Hundreds of Thousands Attend Levayah of Harav Chaim Kanievsky Zt”l

Rav Sheishes said, ‘The retrieval of the Torah (when a talmid chacham passes away) should be the same as when the Torah was given. Just like it was given with six hundred thousand, so its retrieval should be with six hundred thousand (attending the levayah). That is for someone who learned, but for one who taught Torah, there is no limit.” (Megillah, 29a)

In one of the great outpourings of Kavod HaTorah in our time, vast numbers of Yidden converged on the city of Bnei Brak to participate in the levayah of Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l on Sunday.

Rav Chaim was niftar on Shushan Purim, Friday afternoon, at the age of 94, of a heart attack.

Crowd estimates ranged from half to three quarters of a million people and included Gedolei Torah, lomdei Torah, public officials and Jews from all walks of life in Israel and abroad, who came to pay tribute to the Sar HaTorah and express their sense of loss at his passing.

At the levayah, yblc”t Harav Gershon Edelstein, shlita, Rosh Yeshivas Ponevez, said: “Woe unto Eretz Yisrael that has lost a gavra rabbah (a great man). Now there is no gavra rabbah, in Eretz Yisrael and the entire world. We are bereft of the hashpa’ah [spiritual influence] of this gavra rabbah, and this awesome and frightening.”

Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Zilberstein, shlita, the brother-in-law of Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, in his hespid told the story of the writing of Karnei Chagavim, that Rav Chaim had not known exactly what the chagav looked like, until one appeared on the window of his house, [in order that he should be able to describe it properly.]

“When I related this to our father-in-law Harav Elyashiv, he was astounded, and said that this is something that the Rishonim were zocheh to — as the Bais Yosef mentions in Yoreh Deiah (siman 82) happening to the Ri (one of the baalei Tosafos) — this form of ruach hakodesh, behirus d’mochin (clarity of mind]. In this generation, that is Rav Chaim.”

Rav Zilberstein said that he was weighed against the entire Jewish people, and that his passing is an atonement for the people.

He recalled that Rav Chaim was accustomed when giving out brachos to abbreviate, “brachah v’hatzlochah as bv”h (which he pronounced buha). Rav Zilberstein suggested that the reason why he didn’t pronounce the full words was to reduce bittul Torah. Thus it was, his entire life, and he did not accept any formal position because of the bittul Torah it would entail.

Harav Shlomo Kanievsky, rosh yeshivas Kiryat Melech, Reb Chaim’s son, called him “unparalleled in his generation” and praised his dedication to Torah study and to encouraging young people to dedicate themselves to full-time study.

Rav Shlomo described what they saw when they were young children. On the long leilei Shabbosos in the winter, they would play with their father. “We would read him ma’amarei Chazal and he would tell us the source b’al peh, and even add to the source some more explanations of his own. This was the case in Talmud Bavli, Yerushalmi, in Rambam and Tosefta and in Midrashim.”

“Our uncle Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein would come every Friday to our father to present him with the difficult sheilos that had accumulated over the week. Once, over 20 years ago when I was there, Rav Yitzchak presented the question and our father opened the Shulchan Aruch and showed him where it was written in one of the lesser known nosei keilim. He had a clear and profound knowledge in all parts of the Torah.”

His son recalled the derech eretz that went hand-in-hand with his zeal for Torah: “When my father arrived home at midday after learning all morning in kollel, lunch was of course ready, as my mother would never miss an opportunity to serve a meal,” Rav Shlomo said. “But my father was particular never to eat without her; he wouldn’t eat unless she was seated at the table with him.”

“If it took my mother more than a moment or two to sit down to eat with him, my father would turn around to his shtender, open a sefer and start to learn.

Describing Rav Chaim’s bein adam la’chaveiro, Rav Shlomo said, “You saw that some of the questions were coming from small children, and when we asked why you bothered to reply to them, you said they only asked because they wanted to have a letter from you, ‘so it’s worth my time for them to have chizuk in Torah from me.

“These may seem simple things, even minor things, but these were the things we saw with our own eyes. These seemingly mundane things expressed the way my father lived, and the devotion he had to the things that really matter.”

From the balcony of Rav Chaim’s home on Rechov Rashbam, Rav Moshe Smotani led the saying of Tehillim, and Rav Moshe Chaim Boyer led the throng in selichos prior to the departure of the levayah.

Safety had been a main concern, and as the hour of the levayah approached, calls for restraint and watchfulness were issued, as officials reminded the public of the terrible tragedy at Meron last year when 45 people, including many children, were killed in the crush on Lag BaOmer.

Rav Zilberstein called on parents to watch their children during the levayah, and protect them from being crushed.

In a letter, he wrote, “Following the passing of our leader … we have come to request not to push forward to the place of the aron, because all those who accompany or walk with the public are part of the levayah.

“The Sar HaTorah, a”h, was very careful about the commandment to ‘guard your lives very carefully.’ It is unthinkable that at his own levayah, people will be pushed and come to danger, chas veshalom.

B’chasdei shamayim, the levayah concluded without any serious mishap, as the participants heeded the call “not to push” in the crowded streets, mindful of the tragedy last year at Meron.

According to officials, at least 15 people were treated at the scene by first responders and four were taken to hospitals, all reportedly in light condition.

The levayah began in the early afternoon from the home of Rav Chaim on Rechov Rashbam in Bnei Brak, to the Zichron Meir cemetery in Bnei Brak, where he was buried next to his wife, Rebbetzin Bat Sheva, a”h, and near his illustrious father, the Steipler, zt”l.

Although the levayah was held on Sunday afternoon, thousands from around the country were already on their way to Bnei Brak as early as Motzei Shabbos, in order to be there ahead of the traffic on Sunday.

To accommodate the massive event, police shut down not only the roads into and out of Bnei Brak but also main highways in central Israel were closed to traffic.

Police asked the public to avoid driving to the region except to attend the levayah. “This is a national event, one of the biggest the State of Israel will experience,” police chief Kobi Shabtai said. “Israel Police’s aim is to ensure the funeral runs smoothly and that every Israeli that wishes to pay respect to the Rav can do so safely.”

Approximately 3,000 police officers were deployed to provide security.

Rav Chaim was considered the leader of the olam hayeshivos, a living legend who would make a siyum every year on kol haTorah kulah. His apartment on Rechov Rashbam in Bnei Brak became one of the most well-known addresses in the Jewish community, as Jews from across the world would make their way there, seeking brachos and counsel from the venerated sage.

Rav Chaim was the author of numerous Torah works, including the renowned halacha series Derech Emunah, Taama D’Kra on the Chumash, commentaries on the Talmud and countless halachic rulings and divrei mussar, some of which have been published and much more will no doubt be published in the coming months and years.

In addition to being a pillar of halachah, he was a pillar of tzeddakah. Notably, for many years, he was deeply involved with Kupat HaIr, providing guidance and inspiration to its organizers.

At the conclusion of the levayah, Rav Moshe Smotani announced that Rav Yitzchak Shaul Kanievsky would henceforth serve as the mara d’asra of the Lederman Beis Medrash in Bnei Brak.

V’chal beis Yisrael yivku es hasreifah asher saraf Hashem.