הרב אליהו לופיאן

Rav Eliyahu Lopian (5636/1876–20 Elul 5730/1970), known to all as Reb Elyah, was among the outstanding baalei mussar of the twentieth century — a son of Kelm who carried its Torah to London and then to Eretz Yisrael. Born in Grajewo in the Lomza district, he refused as a boy of nine to travel with his family to America, where Torah institutions were then almost nonexistent, and remained behind to learn: first in Lomza under Rav Eliezer Shulevitz, and then in the beit midrash of Kelm under the Alter of Kelm, Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, and Rav Yitzchak Blazer. He married Sarah Leah, daughter of Rav Yitzchak David Rotman, a talmid of the Alter, and they raised thirteen children; their daughter Chana Lieba married Rav Leib Gurwicz, rosh yeshiva of Gateshead.

He grew into one of the notable figures of the Kelm beit midrash. Through the First World War he remained there with the talmidim and continued the shiurim while most of the town fled; afterward he traveled the towns of Lita giving mussar talks and moved the talmidim of Kelm to rebuild the yeshiva. His journeys to raise funds for it brought him to London, where he was appointed rosh yeshiva of Etz Chaim in the East End, serving for many years alongside Rav Nachman Shlomo Greenspan.

In 5710/1950 he went up to Eretz Yisrael. He gave mussar shmuessen at the Zichron Moshe shul in Yerushalayim and served as mashgiach in Yeshivat Kamenitz, and in 5711/1951 was appointed menahel ruchani of Yeshivat Knesses Chizkiyahu in Zichron Yaakov, later in Kfar Chassidim. The Chazon Ish blessed him with the words “od yenuvun b’seivah,” which he took as a sign that despite his seventy-five years his service would be long. A Kelmer to the end, he was known for exacting order and self-command — he would not so much as turn his head without prior decision — and among the talmidim of those years was Rav Sholom Schwadron.

He was niftar at ninety-four on 20 Elul 5730/1970 and was buried on Har HaZeitim in Yerushalayim. His torah on Chumash and his mussar drashot were arranged by Rav Sholom Schwadron into the sefer Lev Eliyahu, learned in yeshivot to this day; the Lev Eliyahu neighborhood in Rechasim and a street in Yerushalayim’s Ramat Shlomo carry his name.