It turns out that Rav Benoliel considers himself a talmid of Rav Shmuel

A recent meeting in Manhattan to supercharge the rescue and relief efforts for Ukrainian Jewry was auspicious not only because of the subject at hand but also because of its attendees. Rebbes, roshei yeshivah and rabbanim from a wide spectrum of Orthodox Jewry graced the event, as did a group of devoted lay leaders and philanthropists. Representing the Sephardic community was Rav Chaim Benoliel, rosh yeshivah of Mikdash Melech and a senior rav in Brooklyn’s Syrian community. Many Sephardic balebatim at the meeting greeted Rav Benoliel by kissing his hand in a traditional sign of reverence — but then, Rav Benoliel greeted Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky with a warm shalom aleichem and immediately bent over to kiss his hand.

It turns out that Rav Benoliel considers himself a talmid of Rav Shmuel, because in the late 1950s, he left Bais Hatalmud where he was learning under Rav Leib Malin to spend one Elul zeman under Rav Shmuel in the Philadelphia yeshivah, in order to help his younger brother acclimate to the yeshivah’s high school. So while the Sephardic rav bending over to kiss the hand of an Ashkenazi gadol signified the deep bond between the two, it was also a statement of the singular unity that underscored the entire event.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 906)