After being released from the hospital last week, the Erlauer Rebbe was once again hospitalized over Shabbos because of a case of severe pneumonia.
The Rebbe was taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem Shabbos afternoon.
A member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel, the Rebbe has experienced continuous weakness since his last hospitalization, followed by a rise in his blood pressure and symptoms of pneumonia.
On Motzoei Shabbos, a crowd of Chassidim gathered at the Kosel to daven for the Rebbe’s recovery.
The Rebbe, born in 1923 in Eger (Erlau), Hungary, survived the Holocaust and founding the Eraluer Yeshiva first in Hungary and then in Yerushalayim. The Rebbe is a great-great-grandson of the Chasam Sofer. The Rebbe is a son of Rav Moshe Sofer. His father and grandfather were murdered at Auschwitz, and the young Yochanan survived the war and returned to Erlau to lead the survivors, who constituted barely a minyan. In 1946, he was asked to serve as rosh yeshiva of the year-old Yeshivas Chasam Sofer, the only yeshiva in Hungary at that time, which had been established by Rav Shmuel Binyanim Frey for 30 orphaned young men in Budapest. He continued there for a year and a half, after which he opened a yeshiva in Erlau. The Rebbe was appointed to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel by the Bais Yisroel of Ger when he was only 38 years of age.
All are asked to daven for Rav Yochanan ben Tushena.
David Steger – Matzav.com Israel / Photo: Flash 87 Images
