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8 Av 5762 - July 17, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Rav Chaim Shaul Karelitz -- A Yeshiva on his Grave
by D. Tsfatman

The house of mourning was filled with a great void. Climbing up the twisted stairwell of the old building on Ha'ari Lane in Bnei Brak one met the terrible emptiness that reached the bare walls, the dampness of hidden recesses and the wardrobes worn with age.

This scene took place at the home of R' Chaim Shaul, a hidden corner tucked inside the tremendous, multi-wing structure housing Kollel Chazon Ish. It is an unnumbered house, with no external markings. More than a house of mourning, this was the home of Rav Chaim Shaul. Until a short time ago those who stepped into these daled amos immediately came upon piercing eyes and an immense heart. Now that the tremendous void fills the house, those who come to pay their respects suddenly encounter a terrible void.

Until Shabbos began, the consolers filled the house, trying to drive away a bit of the vast emptiness. Bnei Brak without Rav Chaim Shaul. A generation without Rav Chaim Shaul.

During Shabbos even the consolers were not there and the feeling of emptiness was tremendous, beyond what his close friends were able to endure; trusted friends like his invaluable assistant, Shlomo Rosenberg, who spent much of his life alongside the constantly flowing river of fire. A life of perpetual readiness for the unexpected, never laying down his arms, always ready and waiting for his great commander, who would fall into slumber on a makeshift bed as he pored over his seforim, awakening with a start whenever a mitzvah that he alone could perform came to hand.

Even when confined to his sickbed it sometimes seemed as if this too was part of the mitzvos always filling his daled amos, particularly on two occasions when angels came beckoning and it seemed they would hold sway. Rav Chaim Shaul, with a look of serenity on his face, uttered feebly, "Eich gei shtarben" -- the children cried "Shema Yisroel" and made their confessions, but the time had not yet arrived. Only a few days later did the lion's heart suddenly cease, only then did the penetrating emptiness set in.

On leil Shabbos Kodesh, Reb Shlomo stood before the bright white tablecloth spread over a simple table, extending his hands out toward the sons in a gesture that said, "What has Rav Chaim Shaul left us to grasp onto and retain as a memory? He didn't even leave behind a handwritten manuscript or writings. Nor a monetary inheritance for his sons. He just picked up and went, taking all of the gems he had gathered in This World with him."

The next morning's krias Hatorah was the passage about Pinchas' zealousness. Upon hearing it Reb Shlomo suddenly felt a certain sense of relief. Was it not remarkable that Rav Chaim Shaul had the merit to leave this World during a parsha that so accurately captures the essence of his life!

Chazal said Pinchas is Eliyohu Hanovi. Why do the books of the Tanach not include one written by Eliyohu Hanovi? Why was his departure from the world so sudden? Reb Shlomo recalled the verse describing Eliyohu Hanovi's petiroh, "Vayehi heimoh holchim holoch vedabeir vehinei rechev eish vesusei eish, vayafridu bein shneihem, vaya'al Eliyohu baso'oro hashomoyim. VeElisho ro'eh vehu metza'eik, Ovi Ovi, rechev Yisroel uforoshov, velo ro'ohu od."

He also clearly recalled the day of his older brother Rav Shimshon's petiroh. Sitting with his brother-in-law Rav Zalman Rotberg and wrapped in the melancholy of death, the pair were speaking about the gravesite purchased for the deceased at the Ponevezh Cemetery when suddenly Rav Zalman, turning to Rav Chaim Shaul, inquired what would become of them. After all, if every man is fated to die eventually, shouldn't one purchase a plot for the day of reckoning?

Rav Chaim spread out his hands and replied simply: "Ich hob nit kain gelt!" as if discussing the purchase of a luxury apartment. Then he turned to Rav Zalman with a characteristic laugh, saying, "Are we destined to hold intimate conversations there so that we need to be buried close to one another? Personally the Yarkon Cemetery would be just fine with me. The Yemenites who live in the adjacent village will testify to my acts of kindness for them and they will welcome me with open arms . . . "

This was more than a mere quip. Later, on the day of his wife's petiroh, standing beside the window of his home (he took pains not to sit based on the opinion that an onen must remain standing), throughout the discussions about the place of burial Rav Chaim Shaul kept murmuring, "Yarkon, Yarkon." He felt deeply for the human foible of garnering status to serve us even after death. Not satisfied with the distortions of This World, people even feel a need to bring their misconceptions to their place of rest.

All his life, Rav Chaim Shaul was just the opposite. He always lived within the realm of truth. For him the difference between one cemetery and another was not significant.

As Rav Shlomo sat and pondered, the words of Rav Zalman Rotberg came to mind: "Er iz geven, `Shivti beveis Hashem, kol yemei chayai.'" Or as the Chazon Ish put it, "Leis dein bar nash."

Eighty years of living Torah, with exceptional command of Shas and Shulchan Oruch, the works of the Chazon Ish always on his tongue . . . yet not even a shred of paper with his own chiddushei Torah!

At that very moment Reb Shlomo made a resolution that the memory of Rav Chaim Shaul would be the perpetuating of the Torah for which he gave his body and soul, fortifying the Torah for generations to come--these would be the legacy of Rav Chaim Shaul.

When Shlomo was called up for Maftir because of a personal yahrtzeit, the gabbai stopped short at the words, " . . . avur shenodar" and Reb Shlomo said, "Two thousand shekels for Kollel Toras Rebbe Chaim Shaul." With these words he founded the outstanding kollel dedicated to the memory of a man who fled throughout his lifetime from personal dedications.

*

A fine klaf bears the signatures of maranan verabonon--HaRav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkovitz, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky--joining supporters of the appointment of R' Heshi Freedman as chairman of the kollel administration.

This is just part of the encouragement leading rabbonim, who include themselves among the founders and directors, have given the kollel heads. Gedolei Yisroel had good reason to feel this pressing urge. They feel a real obligation to establish a yeshiva at the gravesite of Rav Chaim Shaul Karelitz, who gave all he had to place the Jewish faith on a pedestal. He was the man who guarded against breaches, laying down the ways of our rabbonim ylct'a.

 

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