Rav Chaim Kanievsky remains a beacon of clarity in a stormy world.The inside perspective of Rabbi Shai Graucher, who’s brought Rav Chaim’s wisdom to the English-speaking public
Erev Succos, 5781. If the global COVID crisis wasn’t enough to mar the rejoicing of the upcoming Yom Tov, the news that rapidly spread across the Jewish world sowed worry and distress. The dreaded virus, the insidious and invisible foe that has wreaked havoc across the planet for the last half year, had infected Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
For months, Rav Chaim had been cloistered in a veritable germ-free fortress, as his family took extraordinary precautions to ward off the disease. The select few who came in contact with him were duly masked and disinfected before they could approach him, while plastic partitions shielded him from the rest of the world. But somehow, the virus managed to slip past their carefully erected defenses. Rav Chaim’s health had been monitored vigilantly, and the family grew alarmed when his daily temperature check revealed that he was running a low-grade fever. A coronavirus test was rapidly administered, and the positive result was soon received.
While the physician treating Rav Chaim released a statement that the Sar HaTorah recovered, prayers for continued health and well-being of Rav Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben Pesha Miriam are still on the lips of thousands. Yet in the midst of the month-long panic and commotion regarding his health, one man remained an oasis of tranquility, completely unfazed by the worry that held so many in its grip.
That man, of course, was Rav Chaim Kanievsky himself.
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