Leading Torah giant Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, 101, successfully underwent heart surgery last night, and is expected to return home on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of people around the world recited special prayers for Rabbi Elyashiv –Rabbi Yosef Shalom ben [son of] Chaya Musha – last night. A large prayer service was held at the Western Wall dedicated to the rabbi, who is considered the hareidi-religious world’s leading rabbinic authority.
The three-hour surgery took place in ShaareZedekMedicalCenter in Jerusalem, at the hands of vascular surgeon Dr. Daniel Clair, Chairman of the Department of Vascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic's main campus. Dr. Clair, his team and special equipment were flown in from the United States specially for the operation. He asked for the rabbi’s blessing of success before the operation, and received it.
Rabbi Elyashiv is the grandson of the author of the famous Kabbalistic work Leshem Shvo v’Achlamah. His wife was the daughter of the famed Rabbi Aryeh Levine, and the two were married in 1930 by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook.
