Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
Hundreds of thousands of Jews will be accompanying Maran “Sar HaTorah” Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky zecher tzadik livracha to his final resting place.
Many of those accompanying him have never met him, but Rabbi Kanievsky’s presence in their lives was daily and unshakable. The image of him leaning over his books in his simple home in Bnei Brak served as an illuminating beacon, an anchor through the storms of time.
The Jewish nation’s dynasty was not established by kings. We call Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah our “mothers and fathers” and we call ourselves – “the children of Israel.” On the eve of the Jewish nation’s birth, our forefathers focused on the legacy and heritage they would leave their children. “And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘Because of this, the Lord did [this] for me when I went out of Egypt’” (Exodus 13). This is the Jewish nation’s profound essence – a strong and eternal chain of generations, a chain of parents and children, whose movement toward the future gets its strength and values from all the generations that preceded it.
Rabbi Kanievsky zz”l was the father of an entire generation. His tremendous love of Torah and those who study it, his erudition, hard work, and inconceivable diligence and knowledge of Torah, the power of his prayers and blessings, and his total humility – all these served as a vivid and inspiring presence of the world of Torah throughout the generations personified in his image. The worlds of the Sanhedrin sages, of Rabba and Abaye, of the Gaonim, the Rishonim and Achronim. All of them lived among us through his incredible persona, a father figure for the entire Jewish nation.
Rabbi Kanievsky was not a man of speeches and charisma. He did not hold any official role. He did not speak much, but each word out of his mouth echoed in our hearts and shook our souls. I was privileged to be hosted in his home many times, to ask and receive a blessing and strength for our activities at the Western Wall, or personally – for me and my family. And every single time, I left with a feeling of, “Because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face” (Judges 6).
A light shone from that little home in Bnei Brak that reached throughout the Jewish nation; an ancient light that illuminated the path for an entire generation.
