Rav Chaim Kanievsky זצוק"ל

Roots

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 12:01 am

It IS a shock becasue it happened so suddenly.
usually a few days or weeks before they ask to be mispallel or you hear that the person was taken to the hospital etc so you know the end is near- like by harav ovadia and harav shteinman ztzl
but here it was like purim and then BOOM!

PinkFridge

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 5:52 am

Chickensoupprof wrote:

But, I don't understand... then the fact. We lost a gadol hador, we losing every generation the gedolim of our generation. Our Rav is always sad that he never met the Chazon Ish but he met Rav Chaim and his father the Steipler zt'l. Tremendous loss of course like it was with other gedolim but Hashem has a master plan and then a new gadol hador will get the job to protect others. We also have lamed vavniks in this world the hidden tzaddikim we don't know them. Hashem renews the world every day he is still creating new tzaddikim new ben torahs etc.

You're right. Chazal say, lo alman Yisrael.
Chazal also say Yiftach b'doro k'Shmuel b'doro. May we be zoche to many more Shmuels/Rav Chaim, zt"l's.
Right now when the meis is literally before us, this level of mourning and trepidation is especially understandable. And we should maintain some of it. We shouldn't get complacent.

PinkFridge

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 5:54 am

byisrael wrote:

I agree that this wasn't a shock

But how can anyone say this isn't a tragedy?

The Gemarah ( Eicha Raba: א:לז) says
"מצינו שסלוקן של צדיקים קשה לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא...ומחורבן בית המקדש"

If something is worse then the Churban, the destruction of the Bais Hamikdah - it is nothing but a tragedy.

Rav Chaim literally knew Torah backwards and forwards. He learned 7 daf gemarah yerushalmi and 8 daf gemarah bavli A DAY - and this is beside his daily seder in chumash, nach, shulchan aruch, and kabala. If you don't see this as a tragedy then you don't appreciate or value his Torah, and that is incredibly tragic.

The nechama is the fact that HKB"H has a plan for us, and we have other gedolim and tzadikim who will take his place, and this is the way of the world - we loose geolim and leaders and others step up to leadership positions. This as a comfort - but doesn't take away from the tragedy and loss.

And he made a siyum on kol haTorah kula ever year.
Very well put, as are many of the posts here.

PinkFridge

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 5:59 am

DrMom wrote:

The reason I do not see it as tragic is because:

2. There are so people studying full-time Torah these days; more than any other time in history. It is my belief that other immensely talented scholars will rise through the ranks, just like they have done in the generations before. I believe the Torah is eternal and does not rest on the shoulders of any one scholar.

Yes, there is a lot of room to be optimistic; chickensoupprof had some very valid points too.
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman (aka Avner Gold) when asked by Mishpacha about a halcyon era (I forgot the exact question) said that right now is awesome. The Torah, the accessibility...he wouldn't have been able to publish like he has in the 20th/21st century. (He's written sefarim as well as novels.)

And really, these are principles of emunah. As I said, we will not be abandoned. We will have leadership. There is so much we have now; you can also read Mishpacha essays by Rabbi Lopiansky, shlita.

And yet we can't minimize the loss. We have to acknowledge it fully. This is also part of how we process life.

PinkFridge

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 6:06 am

cutestbaby wrote:

Some of these posts reflect a massive lack of emunah.
It's okay to feel shock and loss but to say "oh no we're doomed now?" Seriously?
HKBH protected us long before R' Chaim and He will protect us after. To say/think otherwise is placing your faith in basar v'dam instead of in HKBH.

I've just been saying lo alman, etc. but you know, we do have to be concerned. It can't be business as usual. As I said, if not on this thread, the other one, I heard a very choshuv and eloquent RY say that actually it's understandable to have the reaction of long life etc. But the void for us is massive. We are missing so much shmira just by his existence in this world. We need to live lives that reflect the value of Torah and giving to the klal.

If you're wondering about giving to the klal, I have no doubt that there will be many stories about his kindness and chessed. (I've often brought up the Chazon Ish as an example of Torah and chessed. And there was a quote from Rav Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, zt"l in this week's Mishpacha from the family biographer. When the biographer told Rav Meshulam Dovid that there were just so many stories about the chessed of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, zt"l and that he was concerned that they might detract from his Torah scholarship the RY said every single one that would be omitted would be a shame. [Awkward construct but that was how it was translated.])

The very fact that Rav Chaim gave so much of his time to greet people, to give them chizuk and a glimpse of who he was, was tremendous chessed.

Torah and chessed. We can all bring more to the world.

PinkFridge

Sun, Mar 20 2022, 6:07 am

Raindropsonrose wrote:

Please tell me that you didn’t just make a distinction between the modern orthodox community and the Torah world, as if one is somehow not part of the other?
I’m going to try and judge favorably and assume you didn’t mean that, but really, that was incredibly hurtful.

And, the original poster didn't use the world modern.