Elazar Mordechai Koenig

Elazar Mordechai Koenig (אלעזר מרדכי קניג) (October 15, 1945 – December 31, 2018) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and the spiritual leader of the Breslov Hasidic community in Safed, Israel.

Elazar Mordechai Koenig
אלעזר מרדכי קעניג
BornOctober 15, 1945
Jerusalem, Israel
DiedDecember 31, 2018(2018-12-31) (aged 73)
Safed, Israel
Resting placeSafed, Israel
OrganizationNachal Novea Mekor Chochma
TitleRabbi
Spouse(s)Chaya (Berger) Koenig
Children7 sons, 6 daughters
Parent(s)Gedaliah Aharon Koenig, Esther Yehudit Koenig

Early life

Elazar Mordechai Koenig was born in Jerusalem to Rabbi Gedaliah Aharon Koenig and his wife Esther Yehudit Koenig. His father was a leading disciple of Breslov elder Rabbi Abraham Sternhartz, who immigrated to Jerusalem from Uman, Ukraine in 1936.[1]

Koenig was an alumnus of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He studied kabbalah with his father as well as with several leading Sephardic masters, including Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi.[2]

Breslov leader
Kiryat Breslov housing complex

In 1967, his father, with the encouragement of Rabbi Sternhartz, founded the Breslov community in Safed and dedicated himself to fundraising for the expansion of this Torah center.[1] Upon his father's unexpected death in 1980, Koenig and his two brothers built up the Breslov Safed complex to include a synagogue, preschool, Talmud Torah, yeshiva ketana, and kollel.[1][3]

As of 2014, the Safed Breslov community comprised 250 families.[1] Koenig was the leader of this community as well as of its umbrella organization, Nachal Novea Mekor Chochma. The organizations institutions include; Kiryat Breslev (a religious housing complex), a kollel, Yeshiva ketana, Talmud Torah Magen Avot, Ganei and Derech Yehudit Education Center for Girls, a daycare center for working mothers, Lilmod U'lamed Special Education School, the historic Trisk Synagogue in Safed's Old City, and a five-story Torah Center.

After suffering for many years from pulmonary fibrosis of unknown origin, Koenig underwent lung transplant surgery on January 15, 2005 at Manhattan's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. Koenig died on December 31, 2018 at the age of 73 following declining health due to cancer.[4]

Influence beyond Safed

In 1997 Koenig founded the Breslov Center for Spirituality and Inner Growth, which organizes classes on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, lectures, musical events, and retreats in the Greater New York area. He also sponsored the annual Breslov Rosh Hashana gathering in Meron for Hasidim unable to travel to Uman.

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References
  1. Frankfurther, Rabbi Yitzchok. "Finding Happiness in Breslov: A conversation with Rav Elazar Koenig, shlita, of Tzefas". Ami, 12 March 2014, pp. 62–71.
  2. "HaRav Elazar Mordechai Kenig, Shlita, Manhig (Leader) of Kiryat Breslov, Tzefat, Israel". The Breslov Chassidic Center for Spirituality and Inner Growth. 1997. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  3. "The Breslov Synagogue". safed.co.il. 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  4. "Brelsov mourns: Rabbi Kenig of Tzfat passes". Israel National News. Retrieved 27 March 2019.

https://hamodia.com/2018/12/31/bde-harav-elazar-mordechai-kenig-ztl-breslover-rav-tzfas/

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