Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler was born in 5652 in Hommel (today in Belarus) to his father, Rav Reuven Dov, one of the eminent baalei mussar in his generation and a close talmid of the Alter of Kelm. As a bochur, he learned in Kelm, during the time of Rav Tzvi Hirsh Broide, the son-in-law of the Alter. He was given semichah by his uncle, Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.
In 5688, Rav Eliyahu Eliezer traveled with his father to England for medical care for Rav Reuven Dov. But when he was offered a rabbinical position there, he decided to remain in England to strengthen Torah and mitzvos among the Jews living there. First, he served as Rav in a few places, and opened a yeshivah in the Dalston area of London. At the beginning of the 1940s, he joined the famous kollel that was established in Gateshead, where he served as the menahel ruchani.
In 5707, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman invited him to serve as the mashgiach in Ponevezh Yeshivah that he had established in Bnei Brak. Rav Dessler delivered shmuessen there until his sudden passing from a heart attack on 24 Teves 5714.
His divrei Torah on the subjects of emunah and mussar were printed in the five-volume series entitled Michtav Eliyahu.
