Reb Aharon Friedman was laid to rest last week in Bnei Brak.
He was niftar after a brief illness, in his 72nd
year.
R' Aharon Friedman, son of Rav Chaim Klonimus Kalman, was
born in Germany, where his parents settled after wartime
wandering. As a child, he studied in Torah institutions and
absorbed Torah and yiras Shomayim.
After the Holocaust, his parents moved to Eretz
Yisroel and settled in Bnei Brak. He married Chana Kruck.
Together they established their home in the city's Shikun Hey
neighborhood. Their home quickly became a focal point of
chessed and an address for the needy and
unfortunate.
He worked for his living and set aside fixed times for Torah
study, both in Shikun Hey and later in the center of Bnei
Brak, where he moved. He studied and davened in the
Sochotchov shul as well as in the Rishonim
shul.
He was outstanding in his interpersonal relationships. Among
his outstanding traits were his shtika, his modesty
and his refusal to speak ill of anyone. He fled all honor and
always acted with great humility. He was amiable and very
compassionate, helping others by deed or simply with his warm
attitude towards them. He had a rapport with everyone -- from
youngsters to adults -- speaking naturally, simply and
without demanding anything for himself.
Last week he fell ill, and it was evident that he was
preparing for his transfer from this world to the World of
Truth. He told his family that a person is unable to extend
his life, and that every moment is a gift from
Shomayim. He said that he was grateful that he had
merited to fill his life with Torah study and chessed
and was privileged to have children and grandchildren who are
pursing the Torah path he charted for them.
He was hospitalized and his health deteriorated. Nonetheless,
he utilized every available moment to complete his daily
study schedule, so that in the event that he would be able to
return to his set shiurim, there would be no gap
between the material covered by the members of the
shiur and the material he had covered by himself.
This past Friday, he returned his soul, which had been
refined by suffering, to its Maker. His levaya, which
left the Segulah cemetery in the afternoon, was attended by a
large group.
At the cemetery, his son, Rav Yisroel, delivered words of
parting, noting that no hespedim had been delivered at
the levaya at his father's request, because he hadn't
wanted the community to be inconvenienced -- and he surely
would not have wanted them to be detained on a Friday. He
said that his father's lifestyle constituted a last will and
testament to his progeny.
He is survived by his wife, by his son, Rav Yisroel, editor
of the Hebrew Shabbos Kodesh supplement of the
Yated Ne'eman, by his son HaRav Zev, and by
grandchildren who are deeply involved in Torah study and are
following in his footsteps.
