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27 Elul 5759 - September 8, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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HaRav Chanoch Henoch Karelenstein zt"l

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

This past Friday afternoon, Elul 22, a crowd headed by Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita, roshei yeshiva, dayanim and rabbonim and including thousands of bnei Torah, accompanied HaRav Chanoch Henoch Karelenstein on his last earthly journey. HaRav Karelenstein was niftar on Friday morning, his soul having been purified by great suffering. He was 42 at the time of his petirah.

HaRav Chanoch Henoch Karelenstein was born on the 25th of Iyar, 5717 (1957). His father is HaRav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein, the rosh yeshiva of Grodno, and his mother, was the righteous Pesiah, o'h.. In this illustrious Torah home, which was based on genuine yiras Shomayim, the personality of Reb Chanoch, who since youth was outstanding in his ahavas Torah, was forged.

When the Ponovezher Rav founded the Grodno yeshiva in Ashdod, HaRav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein was asked to head it and, at the request of the Rav of Ponovezh, the entire family moved to Ashdod, near the yeshiva. The young Chanoch though, remained with his grandfather, HaRav Yeruchom, one of the prominent mechanchim of the previous generation, who merited to produce thousands of students, and his grandmother Ashira. This measure was taken at the request of the Rav of Ponovezh, who asked the grandfather and grandmother to assume responsibility for Chanoch Henoch's upbringing.

As soon as he reached bar mitzvah age, he began to study in Ponovezh's yeshiva ketana under his great mentors HaRav Aharon Leib Steinman and HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz. In yeshiva ketana he displayed outstanding hasmodoh, and was for this known for his love of Torah and for his straightforward sevoros. Afterwards he continued on to the yeshiva gedola of Ponovezh, where he was very close to his mentors, chiefly Maran HaRav Eliezer Menachem Shach shlita, and also HaRav Dovid Povarksy and HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky zt"l, all of whom were very fond of him.

He was especially close to HaRav Rozovsky, with whom he studied and from whose personality he was deeply influenced. It was from him that he acquired many spiritual acquisitions, while HaRav Shmuel, in turn, praised Chanoch Henoch's remarkable grasp and straightforward understanding.

As a youth, R' Chanoch devoted himself to Torah study with tremendous exertion, and became well versed in many masechtos of Shas. He pored over his studies day and night, acquiring vast knowledge in the sea of Talmud. In addition to his remarkable diligence, he was known for his excellent character traits, which amazed all who came in contact with him.

As a youth, he published various pamphlets, including his own chiddushim. These pamphlets were praised by the great roshei yeshivos who saw them. In the summer of 5736 (1976), Maran HaRav Shach shlita told HaRav Tzvi Dov: "Your son Chanoch is advancing along the paths leading to greatness in Torah," and in the haskomo to one of Reb Chanoch's seforim, Maran wrote: "The avreich . . . who is destined for greatness."

The young Chanoch also merited to be close with Maran HaRav Yaakov Yitzchok Kanievsky, the Steipler Rav, to whom he posed questions in Torah and consulted on issues pertaining to yiras Shomayim and aliya beTorah. One time, when HaRav Yeruchom Fishel Karelenstein visited the Steipler Rav, he was told, "Your grandson Chanoch will be a great marbitz Torah." He heard similar reports from the dayan, HaRav S. N. Werner, when he invited him to R' Chanoch's wedding. The close link between Reb Chanoch and the Steipler Rav continued after Reb Chanoch's marriage. Reb Chanoch would send him letters on all of the sugyos of the Shas and a number of times Maran cited Reb Chanoch in his seforim, saying, "Moreinu HaRav Chanoch showed me. . ."

He married the daughter of HaRav Simcha Shlomo Levine, the granddaughter of HaRav Arye Levine, and together they built an exemplary Torah home, saturated with yegia and shekeida in Torah. After his marriage he studied in the Grodno yeshiva in Ashdod, where many students would cluster around him and enjoy speaking in learning with him. The doors of his home were open to all of the yeshiva students, to whom he would offer guidance in how to advance in Torah.

In that period he published his Chok Hamelech on the Rambam, which was graced by the recommendations of Maran HaRav Eliezer Menachem Shach, shlita and HaRav Moshe Feinstein, zt"l.

In 5748, Maran HaRav Shach asked him to move to the southern town of Yeruchom, in order to be a ram in the yeshiva headed by HaRav Refoel Yonah Tokachinsky. Upon his arrival in the yeshiva, he formed a deep friendship with HaRav Tokachinsky. Reb Chanoch taught in Yeruchom for five years and produced many students, who still recall his fascinating shiurim, his flowing and pleasant delivery, and his lucid explanations, which impressed all who heard them.

In 5753 (1993), HaRav Tzvi Kushelevski asked him to preside as the rosh yeshiva of the yeshiva ketana of Pressburg, and as a ram in its yeshiva gedola. Reb Chanoch assumed this position at the urging and with the blessing of Maran HaRav Shach shlita, and devoted himself with every fiber of his strength to his students.

