On Shushan Purim last week, the Jewish world lost its “prince of Torah,” its leader and preeminent scholar (gadol hador), Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l. The loss we all have experienced is profound. Rav Chaim had accepted upon himself the responsibility of learning all of Torah every year and would make a grand siyum on Erev Pesach annually ever since he was a young man. His daily routine consisted of learning eight pages of Gemara Bavli, four pages of Gemara Yerushalmi, Rambam, Midrash, Shulchan Aruch and much more.
Rav Chaim Volozhin says that the energy that runs the world is Torah learning. If for one split second there is no Torah being learned, the world would implode. That’s why Hashem created different time zones, so at 3 a.m. in New York when everyone is sleeping it is 10 a.m. in Eretz Yisrael where people are learning. Rav Kanievsky’s legendary diligence in Torah study and his rigorous schedule for Torah study started at 3 a.m. daily and was a life force for the entire world.
In the Volozhin Yeshiva there were three shifts of learning. Some had the night shift, during which they learned the entire night to ensure there was always Torah being studied in the yeshiva, keeping the world in existence.
In Hallel, we say, “The deceased cannot praise Hashem, nor those who descend to Doomah.” I heard Rabbi Avraham Chaim Feuer explain that Doomah has the same root as domeim (silence). There are those in the next world who are punished with silence. However, a talmid chacham is still alive in the study of Torah in the next world. The Gemara says the lips of talmidei chachamim move in their grave with the learning of their words of Torah. Anytime a word of Torah is learned that was taught by the talmid chacham, it causes his lips to move. Their words of Torah…are eternal.
Rav Chaim’s full name was Shemaryahu Yosef Chaim and he often signed his sefarim or letters with his initials, Shin Yud Ches, which spell the word “siach.” The word siach means “conversation.” The Gemara says we must study even the ordinary conversation of a talmid chacham. Reb Avraham, the brother of the Vilna Gaon, explains that every word of a talmid chacham is rooted and sourced in Torah. This was so evident in the life of Rabbi Kanievsky, since it was known that people listened carefully to every word he said.
In Parshas Shemini, Aharon loses his two elder sons. His reaction was silence: “Vayidom Aharon.” The Baal Haturim says that another time the word vayidom is used in the Tanach is when the sun stood still during the time of Yehoshua. An inanimate object, such as a stone, is called a domeim—which has the same root as vayidom. Why choose the word vayidom (to be silent) to describe the freezing of the position of the sun in the sky? Rav Shimshon Pincus explains that the Midrash says every creation has a unique song it sings to Hashem. Dovid Hamelech said, “Mimizrach shemesh—from when the sun rises until it sets, we should praise Hashem.” The Midrash interprets this pasuk as referring to the sun itself praising Hashem from sunrise to sunset. The sun’s unique song gives it the ability to continuously keep in motion from morning until night. When Yehoshua wanted the sun to stop, he told it to stop singing its song. The sun could then no longer move.
But now is not the time to keep silent. We must thank Hashem for the incredible gift that was Rav Chaim Kanievsky. Few are able to match the amount of Torah he was able to learn daily. Yet, we can learn from him to make ourselves accountable for a certain daily quota. Whatever we can learn—a page in Chumash, a mishnah, or a page in Gemara—will count toward keeping the world in existence.
We can also learn Rabbi Kanievsky’s sefarim, to keep his lips moving in divrei Torah. As we mourn the immense loss of Rabbi Kanievsky and tell over stories about his greatness, let us appreciate the gift that Hashem gave the world for 94 years, and help the soul of this gadol hador by perpetuating his Torah learning.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch, where he leads a multi-level Gemara-learning program. PTI has attracted adult Jews of all ages from all over northern New Jersey for its learning programs. Fees are not charged but any contributions are always welcome. Beyond PTI, Rabbi Bodenheim conducts a weekly beis midrash program with chavrusa learning in Livingston plus a monthly group in West Caldwell. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com.
