16 Tevet · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth of Antwerp
Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth was born in Wojnicz (Poland) in 1918, to Rabbi Avraham Yosef Shermann and Perla Kreiswirth.
Yahrzeit - 16 Teves
Resting place - Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem, Israel
Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth was the founder and Rosh Yeshiva of "Merkaz HaTorah" in Jerusalem and was a highly regarded master of Torah. In his youth he was well known for his outstanding character traits and brilliance.
At the age of 15 he was nicknamed the "Illui of Krakow" (the child prodigy of Krakow) in recognition of his extraordinary abilities in Talmudic analysis. Rabbi Kreiswirth studied for many years in the renowned Torah centers of Poland and Lithuania. After applying to the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, he was tested by its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Meir Shapiro. Rabbi Shapiro was deeply impressed by Rabbi Kreiswirth's knowledge in every area of Torah. Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, as well as Rabbi Chanoch Eigos, held him in great affection. Rabbi Kreiswirth received semicha from Rabbi Chanoch Henich Eigos.
World War II
After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Rabbi Kreiswirth fled to Lithuania. There he married the daughter of the Slabodka Mashgiach, Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski. The couple then traveled via Vilna to Palestine, where he met many prominent figures, including the Brisker Rav, the Chazon Ish, the Steipler Rav, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, and Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. At the end of World War II, Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth returned to Poland in an effort to rescue Jewish children who had been sheltered by the Catholic Church during the war.
In 1947 he moved to the United States and, from 1947 to 1953, served as Rosh Yeshiva at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois. In 1953 he moved to Antwerp in order to rebuild the Jewish community there.
This move was against the advice of the Chazon Ish and the Amshinover Rebbe.
Rabbi Kreiswirth devoted the rest of his life to the Belgian community, becoming Av Beit Din and Posek of Antwerp, and was active in Agudath Israel.
Hachnasat Kallah, or How to Add 22 Years to One's Life
In the early 1980s, Rabbi Kreiswirth became gravely ill. He traveled to Israel and met with the Steipler Gaon (Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, zt"l) to ask for a prayer on his behalf, telling him that the doctors had given him only two weeks to live.
Upon hearing Rabbi Kreiswirth's story, the Steipler Rav said: "One must understand what is being taught to us by the words we say each morning in Shacharit:
'These are the deeds whose fruits a person enjoys in this world, while the principal reward remains for him in the World to Come: honoring one's father and mother, acts of kindness, arriving early for prayer morning and evening, hospitality to guests, visiting the sick, hachnasat kallah (helping poor brides arrange their weddings), accompanying the dead, devotion in prayer, bringing peace between people - but the study of Torah is equal to them all.' (Shabbat 127a)
Consider why the mitzvah of "hachnasat kallah" appears between "visiting the sick" and "accompanying the dead"? After all, according to the natural order of things, illness may be followed by death and burial." "But here the Talmud is teaching us," said the Steipler, revealing to his guest one of the secrets of life, "that 'helping poor brides' can interrupt the progression from illness to death. One who helps poor brides arrange their weddings thereby wards off from himself the carrying out of a decree of death."
It is known that the Gaon Rav Kreiswirth took the great teacher's advice to heart. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to marrying off orphaned brides and took upon himself all the financial expenses involved, including the purchase of an apartment. He undertook this mitzvah with complete dedication, and indeed merited length of days.
Hashem granted him another 22 years (instead of the two weeks allotted to him by the doctors).
(From the "Sila Tehilim" class at the synagogue on Bolshaya Bronnaya, "When 22 Years Are Added to Life")