The house of mourning was filled with a great void. Climbing
up the twisted stairwell of the old building on Ha'ari Lane
in Bnei Brak one met the terrible emptiness that reached the
bare walls, the dampness of hidden recesses and the wardrobes
worn with age.
This scene took place at the home of R' Chaim Shaul, a hidden
corner tucked inside the tremendous, multi-wing structure
housing Kollel Chazon Ish. It is an unnumbered house, with no
external markings. More than a house of mourning, this was
the home of Rav Chaim Shaul. Until a short time ago those who
stepped into these daled amos immediately came upon
piercing eyes and an immense heart. Now that the tremendous
void fills the house, those who come to pay their respects
suddenly encounter a terrible void.
Until Shabbos began, the consolers filled the house, trying
to drive away a bit of the vast emptiness. Bnei Brak without
Rav Chaim Shaul. A generation without Rav Chaim Shaul.
During Shabbos even the consolers were not there and the
feeling of emptiness was tremendous, beyond what his close
friends were able to endure; trusted friends like his
invaluable assistant, Shlomo Rosenberg, who spent much of his
life alongside the constantly flowing river of fire. A life
of perpetual readiness for the unexpected, never laying down
his arms, always ready and waiting for his great commander,
who would fall into slumber on a makeshift bed as he pored
over his seforim, awakening with a start whenever a
mitzvah that he alone could perform came to hand.
Even when confined to his sickbed it sometimes seemed as if
this too was part of the mitzvos always filling his daled
amos, particularly on two occasions when angels came
beckoning and it seemed they would hold sway. Rav Chaim
Shaul, with a look of serenity on his face, uttered feebly,
"Eich gei shtarben" -- the children cried "Shema
Yisroel" and made their confessions, but the time had not
yet arrived. Only a few days later did the lion's heart
suddenly cease, only then did the penetrating emptiness set
in.
On leil Shabbos Kodesh, Reb Shlomo stood before the
bright white tablecloth spread over a simple table, extending
his hands out toward the sons in a gesture that said, "What
has Rav Chaim Shaul left us to grasp onto and retain as a
memory? He didn't even leave behind a handwritten manuscript
or writings. Nor a monetary inheritance for his sons. He just
picked up and went, taking all of the gems he had gathered in
This World with him."
The next morning's krias Hatorah was the passage about
Pinchas' zealousness. Upon hearing it Reb Shlomo suddenly
felt a certain sense of relief. Was it not remarkable that
Rav Chaim Shaul had the merit to leave this World during a
parsha that so accurately captures the essence of his
life!
Chazal said Pinchas is Eliyohu Hanovi. Why do the books of
the Tanach not include one written by Eliyohu Hanovi? Why was
his departure from the world so sudden? Reb Shlomo recalled
the verse describing Eliyohu Hanovi's petiroh,
"Vayehi heimoh holchim holoch vedabeir vehinei rechev eish
vesusei eish, vayafridu bein shneihem, vaya'al Eliyohu
baso'oro hashomoyim. VeElisho ro'eh vehu metza'eik, Ovi Ovi,
rechev Yisroel uforoshov, velo ro'ohu od."
He also clearly recalled the day of his older brother Rav
Shimshon's petiroh. Sitting with his brother-in-law
Rav Zalman Rotberg and wrapped in the melancholy of death,
the pair were speaking about the gravesite purchased for the
deceased at the Ponevezh Cemetery when suddenly Rav Zalman,
turning to Rav Chaim Shaul, inquired what would become of
them. After all, if every man is fated to die eventually,
shouldn't one purchase a plot for the day of reckoning?
Rav Chaim spread out his hands and replied simply: "Ich
hob nit kain gelt!" as if discussing the purchase of a
luxury apartment. Then he turned to Rav Zalman with a
characteristic laugh, saying, "Are we destined to hold
intimate conversations there so that we need to be buried
close to one another? Personally the Yarkon Cemetery would be
just fine with me. The Yemenites who live in the adjacent
village will testify to my acts of kindness for them and they
will welcome me with open arms . . . "
This was more than a mere quip. Later, on the day of his
wife's petiroh, standing beside the window of his home
(he took pains not to sit based on the opinion that an
onen must remain standing), throughout the discussions
about the place of burial Rav Chaim Shaul kept murmuring,
"Yarkon, Yarkon." He felt deeply for the human foible of
garnering status to serve us even after death. Not satisfied
with the distortions of This World, people even feel a need
to bring their misconceptions to their place of rest.
All his life, Rav Chaim Shaul was just the opposite. He
always lived within the realm of truth. For him the
difference between one cemetery and another was not
significant.
As Rav Shlomo sat and pondered, the words of Rav Zalman
Rotberg came to mind: "Er iz geven, `Shivti beveis Hashem,
kol yemei chayai.'" Or as the Chazon Ish put it, "Leis
dein bar nash."
Eighty years of living Torah, with exceptional command of
Shas and Shulchan Oruch, the works of the
Chazon Ish always on his tongue . . . yet not even a shred of
paper with his own chiddushei Torah!
At that very moment Reb Shlomo made a resolution that the
memory of Rav Chaim Shaul would be the perpetuating of the
Torah for which he gave his body and soul, fortifying the
Torah for generations to come--these would be the legacy of
Rav Chaim Shaul.
When Shlomo was called up for Maftir because of a
personal yahrtzeit, the gabbai stopped short at
the words, " . . . avur shenodar" and Reb Shlomo said,
"Two thousand shekels for Kollel Toras Rebbe Chaim Shaul."
With these words he founded the outstanding kollel
dedicated to the memory of a man who fled throughout his
lifetime from personal dedications.
*
A fine klaf bears the signatures of maranan
verabonon--HaRav Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, HaRav
Michel Yehuda Lefkovitz, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky--joining
supporters of the appointment of R' Heshi Freedman as
chairman of the kollel administration.
This is just part of the encouragement leading rabbonim, who
include themselves among the founders and directors, have
given the kollel heads. Gedolei Yisroel had
good reason to feel this pressing urge. They feel a real
obligation to establish a yeshiva at the gravesite of Rav
Chaim Shaul Karelitz, who gave all he had to place the Jewish
faith on a pedestal. He was the man who guarded against
breaches, laying down the ways of our rabbonim
ylct'a.
