Almost 1 Million People Attend Funeral Of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Leader Of Hareidi Jewish Community
Between 750,000 and a million folks flocked to Bnei Brak on Sunday for the funeral procession of Israel’s most influential Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Rabbi and Torah chief Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, according to police estimates. Rabbi Kanievsky, generally known as the “Prince of Torah,” handed away in his Bnei Brak house on Friday afternoon on the age…
Between 750,000 and a million folks flocked to Bnei Brak on Sunday for the funeral procession of Israel’s most influential Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Rabbi and Torah chief Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, according to police estimates. Rabbi Kanievsky, generally known as the “Prince of Torah,” handed away in his Bnei Brak house on Friday afternoon on the age of 94 and was thought-about the premier Torah chief for Jews in Israel and around the globe. Main rabbis and group leaders issued a proclamation that companies and faculties be closed on the time of the funeral to honor Rabbi Kanievsky.
✡️? — PHOTO: An estimated 800,000 folks attending the Levaya of Reb Chaim Zatzal in Bnei Brak now. pic.twitter.com/wHiRi69se7
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 20, 2022
“As many as 1 million mourners attended the funeral of the chief of the haredi Orthodox group, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, on Sunday afternoon within the central Israeli metropolis of Bnei Brak, making it the most important funeral in Israel’s historical past,” JTA reported.
Rabbi Kanievsky was born in 1928 in Pinsk, Poland, in what’s now Belarus, to Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, generally known as the “Steipler Gaon,” and Rebbitzen Miriam Karelitz, sister of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, generally known as the “Chazon Ish.” He moved to Israel (then Obligatory Palestine) as a younger baby and by no means left. At the same time as a younger man, he was supremely devoted to Torah research, spending many hours immersed in Torah Books. Throughout Israel’s Battle of Independence, Kanievsky served within the IDF, guarding an outpost overlooking Jaffa.
Rabbi Kanievsky studied for round seventeen hours every day and gained experience in just about each side of Torah. He astonishingly accomplished all the Torah yearly, which incorporates the Pentateuch, Prophets, Writings, Mishnah, Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, Medrash, Sifra, Sifri, Miamonodies, Zohar, Shulchan Aruch, and plenty of extra Torah Books, a feat that almost all Jews don’t full of their lifetime. He authored many books on all subjects of Judaism and selflessly devoted hours of his time to answering questions from folks across the globe, writing out untold 1000’s of responses to the letters that poured in over the a long time.
The next story, advised over by Rabbi Nosson Scherman of Artscroll, illustrates the depth of Rabbi Kanievsky’s Torah information. As soon as, when requested “what number of instances is the title of Moses talked about within the Torah?” he did a psychological tally and answered that Moses seems 97 instances. When he was advised that a pc had tallied 99 mentions, Rabbi Kanievsky identified that the additional two phrases utilized the identical Hebrew letters as Moses however that they’d fully completely different meanings.
He lived a lifetime of utter simplicity from his tiny condo in Bnei Brak, fully tired of luxuries and even comforts. Despite his widespread renown, he by no means sought or accepted any formal place as the top of an establishment or the rabbi of a group; nonetheless, many within the Spiritual Jewish group thought-about him to be the ultimate say in all issues associated to the Jewish folks worldwide.
The Israeli police and the Bnei Brak municipality took each effort to take care of security at what was seemingly the most important funeral in Israeli historical past. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett implored the general public earlier than the funeral that “We should be sure that [the funeral] doesn’t finish in a mass catastrophe. The trauma of the Meron disaster remains to be recent in all of us, this tragedy should not be repeated. I ask everybody to take private accountability.” Public Safety Minister Omer Barlev said the funeral will probably be “an occasion the magnitude of which now we have not encountered earlier than.”
✡️? — UPDATE: In a letter, Reb Chaim Zatzal’s Brother in legislation, Hagaon Reb Yitzchok Zilbershtein urged folks to not get too near the Mita through the Levaya, with a purpose to stop a tragedy. pic.twitter.com/Aw2CnsFJng
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 20, 2022
✡️ — VIDEO: A whole lot on the central prepare station in Jerusalem tonight, as they head to Bnei Brak for Sunday’s huge Levaya of the Gadol Hador, Hagaon Reb Chaim Kanievsky Zatzal. pic.twitter.com/2d7miiXzpF
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 20, 2022
In central Israel, main highways and routes, in addition to the doorway and exit from Bnei Brak, had been closed to personal site visitors. Hundreds of additional buses and trains had been made out there for many who wished to return to the funeral. Roughly 3,000 IDF House Entrance Command cops, medics, and troopers had been stationed at and close to the funeral.
“The funeral handed with no critical incidents, and the lots of of EMTs and Paramedics who had been out within the subject for the reason that early hours of the morning handled minor illnesses solely, reminiscent of weak spot, faints or minor accidents,” said Magen David Adom’s Eli Bin, director-general of Israel’s Nationwide Rescue Service.
