A day after the passing of the Jerusalem Faction's leader, Rabbi Asher Deutsch, the Faction's administrators and activists gathered at the home of Rabbi Azriel Auerbach for what amounted to a coronation ceremony installing him as the new leader of the Jerusalem Faction.
In an announcement from the Jerusalem Faction, he was given the title "Our Master, the Pillar of Teaching, the Gaon Rabbi Azriel Auerbach."
During the ceremony, Rabbi Auerbach told those present: "We will maintain every detail of what we received from our teachers - our master the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi S. Auerbach and our master the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Deutsch, especially in the struggle against the military draft decree and standing guard on the independence of boys' and girls' education. And to distance ourselves from them and their masses."
An interesting point is that Rabbi Auerbach is actually the son of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who was a leading religious authority of his generation, and son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who led the Lithuanian Jewish community before it split.
Additionally, he is the brother of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, who was the Faction's leader, and brother-in-law of both Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky who led Degel HaTorah until his passing, and Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein, a member of the Lithuanian Council and one of today's leading religious authorities. He is also the uncle of Rabbi Shraga Steinman, a current senior Lithuanian Council member.
As previously reported, after Rabbi S. Auerbach's passing, the Jerusalem Faction essentially split again, with the majority following Rabbi Deutsch's leadership, while some, considered more extreme, followed Rabbi Tzvi Friedman.
Rabbi Auerbach, 86, serves as rabbi of the "Chanichei HaYeshivot" community in Jerusalem's Bayit Vegan neighborhood. He is actually several years older than Rabbi Deutsch, whom he now replaces as leader of the Faction.
Born in Jerusalem's Sha'arei Chesed neighborhood, he studied at Etz Chaim and later at the Slobodka Yeshiva. His wife Leah, daughter of Rabbi Elyashiv, passed away about 15 years ago without children. After his father-in-law's death in 2013, he married Rebbetzin Mina, his first wife's niece - the widow of Rabbi Avraham Elyashiv and daughter-in-law of Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, Rabbi J.S. Elyashiv's son.
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