Rabbi Elyakim Schlesinger, one of the senior yeshiva heads in the Haredi world and Rosh Yeshivas HaRama in London, passed away early this morning. Rabbi Schlesinger merited an exceptionally long life and was 104 at the time of his passing.
He remained mentally sharp until his final days and delivered a Torah shiur on this past Shabbat. Over the past week he fell ill with pneumonia, was hospitalized yesterday for kidney treatment, and passed away during the night.
Rabbi Schlesinger was born in Vienna in 1921. At the age of 12 he moved to a yeshiva in Pressburg, and later received rabbinic ordination in Niytra. In 1931 he immigrated to Israel with his family and settled in Tel Aviv. He studied in yeshivot in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva, and after his marriage studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
He was known for his close relationships with the leading Torah sages of his generation and recorded his memories of them in the book “The Generation and the Era."
In recent years, he was active in opposing demands by the British Ministry of Education that haredi institutions teach content inconsistent with their educational path.