enthusiastically joined in this call.

He then appointed Rav Ben Tziyon Yadler to supervise the eruv and oversee the weights used by merchants in the city. The eruv posed a problem for the Jews who had moved to the new city of Yerushalayim. These Jews, who had once lived in the Old City, longed to daven at the Kosel on Shabbos. However, since it was forbidden to carry from the new city into the Old City, they couldn't take siddurim or other vital items with them. If they forgot and mistakenly brought packages or seforim with them, a special guard, posted at the gates of the Old City by the chief rabbi, would tell them to leave their packages in his care until after Shabbos.

To eliminate this inconvenience, Rav Eliyahu Dovid decided to erect an eruv that would surround all of the city's new neighborhoods. Together with Rav Yadler and a number of other prominent members of the yishuv, Rav Eliyahu Dovid went out to the hills surrounding Yerushalayim and set up the eruv.

He would also regularly check the weights of Yerushalayim's shopkeepers. Although the city's shopkeepers and tradesmen were honest, their weights were made of wood or stone, both of which slowly eroded. Rav Eliyahu Dovid and his assistants would approach each shopkeeper and replace his weights with copper ones that bore the stamp of the Yerushalayim beis din.

Rav Eliyahu Dovid personally paid the expenses incurred by the replacement of the weights and the construction of the eruv. One time, the treasurer of the Minsk Kollel asked him why he covered these expenses himself, when he could have charged them to the city's Vaad Klali.

Rav Eliyahu Dovid replied: "It is written that one who has stolen, but doesn 't know from whom he stole, should contribute to public works. I am not a healthy person, and who knows whether I am functioning properly as rav of Yerushalayim. Perhaps I am receiving more benefits than I deserve and am thus guilty of gezel. By paying for the expenses of the weights and the eruv, I am contributing to public works."

THE JOY OF THE MITZVOS

Rav Eliyahu Dovid was renowned for his mitzva observance. He not only observed the mitzvos meticulously, but also with special joy and love.

From childhood, he literally pursued the mitzva of reciting "Amen" after a blessing. Every day he would hear Birchos Hashachar from a number of people, so that he could recite Amen each time.

He was particularly careful to fulfill the mitzva of rising for elderly people, and would sometimes rise for the same elderly person or talmid chacham a number of times during one day.

On Yom Kippur night, after Aleinu, he would retreat to a specific section of the beis medrash and sit on a bench. The members of his shul thought that he was tired or unable to bear the heat in the shul. But that wasn't his reason for this practice. As he explains in his sefer Nefesh Dovid, many elderly people and talmidei chachamim passed by that section of the beis medrash, enabling him to fulfill the mitzva of rising for the elderly.

"I was very happy for the opportunity to fulfill that mitzva a number of times that night," he once said.

His descriptions of his love for the mitzvos, which he presents in Nefesh Dovid, are both touching and infectious.

"The mitzva of Sukka was very dear to me," he begins. "Neither frost nor win d could cause me to leave the Sukka, and sitting in it gave me untold pleasure.

"During Shemini Atzeres, I would kiss the Sukka's planks. I can't describe the sadness I felt when Shemini Atzeres was nearly over, and how sorry I was that I would very soon have to part from the beloved mitzva for a full year, sometimes even for thirteen months.

"On Hoshana Rabba, I would clutch the lulav and the other minim many times and kiss each one of them, wetting them with my tears and praying that I would merit to see them and recite blessings over them the following year.

"The mitzva of lighting Chanuka candles was very dear to me," he continued, "and I would sit in the room in which I had lit them, looking at them for as long as I could.

"On Tu b'Shvat, I would study the laws of ma'aser, and pray that I would, in fact, merit to fulfill that mitzva.

"On Purim, when I recited the brachos over the reading of the Megilla, my eyes would shed tears of joy over my having merited to fulfill that precious mitzva once again.

"On Pesach," he concluded, "I would shed tears of joy for having merited to relate the account of Yetzias Mitzrayim and to fulfill the mitzvos of drinking four cups of wine and eating matza and maror."

HARDSHIPS

The year 5649 was a particularly difficult one for Rav Eliyahu Dovid. During that year, his eldest daughter, age 22, and his youngest daughter both passed away. In his autobiography, Seder Eliyahu, he wrote, "Blessed is Hashem for having granted me the strength to bear those two misfortunes within such a brief span of time."

Although Rav Eliyahu Dovid was very punctual, he was 20 minutes late to his oldest daughter's levaya. He later explained the reason for his lateness.

"We are commanded to pronounce blessings over both unhappy and happy events, " he said. "When I was about to pronounce the blessing of Boruch Da Ha'emes, I was unable to infuse it with the same simcha I felt when my daughter was born. Therefore, I waited until I was able to muster the requisite feelings of simcha. That took me twenty minutes."

HIS PETIRA

Rav Eliyahu Dovid served as the rav of Yerushalayim for four years. On the 3rd of Adar, 5665, his productive life was cut short. Over 20,000 of Yerushalayim's residents, headed by Rav Shmuel Salant, attended his levaya.

At the levaya, the trustees of the beis din tzedek announced that whoever sent their children to banned schools was not permitted to touch the coffin.

With Rav Eliyahu Dovid's petira, the burden of leading Yerushalayim once more fell on the shoulders of the 89-year-old Rav Shmuel Salant.

Among the 100 writings that Rav Eliyahu Dovid left behind are Zecher la' Mikdash on the mitzva of hakhel; Teshuva mi'Yirah; and chiddushim on the Rambam. He also wrote an inspiring autobiography called Seder Eliyahu.

We have much to learn from Rav Eliyahu Dovid's shining personality and unique character traits.