THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman Rabbi Yeshayahu Chaim Hadari zt”l A Man of Yerushalayim abbi Yeshayahu Chaim Hadari the traditional descent to the Kotel for Hoshanah Rabbah, when people from zt”l, who was both my teacher the Kabbalat Shabbat service, which the entire Jewish spectrum, from both and Rabbi, became one of the became one of the yeshiva’s trademarks. Israel and the Diaspora, would come to most influential and important Every Friday night at dusk, one could see learn in the beit midrash. spiritual figures in the life of the yeshiva students, led by Rav Hadari, His combination of vision and Rthe Old City of Yerushalayim after the dancing on their way to the Kotel to pragmatism also expressed itself when Six-Day War. pray, while at the same time singing he encouraged his students to purchase When they housing in the Jewish Quarter, many of .ישמחו במלכותך שומרי שבת His death three years ago left the Jewish Quarter in the Old City without reached the Western Wall Plaza, many of whom did so. one of its paragons of Torah scholarship. the people already there joined them in He would often quote the words of Rav Hadari was the founder of Yeshivat the dancing and the tefillot. the Sages: “Any generation in whose Hakotel and served as Rosh Yeshiva for days the Beit HaMikdash is not rebuilt, more than 50 years. He shaped its special it is as if they destroyed it.” The Sfat educational and religious approach, to Emet explains that the rebuilding of which he added his own extraordinary Yerushalayim and the Beit HaMikdash personal qualities to create a way of life is not a one-time matter, but rather a characterized by friendship, loyalty and long and continuous process. Every mutual responsibility among the yeshiva generation lays its own foundations students. until the rebuilding is complete and The yeshiva was initially situated in the Beit HaMikdash stands before us. rundown, abandoned buildings and Therefore, if a generation failed to lay its moved to the almshouses overlooking own foundations and did not contribute the road leading to the Kotel until it was its part, it is as if it destroyed the Beit finally housed in a permanent building HaMikdash. Rav Hadari zt”l, driven by within the rebuilt Jewish Quarter. a vision of a rebuilt Beit Mikdash, laid Through the yeshiva, Rav Hadari also a wealth of solid foundations for the left his imprint on the revitalized life spiritual rebuilding of Yerushalayim. in the Old City, including its physical This year on Yom Yerushalayim, renewal and the development of its when Yeshivat Hakotel will celebrate its spiritual and religious life. anniversary and the Jewish Quarter will As an outstanding and well-respected mark the day on which Yerushalayim educator, endowed with rare pedagogical was liberated and reunified, we will ability, he transformed the yeshiva into a sorely miss the man who did so much to spiritual beacon. Sounds of Torah study, build and rebuild it. joy and prayer could be heard between its walls day and night, enjoyed by local Rav Hadari’s concern for the spiritual residents, tourists strolling through the development of Yerushalayim, coupled Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman is Head of the alleys and the masses making their way with his creative way of thinking, Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora down to the Kotel. turned the beit midrash into a place in the World Zionist Organization and one Rav Hadari was a man of thought and that welcomed all Jews who wished to of World Mizrachi’s representatives in the deeds, and acutely aware of the huge study Torah close to the remnants of the National Institutions. He is a graduate of spiritual potential inherent in the yeshiva Beit HaMikdash. This would especially Yeshivat Hakotel and was one of its first and its strategic location. He introduced occur on Shavuot eve and on the eve of students. | 51.