15 Adar · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky
Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky (1928-2022) was born in Pinsk (Poland), and lived in Bnei Brak (Israel). He was a renowned Israeli Litvish-oriented rabbi.
Yahrzeit - 15 Adar
Resting place - Bnei Brak
Rav Chaim Kanievsky was the son of the leader of the Litvaks – Rav Gaon the Steipler. His mother's brother was the Chazon Ish, and he was married to Rebbetzin Batsheva Kanievsky – the daughter of Rav Elyashiv and granddaughter of Aryeh Levin.
Such a distinguished lineage could not help but shape the development of one of the great Torah authorities – he was rightly called the Prince of Torah.
He became a halachic authority – a posek and Gaon.
The Rav forbade the iPhone (and any smartphones), called on their owners to destroy their devices, and spoke out against giving priority medical treatment to seriously wounded terrorists.
Although he held no official public position, Rav Kanievsky was the de facto head of the Litvish branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, revered as an unsurpassed authority on Jewish law and tradition, whose rulings were considered impeccable. Rav Chaim Kanievsky was born in Pinsk, Poland (now in Belarus), to Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, known as the "Steipler Gaon," and Rebbetzin Miriam Karelitz (Pesha Miriam), sister of Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, known as the "Chazon Ish." When Kanievsky was six years old, the family moved to Mandatory Palestine. After immigrating, he never left the country again, even briefly. In his youth he studied Torah diligently, and while still young he was able to clarify complex rabbinic teachings. During the 1947–1949 war in Palestine, Rav Chaim, then a student at the Lomza Yeshiva, served in the Israel Defense Forces, guarding an outpost overlooking Jaffa. Kanievsky was married to the daughter of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Batsheva Elyashiv. They had eight children. She passed away in 2011. Rav Kanievsky served as the official rabbi and spiritual guide of the nonprofit organization "B'Lev Echad," which was founded in Israel in 2011 and provided assistance to sick and disabled children and adults. Thousands of Jews visited him each year seeking religious and halachic guidance. Kanievsky passed away in his home in Bnei Brak on March 18, 2022, at the age of 94. Approximately 750,000 mourners attended his funeral, making it one of the largest funerals in Israel's history, second only to that of Rav Ovadia Yosef (in October 2013, which drew over 850,000). Kanievsky became a major authority on all matters of Jewish law, authoring several works of Jewish legal literature. Since the passing of Rav Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman in December 2017, Rav Kanievsky and the head of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, were considered the leaders of Israel's Haredi community. Rav Kanievsky was known to study Torah for 17 hours each day. Eli Paley, chairman of the Haredi Institute for Public Affairs, a research group in Jerusalem, told The New York Times in January 2021 that Israel's Haredi Orthodox community believes its very existence is "based on Rabbi Chaim and his Torah study." He was also regarded as the preeminent leader of the non-Chassidic segment of Israel's Haredi Orthodox community. In 2012, Kanievsky ruled that it is forbidden to own or use a smartphone without individual permission from a halachic authority, and that owners are not allowed to sell their phones but should instead destroy them. In 2015, he instructed the medics of United Hatzalah that in the event of a terror attack, they should not treat terrorists before victims, even if the terrorist is more severely wounded, and may even leave the terrorist to die. In 2016, Kanievsky stated that medicinal cannabis is kosher for Passover, provided that possessing cannabis does not violate the law of the land. In 2017, Kanievsky ruled that reporting cases of child sexual abuse to the police is in accordance with Jewish law. In 2011, he interpreted the uprisings of the "Arab Spring" as evidence that Mashiach might be near. In 2015, following the 2014 attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, he repeatedly spoke of the imminent coming of Mashiach and urged Jews of the diaspora to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel), which reportedly led to a significant number of French Jews arriving. In February 2020, shortly before the legislative elections At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Rav Kanievsky told his followers that the best ways to overcome the virus were to avoid lashon hara, to strengthen humility, and to place the needs of others above one's own. Following discussions on March 15, he was visited by senior police officials who, with great respect, wished to ask him about the importance of complying with medical authorities' instructions regarding the outbreak. On March 29, after the ultra-Orthodox community was hit hard by the virus, and Bnei Brak saw a high rate of coronavirus cases relative to its population in Israel, Rav Kanievsky ruled that one who does not follow the guidelines of Israel's Ministry of Health regarding COVID-19 is in the status of a "rodef" (i.e., one who pursues another with intent to kill, a murderer). Shir HaShirim on Erev Shabbat https://silatehilim.com/шир-а-ширим-в-эрев-шабат-или-тикун-шломо/ Beit HaShunamit - the site of the 2nd miracle https://silatehilim.com/седер-молитвы-в-бейт-а-шунамит-место-д/ The bracha "HaYam HaGadol" – Chaim Kanievsky https://silatehilim.com/увидеть-гибралтар-и-сказать-браху-а/ Talmudic tractates for healing the organs of the body – Segulot of Rav Chaim Kanievsky https://silatehilim.com/637-2/ May the merit of the Tzadik protect Am Yisrael! (https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/1297-Rabbi-Chaim-Kanievsky)
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Grave: Chaim Kanievsky