Rabbi Yehoshua Bachrach, noted author and educator, passed away this morning in Haifa at the age of 88. He was awarded the Israel Prize for Torah Literature for the year 5757 (1997), mainly in recognition for his several books on Bible study. Rabbi Bachrach ran the Aliyah Institution that took in many Holocaust survivor children. He was buried this afternoon in Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement and a Knesset Member of the National Religious Party, spoke with Arutz-7 today about the late Rabbi Bachrach:
\"I arrived in Israel [as a boy] in 1944, and I met him for the first time on the Fast of Gedaliah [early autumn] of that year. Aside from being a great Torah scholar, he was a great educator. He established the Aliyah school for these remnants and orphans, and was literally a father for each and every one. It was a home for them. His students loved him; we called him Yehoshua, out of love. We greatly admired him... He built these children and turned them into people, after what they experienced...
\"He was also a great writer, and I would say that he built a special method for teaching T\'nach [Bible]. His first book, Mother of Royalty, is about the Book of Ruth, which we will read two days from now on Shavuot; he was the one who revealed the deep contents of this book. It is in his merit that so many people study Ruth with his book on Shavuot. He also opened the gates for delving into Yonah, as well as the great figures of Shmuel, Sha\'ul and Yonatan, and King David, and Esther... He integrates precise analyses of the text with the medrashim [Rabbinic exegesis], and shows the true depth… He was an amazing personality, with great humility and true love for everyone...\"
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, head of the Yeshivot Bnei Akiva movement and a Knesset Member of the National Religious Party, spoke with Arutz-7 today about the late Rabbi Bachrach:
\"I arrived in Israel [as a boy] in 1944, and I met him for the first time on the Fast of Gedaliah [early autumn] of that year. Aside from being a great Torah scholar, he was a great educator. He established the Aliyah school for these remnants and orphans, and was literally a father for each and every one. It was a home for them. His students loved him; we called him Yehoshua, out of love. We greatly admired him... He built these children and turned them into people, after what they experienced...
\"He was also a great writer, and I would say that he built a special method for teaching T\'nach [Bible]. His first book, Mother of Royalty, is about the Book of Ruth, which we will read two days from now on Shavuot; he was the one who revealed the deep contents of this book. It is in his merit that so many people study Ruth with his book on Shavuot. He also opened the gates for delving into Yonah, as well as the great figures of Shmuel, Sha\'ul and Yonatan, and King David, and Esther... He integrates precise analyses of the text with the medrashim [Rabbinic exegesis], and shows the true depth… He was an amazing personality, with great humility and true love for everyone...\"