There too his shiurim were well known for their superior quality and depth. He studied with the tremendous fervor he had acquired in the home of his father, yibodel lechaim, HaRav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein. While he toiled over his Torah and delivered his remarkable shiurim to his students, it was obvious that he derived his vitality from Torah study.

Reb Chanoch was a master in encouraging and directing bnei yeshiva and as a youth, he founded the Ilan organization whose purpose was to form links between the new students in the yeshivos and the veteran ones, who would then accompany them on their new paths. This initiative, which began in Ponevezh, spread to most of the yeshivos kedoshos in Eretz Yisroel. Many of his students, both in Yeruchom and Pressburg, were attached to him with deep bonds of love and admiration. They felt that he was their support in times of simcha and in times of distress. They felt comfortable turning to him for advice and guidance, and sensed how he shared all of their problems, that he personally empathized with them during joyous times and difficult ones.

In recent years, he published four works on the holidays, which covered the Yomim Noraim, Pesach and Shavuos, Succos and Simchas Torah, Chanukah and Purim. In these works, which encompassed the holidays from every possible angle, his greatness and the scope of his knowledge in Torah, mussar, Chassidus and kabolo are evident. Talmidei chachomim are enlightened by these works, and they are studied in all of the yeshivos and Torah institutions.

His ultimate achievement was the publication of Mar'eh Mekomos, which covers all of the masechtos studied in the yeshivos and contains remarkable details on all topics. This kuntres is of use to hundreds of maggidei shiur, and serves as a guide for the study of the various sugyos.

His friends and students called him "the pillar of zikui harobbim," due to his total devotion to that aim. During his brief life, he managed to give Klal Yisroel his seforim on the holidays as well as his Mar'eh Mekomos, which are today basic works for every ben yeshiva who seeks to acquire knowledge of Shas and to prepare himself for the holidays.

Three years ago, after the petirah of his mother, Pesiah o"h in a traffic accident, he published his books on the holidays anew, adding enlightening chapters. He dedicated these books to her memory.

Two-and-a-half years ago, he contracted a serious illness. But even while undergoing treatments he continued in his avodas hakodesh. Despite the pains he suffered, he fulfilled the words of Dovid Hamelech, "Lulei Sorosecho sha'ashu'ai, oz ovadeti be'onyi," and found refuge from his suffering in his exertion in Torah.

Chessed, which he performed both bodily and with his money, was a special chapter in his life. He personally founded Torah institutions and supported ramim and roshei yeshiva even during his serious illness. Every few days, he would call one of the avreichim for whom he had arranged a position as a ram in a yeshiva, and ask how he was succeeding.

He had remarkable middos. He was modest, humble, unassuming, genial, kind and warm-hearted. He shared a common language with everyone, and spoke in a natural and simple manner without airs. In recent months, his illness worsened but he made great efforts to conceal his situation from his father, in order not to disturb his Torah study.

His greatness of spirit and lofty character were particularly evident during the last period of his life, as he gradually prepared to pass into the World of Truth. He engaged in much soul searching, and his fear of sin -- which had always been great -- increased. He merited to retain his clarity of mind until the last moment of his life.

Prior to his petirah, he parted from his father and his family, bequeathing to them his way of life as a legacy for the ensuing generations. During his final days, he said vidui a number of times and left his family a will, asking that these words be publicly proclaimed: "Everyone whom I might have offended or harmed either bodily or monetarily, or about whom I might have spoken loshon hora, lies or rechilus, even if there is a doubt regarding this, please say, `I forgive Chanoch Henoch ben Rav Dov Tzvi and Moras Pesha Pesia, with a full heart.' "

On Friday morning, the 22nd of Elul, he returned his pure soul, which had been purified by suffering, to its Maker.

The knowledge of his petirah spread rapidly throughout the yeshivos, and as soon as the news was heard, masses of students and thousands of Yerushalayim's residents flocked to the study hall of Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah-Pressburg, in the Givat Shaul neighborhood, from where the levaya proceeded. Thousands, headed by maranan verabonon, accompanied him on his last earthly journey. Hespedim were delivered by: HaRav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein, HaRav Tzvi Kushelevski, HaRav Simcha Levine (his father-in-law), HaRav Don Segal, HaRav Mordechai Zukerman, and Rav Yosef Goldstein (his son-in-law). He is buried on Har Hamenuchos in the plot in which his mother is buried.

He is survived by his father, HaRav Dov Tzvi Karelenstein, by four sisters, by his wife, Tzira, one of the finest teachers in the Bais Yaakov Seminary of Jerusalem, as well as by seven children, only one of whom is married. His son-in-law, Rav Yosef Goldstein, is a prominent avreich in the Mirrer yeshiva. His hundreds of students also feel like orphans and weep over the petirah of their beloved mentor.


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