Rav Elozor Simcha Wasserman zt"l
הרב אלעזר שמחה בן אלחנן וסרמן זצ"ל
Cheshvan 2 , 5753
Father's Name: Elchonon Bunim Wasserman
Relatives: Rav Elchonon Bunim Wasserman
Rav Elozor Simcha Wasserman zt"l
Rav Elozor Simcha Wasserman, the oldest son to his illustrious father, Rav Elchonon Wasserman, and a nephew of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky, learned at Novardok for several years, beginning shortly after his bar mitzva, under the Alter of Novardok. He was also very close to the Chofetz Chaim. After his last visit with him, his father sent him to Strasbourg, France, where he started a Yeshiva (at the time, the only Yeshiva in France). He stayed until 1938, when he moved to America. He first taught at Torah Vodaas, where he became close to Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz. He worked closely with Rav Aharon Kotler in the Vaad Hatzalah during World War II. In 1944, Rav Simcha established the Bais Yehuda Day School in Detroit, the first in Michigan, and appointed Rav Avrohom Abba Freedman as a Rebbe. Their first Shavuos, they were the only two to learn all night in the Bais Medrash. When Rav Simcha left in 1953, he left Rav Avrohom Abba, who stayed another fifty years. He then founded the West Coast Talmudic Seminary (WCTS), or Ohr Elchonon (named after his father) in Los Angeles. He asked Chabad to take over the building and school in 1977. In 1979, he and his Rebbetzin (daughter of the Novardok Rav, Rav Meir Abowitz) fulfilled a lifelong dream by moving to Eretz Yisrael. Together with Rav Moshe Chodosh, he established Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon in Yerushalayim. Rav Simcha and his Rebbetzin never had children, yet Rav Simcha was considered by many to be a leading authority on the subject of child-rearing.