Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Rabbi Yosef Shalom ElyashivIsrael news photo: courtesy of Beit HaShalom

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was hospitalized in the middle of the night following shortness of breath, and doctors discovered heavy congestion, sparking concerns he may have pneumonia.

Readers are asked to pray for the speedy recovery of HaRav Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Moosha.

The 101-year-old rabbi is the leader of the worldwide Lithuanian yeshiva movement and considered the community’s leading Torah sage of this generation.

Relatives said they called medics after the rabbi complained of breathing problems around 2 a.m. Sunday. Dozens of followers arrived outside his home after seeing Magen David Adom medics at the scene.

“Rabbi Elyashiv was evacuated for medical care for shortness of breath and was taken to Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center, where following a series of medical tests, doctors decided to hospitalize him,” according to Shlomo Kook, spokesman for Rabbi Elyashiv.

He said the rabbi is fully conscious and that his condition is stable. He prayed Sunday morning in his hospital room.

Last October, he was hospitalized for tests, three weeks after ambulatory eye surgery, and he underwent successful vascular surgery in June.

Rabbi Elyashiv is a grandson of the kabbalist Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv from Lithuania. His father’s name originally was Erener, but his father adopted his father-in-law's surname in order to gain a certificate to enter the British Mandate of Palestine. The family moved to Palestine in 1922 when Rabbi Elyashiv was 12 years old.

One of his children was killed by the Jordanian army in the War for Independence in 1948.