THE YESHIVAH OF FLATBUSH FAMILY MOURNS THE PASSING OF RABBI DR. DAVID ELIACH ZT’L, PRINCIPAL EMERITUS OF THE JOEL BRAVERMAN HIGH SCHOOL (JBHS). RABBI ELIACH TRANSFORMED MODERN JEWISH EDUCATION AND INSPIRED THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUALS AND A VAST NUMBER OF PROGRAMS WITH HIS INNOVATIVE PERSONALITY AND IDEAS. FOR THE YESHIVAH OF FLATBUSH, HIS PASSING IS A DEEPLY PERSONAL AND PAINFUL LOSS.
Everyone who knew Rabbi Eliach, knew that he was Flatbush; his vision, leadership and mission were at the core of the Yeshivah’s existence and purpose. “He was its ultimate resource, its sage advisor and its standard of excellence,” said former JBHS Associate Principal Jill Sanders. With a quiet dignity and respect for all, he guided Flatbush for almost 70 years.
Rabbi Eliach was born in Jerusalem in 1922 to a Hasidic family. As a young man, he was one of the seven founders of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva. In 1943, while he was studying for a law career, he was assigned to teach orphaned children of the Holocaust. He decided that he had to continue helping them and thus began his lifelong educational career.
“Learning permeated every aspect of his being,” observed Rabbi Eliach’s grandson Ayalon Eliach. His grandfather always began his conversations wanting to know what was on his grandson’s mind. “If I was going through a rough time, he would share a lesson that spoke to my particular pain. Our learning always started with a meeting of our emotional states.”
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During his tenure as principal from the early 1950s until late 1990s, Rabbi Eliach would open the door to every classroom on a daily basis in order to gauge the progress of the teaching and learning in all subject areas. “Rabbi Eliach was always a ‘teacher’s teacher’ who understood that the number one factor which influenced a successful educational experience was the quality of the teacher in the classroom,” said Rabbi Joseph Beyda, JBHS Head of School.
In Judaic studies, he expected to hear Hebrew and see a board that clearly mapped out the lesson using his own quintessential method that he taught new faculty, graduate students, colleagues and other professionals. He helped new teachers develop their own methodologies and classroom management and gave them opportunities to use their talents in creative and meaningful activities. Rabbi Eliach and his wife, Professor Dr. Yaffa Eliach A”H, historian, author, and scholar of Judaic studies and the Holocaust, often opened their home to students for Torah learning and conversation.
Rabbi Eliach’s first priority was to instill in all students a love for G-d, the Jewish people, the State of Israel and the importance of hesed. Long before community service became popular, he instituted it as a high school graduation requirement. Thought-provoking speakers addressed school assemblies and faculty meetings at his request. When he initiated post-high school study in Israel, Rabbi Eliach went every year to visit the schools, review their curricula and programming and, most importantly, to meet with Flatbush graduates to hear about their learning and impressions.
“His scholarship, mentorship and leadership profoundly influenced the Yeshiva Day School movement in America,” noted Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the Principal Emeritus of Ramaz. JBHS former faculty member Shifra Hanon recalled how Rabbi Eliach, anticipating the arrival of Russian and Syrian Jews, sent her for training in ESL and learning differences and added, “He was uniquely positioned to shape the education of generations of students. He rose to this new challenge, understanding and foreseeing the coming developments.”
In a 2012 interview, Rabbi Eliach spoke about antiSemitism; his words are eerily prescient. “We have to teach them why the Jewish people, Judaism and Zionism are important. The more you are educated and the more you know who you are, the more you can fight to defend what needs defending.”
After Rabbi Eliach retired in 1997, he continued working in the Yeshivah as a mentor for teachers. Even with his unparalleled depth of knowledge and experience, he spent hours preparing his sessions. The Rabbi was “infinitely patient, while maintaining a true standard of excellence and never tolerating mediocrity or complacency,” said Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, Principal of SAR Academy. Even during covid, he continued his mentoring by phone and never missed a session.
“With every passing day, we continue to hear stories of students and educators who were impacted by Rabbi Eliach,” noted Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Rothman, Yeshivah of Flatbush Executive Director.
Former JBHS Head of School Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari, himself a student of Rabbi Eliach, spoke at the funeral, which was held in the JBHS. “I was recently assigned a new office. There were two names on the door—mine and Rabbi Eliach’s, his name slightly above mine. I could not be happier to have a constant reminder of what I should aspire to.”
Rabbi Eliach is survived by a brother, three children, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He published his Hebrew autobiography in 2018, Avar Shelo Avar (The Ever Present Past: My Journey from Jerusalem to Flatbush and Shurot,) a book of Hebrew poetry.
Several dedicated members of the Yeshivah of Flatbush team who worked with Rabbi Dr. David Eliach zt’l contributed to this story.
