Thousands of bereaved Jerusalem residents took part in the
levaya for Rav Chaim Moshe Flam z"l, one of the roshei
yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Dovid and a prominent avreich
in Jerusalem's Sanhedria Murchevet neighborhood, who passed
away at the age of 56.
The deceased was born in Pittsburgh in 5711 (1952) to R'
Dovid and his mother, Mannia. His parents infused him with
kovod haTorah and ahavas chessed. At a young
age he went to Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, where he
studied in the high school. Later he continued his studies at
Yeshivas Pittsburgh, where he was among the leading
talmidim. At Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in New York and
Jerusalem he cleaved to his rebbe, HaRav Henoch
Leibowitz zt"l.
In 5738 (1978) he married his wife Hinda tlc"a of the
Kurtz family, and one year later they moved to Jerusalem,
where he enrolled in Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim's
kollel.
During this period he identified a need to start a yeshiva
that would prepare young American men for yeshiva
gedoloh studies and, together with HaRav Yosef Granofsky,
founded Yeshivas Ohr Dovid.
The yeshiva was a constant labor of love for him. In
eulogizing the deceased, his son said he had a collection of
index cards on which he would record every chiddush or
vort he heard and that every chiddush in
learning brought him great joy.
When he became too sick to deliver shiurim at the
yeshiva he began giving them in his home, drawing
encouragement and strength from them, and he once told his
son his whole desire to live was to see his sons growing in
Torah.
He was widely known as a man of chessed. Neighborhood
residents recalled that he would pull over at every bus stop
to offer people a ride, often driving far out of his way for
their sake, always saying it was "on the way."
At the levaya HaRav Yitzchok Berkowitz, rov of the
beis knesses he attended, said that only after the
petiroh was it learned he had paid the grocery bills
for various needy families, in addition to sums of money he
would secretly give to poor people and lomdei Torah in
the neighborhood. Even his own family members were unaware of
some of his many acts of chessed.
On the night of Pesach Sheini he returned to his Maker a soul
refined by the pain he suffered during his prolonged
illness.
Hespeidim were delivered by HaRav Boruch Shimon
Salomon, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Nachalas Dovid, HaRav Dovid
Chait, one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim,
HaRav Avrohom Kanerik, the mashgiach of Yeshivas
Chofetz Chaim, HaRav Yitzchok Berkowitz, HaRav Yosef
Granofsky, his brother-in-law Rav Avrohom Friedman and two of
his sons.
Rav Chaim Moshe Flam z"l is survived by his sons, Rav
Yisroel Meir, an avreich in Beitar Illit, Rav Dov, an
avreich at Yeshivas Nachalas Dovid in Petach Tikva,
his sons-in-law, Rav Nesanel Neuman of Beit Shemesh and Rav
Yaakov Shlomo Sokol of Beitar, and four other children he
didn't live to see married, including a daughter just weeks
away from her wedding to R' Yisroel Meir Bollack.
