Memory Lane: Rav Nosson Nota Bilitzky

A scion of the most prestigious families in Lita, tracing their lineage through generations of Rabbonim, to the greatest luminaries of the Torah world, and who Rav Bilitzky dedicated his life to chinuch and rabbonus. His career, which spanned his almost his entire lifetime of eighty-four years, was marked by extraordinary dedication to these endeavors, in a number of communities; in Russia, America, and Eretz Yisroel. 

He dedicated close to three decades of his life—between 1945 and 1973—as the principal of Yeshiva Etz Chaim of Boro Park. 

Boro Park

Ascending to Eretz Yisroel had been a dream in the Bilitzky family for decades. Rav Tanchum Gershon had worked for years towards this goal, but was unsuccessful. He would ultimately be niftar in 1941, as the war was breaking out in that region of Poland. 

In America, he would have been reunited with his sister and brother-in-law, Rav Yeshaya Karlinsky, one of America’s most senior Rabbonim, and his Rebbetzin. Although he never took an official rabbinic position—due to his disappointment with the state of Rabbonus—he was revered among America’s leading Rabbonim, and one of the leaders of Agudas Harabonim. 

Yeshiva Eitz Chaim 

Around 1920, Yeshiva Eitz Chaim, also known as Hebrew Institute of Boro Park, was founded—and served as Boro Park’s only full-day yeshiva for decades. Thousands of students were educated there by dedicated mechanchim—many of them from Europe 

In the early 1940’s, Rav Nosson Nota was called to Yeshiva Eitz Chaim, and the family moved to Brooklyn—possibly due to chinuch concerns for their older children—and settled on the outskirts of Boro Park. In addition to his work at Eitz Chaim, he served as the rov of Beth Jacob, on McDonald Avenue and Kings Highway.  

In Boro Park, he would have had the companionship of his older brother, Rav Chaim Avrohom Bialik (Bilitzky) who led the Boro Park Torah Center, on Fort Hamilton and 49th Street. 

His time at Eitz Chaim is marked by his exceptional dedication to the talmidim. Harvard Law Professo, and Eitz Chaim alumnus, Alan Dershowitz recalls the love that he and his fellow talmidim felt towards Rav Nosson Nota. 

The 1970 Eitz Chaim yearbook was dedicated to Rav Neta, and the dedication reads: “in recognition of your toil to instill within us ahavas haTorah and yiras Shomayim. As your name (nota) implies, v’chayei olam nota b’socheinu, you have implanted within us an eternal love for Torah and mitzvos. As you prepare to depart from your avodas hakodesh after twenty five years…. We wish you that just as we have acquired from you Torah and yiras Shomayim, so too, may you see “sons and sons of sons occupied with Torah and mitzvos.” 

Returning Home 

Indeed, as he was preparing to return to Eretz Yisroel, into his seventh decade, he had already established an incredible legacy of sons and sons-in-law who would have distinguished Rabbinic careers in their own right. 

He settled in Eretz Yisroel with his wife, in the Bayit Vegan section of Yerushalayim, where he continued teaching Torah and delivering shiurim—a culmination of his life’s work. On a visit to America in the summer of 1982, he fell ill, and was niftar a short time later. His levayas in America and in Eretz Yisroel were well-attended, and a testament to this scion of greatness, who illuminated the lives of thousands of students in Boro Park of yore.