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.
