The Steipler and the Succah    

That year, Yom Kippur fell out on Shabbos. As my father was concerned about how his parents would feel after the long fast, on Motzaei Shabbos I traveled to Bnei Brak to see them. After checking in with them, I went to the Steipler’s home. I assumed he would be busy building his succah, and I hoped I would be able to observe him.

Even before I knocked, though, his daughter stepped out. She recognized me from my past visits and wished me a warm brachah for the new year. But when I asked if I could watch her father putting up the succah, she told me that the Steipler was very weak from the fast and had already retired for the night. However, she said, he had instructed her son not to start putting up the succah until he could join him, the next morning. I asked if I could come in the morning to help, and she graciously responded that I could.

The next morning, I was directed to the mirpesset where the Steipler and his grandson were preparing to start building the succah. While I’ve always had two left hands when it comes to any type of maintenance (even today, decades later, my wife is still in charge of building our succah), it really wasn’t much of a problem.

The Steipler, who was already elderly, was himself very handy (I once witnessed him with a hammer in hand, fixing a nail protruding from a bookcase in Rav Chaim’s study). And while he was terribly weak, from his chair he directed his grandson where to set up the boards and the beams for the sechach. I assisted his grandson in lifting and maneuvering the boards.