The Torah and yeshiva world was struck with mourning when news arrived of the histalkus of HaRav Dovid Kviat zt"l, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir of the US, author of the Succas Dovid series on the Shas, rov of Chofetz Chaim, an Agudas Yisroel beis medrash located on 16th Avenue in Boro Park, and chairman of the Rabbinical Committee of Agudas Yisroel of America.
Dovid Kviat was born in 5681 (1921) in Bialystok into an illustrious family that for seven generations had produced rabbonim who led prominent kehillos throughout Lithuania and had ties to the Kobrin and Slonim rebbes. His father, Rav Avrohom Eliezer Kviat Hy"d, the son of Rav Dovid, had received a blessing from the Yesod Ho'avodoh for "upstanding and pure descendants."
As a boy, he studied at the local yeshiva in Bialystok and was under the wing of the Beis Avrohom, who lived in the city at the time. When he came of age he went to Yeshivas Mir, where he become one of the top students. At a young age he became known for his mastery of every area of Torah and formed a close bond with HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz and HaRav Yechezkel Levinstein zt"l.
When World War II broke out he fled with the yeshiva to Shanghai, where he continued to show outstanding abilities and exceptional knowledge. When the question of which day to keep Shabbos in the Far East came on the agenda he published a comprehensive essay in Talpios, a halachic journal published in Shanghai and read by gedolei hador.
After the war, Rav Dovid arrived in the US along with a large group of yeshiva members from Shanghai. He married Devorah Lieberman, the daughter of Rav Moshe Yehuda Lieberman, the son-in-law of HaRav S.B. Sofer of Bercheka, Hungary, the author of Divrei Sofrim, and remained in the tents of Torah for the next 60 years.
As one of the roshei yeshiva of Mir in Brooklyn, he gave shiurim to thousands of students over the years, in addition to serving as the spiritual leader of an Agudas Yisroel shul.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of his lifetime was Succas Dovid, a multi-volume work on various masechtos from Seder Noshim and Seder Nezikin that became a mainstay at yeshivas around the world, and is regularly studied and cited by ramim and maggidei shiurim. He also published dozens of books on Chumash and Jewish holidays.
For years HaRav Kviat also served as chairman of the Rabbinical Committee of Agudas Yisroel of America, gracing Agudah events, Agudah conventions in Eretz Yisroel, siyumim and other gatherings in honor of Torah.
He continued to study and teach and write chiddushim, even when his health began to fail toward the end of his life. Last week, on Wednesday night 25 Cheshvan he returned his soul to his Maker. Following the levaya in Boro Park the aron was flown to Eretz Yisroel, where the funeral resumed at Yeshivas Mir in Jerusalem, then proceeded to Yeshivas Beis Avrohom-Slonim and Har Hamenuchos Cemetery.
At Yeshivas Mir hespeidim were delivered by HaRav Yitzchok Ezrachi and HaRav Binyomin Carlebach, both roshei yeshiva at Yeshivas Mir, Hamashgiach HaRav Dan Segal, his son Rav Eliezer Kviat and his student Rav Mordechai Kaplinsky, a notable avreich at Yeshivas Mir.
HaRav Dovid Kviat zt"l is survived by his sons, Rav Avrohom Eliezer, Rav Shmuel Binyomin, Rav Yitzchok and Rav Yisroel, and his sons-in-law, Rav Eliyakum Getzel Waldman, Rav Yitzchok Fishman, Rav Yosef Dorfman, Rav Chaim Kalashink, Rav Shlomo Estreicher and Rav Leibi Weinreb.