תודה למשטרת ישראל ולכוחות ההצלה על היערכות מהירה ומדויקת, ועל ניהול למופת של מסע הלווית הגר״ח קניבסקי זצ”ל.
אני מבקש להביע שוב את תנחומיי למשפחה ולציבור רב שחווה אבדן עצום. @omerbarlev pic.twitter.com/w1gj46JbnR— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) March 20, 2022
Rabbi Kanievsky was eulogized by his son Rabbi Shlomo Kanievsky on the funeral, who shared private reminiscences from his childhood house. “My father at all times made certain to honor my mom in each means. My mom at all times had Lunch ready when my father arrived after learning in yeshiva, nonetheless, he would by no means eat with out her; he would solely eat if she was seated on the desk with him. If she wasn’t prepared, he would anticipate her. These seemingly insignificant gestures mirrored my father’s lifestyle and his devotion to the issues that really mattered.”
✡️ — VIDEO: Reb Chaim’s son, Rav Shlomo Kaniesvsky delivering a Hesped on the Levaya. pic.twitter.com/W7w3Em5moo
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 20, 2022
The funeral was attended by Israelis of all backgrounds. Many tore their clothes in mourning, treating the lack of Rabbi Kanievsky as their private loss. “It nonetheless hasn’t hit house,” stated Binyomin Biron, a resident of Modiin Illit who attended the funeral together with his kids, “We at all times relied on having the ability to search his steerage for all issues, now who will we flip to for sage recommendation?” Shlomo Meir Eisenmann of Jerusalem stated he made the trouble to attend “to pay my final respects to somebody who devoted his life to Torah research, an skilled in each side of the Torah, a grasp scholar, and a Torah large. I wished to witness and be part of one of many largest occasions in Israeli historical past and that this occasion was about honoring the significance of Torah research reveals what’s valued right here in Israel.”
✡️? — PHOTO: Tens of Hundreds collect within the streets of Bnei Brak for the Levaya of the Gadol Hador Zatzal, to start in 35 minutes. pic.twitter.com/CvyJonBNWP
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 20, 2022
Synagogues round Israel will maintain memorial providers and eulogies for Rabbi Kanievsky this week as folks come to phrases with this loss. Many public figures and Israeli notables took the time to challenge statements together with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, Sefardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Overseas Minister Yair Lapid, Opposition Chief Bibi Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, Protection Minister Benny Gantz, Spiritual Zionism Occasion Chief Bezalel Smotrich, and Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben Gvir, amongst others, showcasing how a lot stature and respect he held within the eyes of the general public.
הגר”ח קנייבסקי זצ״ל, גדול הדור, מובא כעת למנוחות.
לכתו היא אבדה גדולה לעם היהודי.
**
רבות דובר על סגפנותו, ויצא לי לראות זאת במו עיניי כשביקרתי אותו – הדירה הפשוטה, אורח החיים הצנוע והדל, הוויתור על החומר לטובת הרוח. >> pic.twitter.com/tioNXGAV7r— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) March 20, 2022
הרב קניבסקי זצ״ל היה צדיק ענק ששמר על הגחלת של תורת ישראל. הסתלקותו מאיתנו היא אבידה גדולה מאוד לעם ישראל. יהי זכרו ברוך. pic.twitter.com/ZvUqTMP1WN
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) March 20, 2022
??✡️ — VIDEO: Israeli Protection Minister Benny Gantz this morning, paying a Shiva go to to the sons of Reb Chaim Kanievsky Zatzal. pic.twitter.com/YRphMr2Spl
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 21, 2022
✡️ — PHOTO: Moments after arriving again from Paris, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is now paying a Shiva go to on the Kanievsky house on in Bnei Brak. pic.twitter.com/ShtpONYONi
— Belaaz Information (@TheBelaaz) March 21, 2022
The loss wasn’t simply felt in Israel; 1000’s around the globe watched the funeral by way of livestream and memorial providers and eulogies had been held in communities throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia. “This loss isn’t only a loss for town of Bnei Brak or for the State of Israel,” stated Rabbi Zecharia Rubin, Rabbi at Ahavas Torah Heart, Henderson, NV. “Rabbi Kanievsky was beloved by Jews everywhere in the world and his loss will probably be felt and memorialized by Jewish communities worldwide.”
“He was a common Torah chief,” stated Osniel Rozen of Lakewood NJ, “Every section of spiritual Judaism revered him and thought of him their very own.” “Spiritual Jews worth deep scholarship,” stated Yehoshua Yankelewitz of Jerusalem, “Rabbi Kanievsky was by far the best scholar of Torah on this era. He was the ‘Babe Ruth’ of Torah research, and nobody will come near the dedication and devotion he put into his research. That’s the reason his demise is such a loss and why so many individuals around the globe are honoring him. Could his reminiscence be a blessing.”
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