The largest funeral in the history of the country, took place for a great rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who died on Friday at the age of 94. He was at home, collapsed and died.
Estimates of up to one million people were expected to "attend" the funeral, or at least, attempt to get somewhere near it. Already major roads and highways are closed and will be used for immense parking lots for buses bringing in the mourners from all over the country. Our local Health Care provider just called and with a recorded message informed us that no testing will take place today since they will be unable to get samples to the laboratory. Police have cautioned people to avoid the metropolitan Tel Aviv area entirely.
This was massive.
And so, who was this rabbi that few outside of the Orthodox Jewish world knew or even heard about? What did he do to warrant such a huge funeral?
To begin with, you should know who Rabbi Kanievsky was not. He was not involved in politics, he was not a great speaker (he rarely spoke in public), he may never have ever been interviewed on radio or television or by a newspaper. He was not the head of a yeshiva (higher rabbinical academy) or a some Chassidic sect or the like. He was not the appointed rabbi of a community or city. He held no official position of any type, whatsoever.
Rather, he was acknowledged as the supreme Talmudic scholar whose rulings were considered absolutely authoritative. He was noted for his unusually extensive knowledge of every important Jewish text in our vast library of more than two thousand years of rabbinic writings including the Torah, the Mishna, Talmud, Codes of Jewish Law and all the major commentaries. He was noted for his extreme diligence in what is known as "learning", meaning his exceptional ability to sit and study for hours each day, late into the night, sleeping very little, and his ability to retain to memory all that he learned.
He did, however, publish exceptionally lucid books on Jewish Law, and more. I have one of his sets in my library.
He was the scholar's scholar to whom all questions of Jewish theology and Law were addressed and whose answers were considered "final". He rarely, if ever, was challenged or questioned. (If you want to know who is at the top of a specific profession, ask people in that profession who they consider "the best" and then ask those "best ones", who they think is on top.)
As a person, he was soft-spoken and never argumentative. He lived in small, modest apartment crammed with holy texts. His table was always piled with books which he pored over every minute he could. He received visitors from all over the world who came to him with questions, asking for advice, and requests for help. He would respond, by mail, to inquiries about Jewish Law from rabbis and individuals everywhere. Typically, his responses were surprisingly brief, such as "Yes", "No", "Maybe" or "Check this source for your answer".
He had the good fortune of being the son, the son-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew of other extremely well-known and important rabbis. These things tend to run in families. But, independent of his family connections, he earned his reputation on his own by his dedication to learning and his angelic personality. He had a sense of humor, too, and there are video clips of him enjoying a good joke or story.
What I find interesting, was his response to whomever came to him for a "blessing", something that Jews ask for from great sages and religious leaders. He would simple say, "Blessing and Success". (In the Hebrew, he would abbreviate this even further with "Bu-ha".) Short and sweet. Straight to the point.
You see, what matters at the end of the day is scholarly erudition and modesty. Reb Chaim (as he was fondly known) lived a simple, honest, respectful life. He was a scholar supreme and what we call a "Mensch", i.e. a truly good and honorable person. He served G-d by his Torah wisdom and piety.
It is because he personified these character traits the Jewish world respected him more than any other public figure or celebrity could. He showed us how to behave and how to prioritize our values.
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