Rav Chaim’s passing on Shushan Purim carries many more levels of meaning
He did not live in a walled city but conducted himself as if he did. While he lived in our world, walls seemed to separate him from all of society, and, within the confines of these walls, there dwelt a kedushah the force of which no one can contemplate.
Rav Chaim’s passing on Shushan Purim carries many more levels of meaning. Rav Achi Shalom Cohen shlita, a close confidant of Rav Chaim, relates that Rav Chaim would interpret the dictum of Mishenichnas Adar marbin b’simchah to allude to the study of Torah. When Adar arrives, one should increase in joy — in Rav Chaim’s world, or within Rav Chaim’s walls, that meant increasing Torah study.
He was consistent in this perspective. Rav Achi Shalom shares that a family once approached Rav Chaim and requested a brachah for their father, who was suffering from depression and would not get out of bed.
“The pasuk says, ‘Pikudei Hashem yesharim, mesamchei lev — Torah gladdens the heart,’ ” Rav Chaim told them. “Learn with your father. Learn with him every day.”
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