טTelz Family ArchiveFamilies, schools and yeshivas

Family collection

Gordon Family

The documented Gordon connection to Telshe and the open work needed to connect it to a specific family line.

Rabbi Eliezer Gordon

Rabbi Eliezer Gordon (1840/41–1910) was the leader who turned the young Telshe Yeshiva into a major Eastern European center of Torah learning. The Telz memorial book says he became the town rabbi in 1882 and rosh yeshiva in 1884. Other summaries compress the start of his leadership to 1883.

He introduced an organized five-level system, placed leading scholars over the classes, and personally taught senior pupils. His advocacy also helped sustain the school against financial and government pressure. He died in London in 1910 while fundraising after a fire had damaged the yeshiva.

Family testimony

A direct ancestral connection

Chaim Dov identifies Rav Eliezer Gordon, son of Rav Avrohom Shmuel Gordon, as his ancestor through two branches: Gordon’s son-in-law Rav Zalman Sorotzkin of Lutzk and Gordon’s son-in-law Rav Yosef Yehuda Leib Bloch. This replaces the earlier open question about whether the family had a Gordon connection.

See the joined tree

The Gordon–Bloch link

Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch was Gordon’s son-in-law and worked beside him in the yeshiva before succeeding him. This is an established institutional and family connection. Chaim Dov’s family testimony identifies this as his direct ancestral line. Outside records should be attached as they are found, but the relationship is no longer treated as a generic surname hypothesis.

Rabbi Eliezer Gordon
1840/41–1910
father-in-law of
Rabbi Yosef Yehudah Leib Bloch
1849–1930

Sources

  1. JewishGen Yizkor Book: The Telshe Yeshiva, its Rabbis and Institutions
  2. Jewish Heritage Lithuania: Telšiai yeshiva
  3. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Telshe Yeshiva