It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Hagaon Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi zt”l, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ateres Yisroel and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah in Eretz Yisroel. He was 94.
The rosh yeshiva had been hospitalized since Shabbos Parshas Pinchas. The following Sunday, his condition deteriorated and he fell into a coma and stopped breathing. During the last four months, his condition showed ups and downs, and in the last week, there was even a slight improvement in his health, but his heart troubles overcame him, and the rosh yeshiva passed away this morning.
Born on March 27, 1929, at Bikur Cholim Hospital in Yerushalayim, the rosh yeshiva was a son of Rav Yisroel and Hinda Ezrachi. Rebbetzin Hinda was a daughter of Rav Baruch Shelom.
Rav Ezrachi studied at the Chevron Yeshiva, and at the age of twenty-seven, he married Shulamis Chodosh, daughter of the famed Chevroner mashgiach, Rav Meir Chodosh zt”l.
Rav Ezrachi began giving shiurim at the Chevron Yeshiva, and simultaneously, for about twelve years, he delivered shiurim every two weeks at Yeshiva Knesses Chizkiyahu in Kfar Chassidim.
In 1964, he founded the ‘Bnei Torah’ movement, which aimed to bring students from modern high schools into the world of yeshivos and integrate them into the chareidi community. Over the decades of its activity, the movement attracted many who went on to study in yeshivos. The movement organizes joint summer camps for students from yeshivos and unaffiliated high schools, as well as other activities.
In 1976, he left Chevron and founded Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Yerushalayim. The yeshiva was named after his father (who had passed away a week earlier). In 2019, the yeshiva moved to Modi’in Illit.
His educational approach was based on the concept of gadlus ha’adam of the Alter of Slabodka.
Rav Ezrachi had one son and four daughters. His son, Rav Bentzion, is nosi of the Ateres Yisroel Yeshiva. His daughters are married to Rav Ariel Wilensky, rosh yeshiva of Aish HaTalmud, Rav Yehoshua Knell, mashgiach of Yeshiva Ketana Ateres Yisroel, Rav Yeshayahu Hadar Glazman, R”M at Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel, and Rav Aharon Weiner, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Chochmas Shlomo.
His brother, Rav Yitzchok Ezrachi, is one of the roshei yeshiva of Mir Yerushalayim. His sister, Yocheved, is married to Rav Shmuel Dickman, av bais din in Haifa.
Rav Ezrachi was a renowned gaon, lamdan, boki and baal darshan. His drashos were famed and his oratory abilities were unparalleled.
He authored an incredible series of seforim – al haTorah, on Gemara, on halacha, and on machshavah – titled Birkas Mordechai.
The rosh yeshiva will be buried near his wife on Har Hazeisim in Yerushalayim.
Yehi zichro boruch.

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{Matzav.com Israel}