One year later, Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s family retraces his legacy

Photos: ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Mattisyahu Goldberg, Mishpacha archives

In the year since Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s petirah, it seems as if there is no end to the stories and lessons gleaned from the gadol hador, whose legendary, unsurpassed diligence was matched by his supreme kindness and caring. One talmid was determined not to let those stories get away, but to consolidate close family retrospections into one kaleidoscope of memories 

The family had all just endured a week of mourning that would have sapped anyone’s strength. Masses of visitors — estimated at about half a million people over the course of the week — had flocked to Bnei Brak, hungering for insight into Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s life and character and eager to hear his children’s stories.

When the shivah was over, Klal Yisrael knew that the world was irrevocably changed, yet life went on and routine resumed. But there was one person who wasn’t willing to let the momentum slip away.

After Rav Chaim passed away last year on Motzaei Purim, leaving the Jewish world reeling with shock and grief, Rabbi Achi Cohen, a prominent educator in Israel who was part of Rav Chaim’s inner circle, immediately began working to preserve his legacy, tapping into his family’s memories to paint a vivid, intimate portrait of the gadol hador.

He spoke to all of Rav Chaim’s sons and sons-in-law, as well as three of his grandchildren, producing a collection of 11 videos featuring captivating interviews and priceless memories. In each segment, Rabbi Cohen gently asks a few probing questions, occasionally sharing a story of his own, and his interlocutor responds with a wealth of behind-the-scenes information and riveting stories.

These videos were recorded on the day after the shivah for Rav Chaim had ended, and there is palpable emotion in the air in every recording. The family members, sons and sons-in-law alike, speak with wistful longing. Some are quiet and introspective, while others are animated and passionate, but they all clearly wanted to share memories of their illustrious father and grandfather with Klal Yisrael.

Though only Rabbi Cohen and one family member can be seen in each video, it almost seems as if there’s another presence: The influence of Rav Chaim himself is keenly felt even in his absence. The family members hardly even invoke his name; while there is a sporadic mention of “the Rav” or “Rav Chaim,” they refer to him throughout most of the interviews with a mere pronoun. “He was holy from birth,” one son-in-law declares; “he was a living Shulchan Aruch,” another says. “He was a man of G-d, holy and a servant of Hashem since his youth,” a third son-in-law intones before bursting into tears.

With just one or two exceptions, the men met with Rabbi Cohen in their own homes, and most of them were filmed against backdrops of large bookcases lined with well-used seforim — apropos for any home associated with the Kanievsky family. Many also sat with closed seforim in front of them, as if just waiting to dive back into learning as soon as the interview ended — again, much like Rav Chaim himself.

The family was reeling from the loss, but they wanted to talk. They wanted the world to know about Rav Chaim’s essence

The Tzaddik’s Power

Rabbi Achi Sholom Cohen, director of Mosdos Derech Emunah, was a close protégé of Rav Chaim Kanievsky. His close relationship with the gadol hador spanned the course of three decades. He  made innumerable visits to Rechov Rashbam, seeking Rav Chaim’s input on every move he made, and taking care to carry out the Rav’s instructions to the letter.

A native of Bnei Brak, Rabbi Cohen first found his way into Rav Chaim’s graces as an unmarried yeshivah student, when he took the initiative to rescue a friend’s shidduch.

“I had a friend in yeshivah who came from a broken home and was very close to Rav Chaim,” Rabbi Cohen recalls. “After he got engaged, his kallah’s family learned some more information about his background and decided to call off the shidduch. I felt I could convince the family to patch things up, and I brought them all to Rav Chaim’s home to discuss the matter. That meeting clinched the family’s decision to renew the shidduch, and they made a l’chayim right there.

“After it was over,” Rabbi Cohen continues, “my friend turned to me and said, ‘I’m indebted to you. What can I do to repay you?’ I replied that I wanted a brachah for a shidduch, and when Rav Chaim overheard this, he said, ‘You will become a chassan within the month.’ Shortly thereafter, my shidduch was proposed, and my future mother-in-law asked Rebbetzin Kanievsky if she knew me. The Rebbetzin enthusiastically supported the idea, and that was how my marriage came about.”

Much of Rabbi Cohen’s life story is closely intertwined with his relationship with Rav Chaim, and he credits Rav Chaim with influencing many of the pivotal events of his life, often through the power of his brachos. For instance, he attributes the birth of his eldest child to a brachah from the tzaddik.

“On the first Chol Hamoed Succos after my marriage,” he remembers, “I visited Rav Chaim in his home and told him that I wanted a brachah for children. He instructed me to sit in a chair in his succah that had belonged to the Steipler and to recite three chapters of Tehillim. After I’d done this, he said, ‘Grow a beard, and I will be at the bris in another year.’ Sure enough, on the first day of Chol Hamoed on the following year, we celebrated the bris of my firstborn son.”

In another fateful turn of events, Rav Chaim’s blessing apparently sealed the shidduchim of two of Rabbi Cohen’s children just a couple of years ago.

“On Erev Yom Kippur,” Rabbi Cohen relates, “my second son was helping to organize the room for Rav Chaim’s minyan. Rav Chaim gave him a brachah to find his zivug within the year, but my son pointed out that his older brother was still unmarried. Rav Chaim then said, ‘Both of you will become chassanim this year.’ Sure enough, my oldest son became engaged the following summer, and my younger son celebrated his engagement on the following Erev Yom Kippur.”