It is hard to recall a more heartrending episode or tragic chillul Hashem involving a member of the Orthodox Jewish community than the recent saga involving a well-known author. When the horrific allegations against him first began to surface, few people believed that they would ever be heard by a competent rabbinical tribunal. And yet, Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, son of the revered Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, who served as the Rishon LeTzion from 1983 to 1993, convened a beis din only a few short weeks later to hear testimony about this case.
Rav Eliyahu did not act alone. In addition to the other dayanim of his esteemed beis din, he received overt support from various sectors of the chareidi community, including the beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz, whose heads, Rav Sariel Rosenberg and Rav Yehudah Silman, issued a letter urging the public not to read his books. Indeed, they were pulled from the shelves of bookstores, and his columns were immediately discontinued by the Hebrew-language chareidi newspaper Yated Ne’eman.
Although many innocent people were injured for life, and there is much darkness and pain, the courageous actions of Rav Shmuel Eliyahu and the other esteemed rabbanim represent rays of hope and light.
This past Monday, I had the great honor and privilege of speaking with Rav Shmuel Eliyahu.
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