Dear OZ family,
The family of Rav Chaim Kanievsky have risen from Shiva, and the Halachic world is searching for the replacement for the Gadol Hador. At Rav Moshe Feinstein’s levaya, Rav Dovid Lifshitz said that the definition of a Gadol Hador is someone who doesn’t leave anyone behind who is on the same level. Fair enough, but Rav Chaim Kanievsky wasn’t on the level of the previous Gadol Hador at the time of that leader’s passing either. The sheer magnitude of Rav Kanievsky’s reach in the Torah world is incredible. He wrote so many sefarim on such broad topics in Halacha, Aggadah, and Parshanut. He completed all of Shas Bavli, Yerushalmi, all Midrashei Halacha, Rambam and Shulchan Aruch once a year. He was a figure larger than life in Bnei Brak, and I had the opportunity on a few occasions to spend more than a few moments with him.
The amazing thing about all his Torah, is that he accomplished all of this while attending to hundreds upon hundreds of people waiting in long and winding lines to receive a bracha, a word of encouragement, or an answer to a complicated question. Thousands of boys were held by him at their bris. Thousands more had their first lock of hair snipped by him on Lag B’omer, or their 3rd birthday Upsherin. Those boys will brag about that for the rest of their lives. 10 years ago, I asked him for a haskama on my first sefer, a commentary to Mishlei, by Rabbi Elazar Rokeach, a 13th century Ashkenazic Halachic authority, with my annotated notes. Rav Kanievsky had written the notes to the commentary of the Rokeach to the 5 Books of the Torah and to the 5 Megillot. I came to him late one night just after he rose from Shiva for his sister. His grandson said that when he saw that book, it was the first time he had smiled in over a week. He turned to his son, who was in the room, and said, “Put this aside I want to read it on Shavuos night”.
A few years back, I had my entire Ramaz senior class over for a Shabbatone. One of my students was quite an accomplished guitarist who played in a band. He saw a blowup of a picture that someone had snapped, of me showing my sefer to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He asked who that was with me in the picture. I told him to imagine that he was playing a song on the guitar for Bruce Springsteen, who responded that he liked it so much that he’s going to play the song at his next concert. I told him that this is what the picture meant to me. Many stories will be told in the coming weeks, and they are not exaggerated. He gave hundreds and hundreds of Brachos to people who felt blessed just to be in his presence, each and every day.
May his memory be a blessing.
Be safe. Be healthy. Be excellent.
Rabbi Allen Schwartz
Rabbi Allen Schwartz
Congregation Ohab Zedek
118 West 95th Street | New York, NY 10025-6604
Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635
