Elazar Mordechai Koenig

Early life

Elazar Mordechai Koenig was born in Jerusalem to Rabbi Gedaliah Aharon Koenig and his wife Esther Yehudit Koenig. His father was a leading disciple of Breslov elder Rabbi Abraham Sternhartz, who immigrated to Jerusalem from Uman, Ukraine in 1936.

Koenig is an alumnus of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He studied kabbalah with his father as well as with several leading Sephardic masters, including Rabbi Mordechai Sharabi.

Breslov leader

In 1967, his father, with the encouragement of Rabbi Sternhartz, founded the Breslov community in Safed and dedicated himself to fundraising for the expansion of this Torah center. Upon his father's unexpected death in 1980, Koenig and his two brothers built up the Breslov Safed complex to include a synagogue, preschool, Talmud Torah, yeshiva ketana, and kollel.

As of 2014, the Safed Breslov community comprises 250 families. Koenig is the leader of this community as well as of its umbrella organization, Nachal Novea Mekor Chokhma Institutions. These include: Kiryat Breslov (a religious housing complex), a kollel, Yeshiva ketana, Talmud Torah Magen Avos, Ganei and Derech Yehudit Education Center for Girls, a daycare center for working mothers, Lilmod U'lamed Special Education School, the historic Trisk Synagogue in Safed's Old City, and a five-story Torah Center.

After suffering for many years from pulmonary fibrosis of unknown origin, Koenig underwent lung transplant surgery on January 15, 2005 at Manhattan's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.

Influence beyond Safed

In 1997 Koenig founded the Breslov Center for Spirituality and Inner Growth, which organizes classes on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, lectures, musical events, and retreats in the Greater New York area. He also sponsors the annual Breslov Rosh Hashana gathering in Meron for Hasidim who are unable to travel to Uman.

His advice and blessings are sought by people around the world.