Rabbi Druckman z”l Laid to Rest

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – Tens of thousands of mourners turned out on Monday for the levaya of Rabbi Chaim Druckman z”l, a rosh yeshiva for half a century and a senior figure in the religious Zionist movement.

The levaya for Rabbi Druckman, who passed away the day before at the age of 90, after repeated bouts with coronavirus, left from his Ohr Etzion Yeshiva in Merkaz Shapira in central Israel to the nearby Masuot Yitzchak cemetery.

Numerous rabbis, talmidim, family members and various dignitaries attended, including Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Yitzchak Yosef, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel David Lau, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Yerushalayim Moshe Amar, Ramat Gan Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Beit El Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Yerushalayim Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern, Religious Zionist Party chief MK Betzalel Smotrich, and Bnei Akiva Secretary-General Yigal Klein.

“We’ve lost…one of the great rabbis of Israel, a student of [the first-century sage] Rabbi Akiva in our generation,” said Herzog. “All of us were your sons, all of us were your students.”

Smotrich, who had received Rabbi Druckman’s backing during the recent election campaign, asked in his hespid: “What will I do without you? Without the smile, without the hug, without the warm handshake? What will we do without your dedication, without your responsibility, without you to bear the burden?”

“Pray for us, Rabbi. Pray for the people of Israel, for the land of Israel, for the State of Israel, for the government of Israel, for our dear community, which you knew how to unify,” Smotrich said.

Known for his outspokenness, Smotrich recalled “how many times he reproached me in the past year and a half,” for remarks he disapproved of.

Rabbi Druckman’s daughter, Rabbanit Bruria Binnenfeld yblc”t, said: “We were privileged to have a father who was a giant, a giant of Torah, a giant of grace, a giant of dedication.”

“You were a man of grace. Endless grace,” she said tearfully, her voice catching. “You returned every call and treated everyone with the same patience and gravitas, if it were a little girl, a student or a prime minister.”

Rabbi Chaim Druckman z”l, one of the leading spiritual leaders of the religious Zionist movement in Israel, had previously been diagnosed with the coronavirus in February and recovered, but was stricken again and hospitalized earlier in the past year. His petirah was announced at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Yerushalayim.

A Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Druckman studied at the Kfar Haroeh Yeshiva and Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva, and was a disciple of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook. He served as rosh yeshiva of Ohr Etzion for over 50 years.

He also served as head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot, and was an influential figure in Israeli politics. Besides his role as a rosh yeshiva, he served several terms as a member of Knesset.

In an interview with Israeli journalist Yair Sherki, he was asked about a biography that had been written about him: “When you look at the biography, which is in a way a summary of everything you’ve done so far, what is important to you that they remember you, that it be your signature achievement?”

“I didn’t think about that at all, I’ll be honest,” answered Rabbi Druckman. “When the writing of the biography was suggested to me, what motivated me was whether my life and what I went through would bring more people to act for the people of Israel and add good to the world, and for that purpose they should write. Otherwise, why is it so important to write about me?”

Rabbi Druckman is survived by Rebbetzin Sarah Drukman, yblc’t, nine children and hundreds of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and thousands of disciples.