Litvish Rabbi, great Sage who lived in Bnei Brak. Passed away 15 of Adar 2022 Tashab.
I knew the great of the generation Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Z’l mainly from stories. I had never been to
him or asked his advice. My story begins a week before his passing, my mood was low and I tried with all
my might to gather myself for daily activities as best I could. Then the holiday of Purim came and on
Purim we must be with joy and I tried with all my might to be joyous.
I was invited to the Purim feasts and the reading of the Megillah. According to the Jewish law is a
mitzvah, so I did not skip the reading of the Megillah. But everything else was bitter for me to do, I sat in
my house in Jerusalem and begged the Holy One, Blessed be He, to make my soul happy. I checked again
and again why my spirit was short of joy and the more I delved into self-examination, the heavier my
body and soul became. After all, every Purim I fulfill the mitzvah of joy in the heart of a cheerleader with
feasts and costumes and music, what happened this time? What was happening to me?
Where did this energy come from? Thursday night, I told everyone who talked to me, "I don't feel like
Purim, I feel sad." That was the peak. I burst into tears. I fell asleep and woke up on Friday, Shabbat
evening crying, my heart was sad, I was angry with myself for desecrating the Purim holiday. And now I
was also going to desecrate Shabbat with this sadness, when suddenly I heard, "The greatest of the
generation Rabbi Haim Kanievsky passed away at this very moment”, it was right next to the beginning
of Shabbat in Shoshan Purim year 2022.
Then I realized that the soul in me knew, the soul in me felt that a heavy grief was approaching the
people of Israel, a heavy loss of nearness. The feelings I experienced were unfamiliar to me, especially
not in my mature years, so I did not know where they were coming from, and when I was informed of
the passing of the holy tzaddik, the mystery that pierced my heart also faded. I lit a candle for the holy
tzaddik and received a holy Sabbath with one great repentance, when a great tzaddik and saint was
preparing to leave us and ascend to the world of truth, my soul wept before his departure.
May we have the merit to have Yom Kippur become Purim, may we be privileged to see the resurrection
of the dead in our day.
May we only hear good news,
Ayalah Shulcha
