Elchonon Bunim Wasserman (; 18746 July 1941) was a prominent rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) in prewar Europe. He was one of the closest students of Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chofetz Chaim) and a noted Talmid Chacham. In the interwar period, he served as rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich. He was murdered during the Holocaust.
Early life and education
Elchonon Bunim Wasserman was born in Biržai (Birz) in present-day Lithuania to Naftali Beinish, a shopkeeper and Sheina Rakhel. In 1890, the family moved to Bauska (Boisk) in present-day Latvia, and Wasserman, then 15 years old, studied in the Telshe Yeshiva in Telšiai (Telz) under Eliezer Gordon and Shimon Shkop. When Wasserman returned home during vacation, he participated in classes given by Abraham Isaac Kook, who was appointed rabbi of Bauska in 1895. In the summer of 1897, Wasserman met Chaim Soloveitchik at a health resort and "became deeply attached to him and his way of learning." He left Telz and traveled to Brest-Litovsk (Brisk) in present-day Belarus, where he learned under Soloveitchik for two years, thereafter considering him his primary rebbe (teacher and mentor).
Wasserman was married in 1899 to Michla, the daughter of Meir Atlas, rabbi of Salantai (Salant). Wasserman lived in his father-in-law's house for many years and rejected offers of rabbinical posts (including a prestigious rabbinate in Moscow) being afforded the opportunity to learn Torah at home. He did however decide to teach, and together with Yoel Baranchik, he started a mesivta (high school) in Mstislavl (known to Jews as Amtchislav) in 1903 and earned himself a reputation as an outstanding teacher. Prior to 1907, Wasserman heard that another local rabbi wanted to head the mesivta in Amtshilov and he left to avoid an argument, returning to learn in his father-in-law's house. From 1907 to 1910, he studied in the Kollel Kodshim in the Raduń Yeshiva in Radun (Radin), headed by Yisrael Meir Kagan. While at the kollel, Wasserman studied for eighteen hours a day with Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, who would later become the rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
Rosh yeshiva
In 1910, with the encouragement of Kagan, Wasserman was appointed rosh yeshiva of the mesivta in Brest-Litovsk, leading its expansion until it was disbanded in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. With its closing, Wasserman returned to Kagan in Radin. When the Eastern Front reached Radin, however, the yeshiva there was closed, and Wasserman fled to Russia with Kagan.
In 1914, the yeshiva was exiled to Smilavičy, near Minsk, and Wasserman was appointed its rosh yeshiva one year later when Kagan decided to relocate to Siemiatycze (Semiatitch). Together with Yitzchok Hirshowitz (son-in-law of Eliezer Gordon from Telz Yeshiva), Wasserman was asked to keep Torah alive in Smilavičy.
In 1921, after the war, the Soviet government began permitting Torah scholars to leave Russia. Wasserman moved to Baranovichi, Second Polish Republic (now in Belarus), where he took the lead of Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich. The yeshiva grew under Wasserman's supervision, and soon had close to 300 students. Copies of notes taken from Wasserman's Torah lectures were passed around many of the yeshivas in Europe, increasing his influence and fame over most of the Torah world. He was one of the leaders of the Agudath Israel movement and was regarded as the spiritual successor of Kagan.
Trip to America
Towards the end of 1937, Wasserman traveled to the United States for 17 months in order to raise money for the yeshiva. He visited dozens of cities and towns, and raised around $10,000. While he was there, he made an impression on many young Jews.
Wasserman returned to Poland, although he knew his life was in danger by doing so. This was partly because he did not want to abandon his students, and partly because he took a dim view of American Jewry. In 1939, just before the Nazi invasion, he advised a student against accepting a visa to the United States if it meant studying at Yeshiva University and what is now the Hebrew Theological College, due to what he perceived as a spiritually dangerous atmosphere in these two institutions. He suggested instead that the student consider Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn, New York.
Death in the Holocaust
When World War II broke out, Wasserman fled to Vilnius (Vilna). In 1941, while on a visit to Kaunas (Kovno), he was arrested by Lithuanian Nazi sympathizers with twelve other rabbis.