Yera'hmiʼel Eliyahu Botschko

Rabbi Botchko was born on January 28, 1888, in Chorzele, Russia (currently Poland). At the relatively young age of 12, his parents sent him to the Lomza Yeshiva for an advanced Torah education. Shortly after his bar mitzvah, his father died, and his mother a short time later. At some point, Eliyahu switched to the Novardok Yeshiva where he grew significantly in his Torah studies. He married Rivka Sternbuch, daughter of Rabbi Naftali Sternbuch of Basel and sister-in-law of Recha Sternbuch. The couple settled in Basel.

The couple later resettled in Montreux in the Swiss Alps after Rivka fell ill and the doctors suggested relocation to the mountains. There, in the spring of 1927, Rabbi Botchko opened Yeshivas Eitz Chaim (commonly referred to as the "Montreux Yeshiva") under the instructions of his Rabbi, the Saba of Novardok. Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch of the Telshe Yeshiva sent five of his students to Montreux, who in addition to four local Swiss boys, made up the yeshiva. As opposed to the yeshivas in Eastern Europe where the students studied Torah the entire day, Rabbi Botchko's yeshiva was for Jewish students who went to college during the day and came only at night. The yeshiva's fame grew and it attracted students from all over Europe, and was one of the only European yeshivas to continue functioning during World War II. Teachers in the yeshiva would include Rabbis Aharon Leib Shteinman, Moshe Soloveitchik, and Aryeh Leib Glickson (the latter two were grandchildren of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik).