Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most influential leaders in Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, died Friday afternoon in his Bnei Brak home at the age of 94.
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Condolences poured in for Kanievsky, one of the greatest Lithuanian Torah scholars and authorities in Israel.
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel David Lau eulogized Kanievsky, saying: "Together with all the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora, we cry, we hurt, and we are stunned by the rabbi of all those in the Diaspora's departure to the heavens, our master of the Torah, the great 'Gaon' Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the righteous and blessed holy male.
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"The Jewish people have lost the most outstanding rabbi of a generation, whose teachers, prayers, and blessings were an integral part of all in Israel for decades," Lau said.
President Isaac Herzog said: "Together with the Jewish people, I mourn the bitter news of the ascension to heaven of the greatest [Torah scholar] of our generation. The love of Torah, his humility, his modesty, and his spiritual leadership, will be forever missed by the yeshivas and all of the Jewish people. May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. My sincere condolences to his family, his students, and his loved ones."
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, "Together with all of the Jewish people, I received with deep sorrow word of the death of the greatest of our generation, the Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky." He said Kanievsky "took care to always welcome every person with an open heart."
He said Kanievsky "was a true public leader who led thousands of people from his modest home in Bnei Brak with wisdom, reason, and a rare level of knowledge. I share in the heavy grief of the family in mourning."
Foreign Minister and Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid sent his condolences for the loss of the leader of the Lithuanian public. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was an important and significant leader in the lives of many Jews. I send my condolences to them and his family. May his memory be a blessing."
Opposition Leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his "deepest condolences to his dear family. May his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life."
He said, "I along with all of the Jewish people deeply grieve the passing of the Torah great and leader of many Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. The Jewish people have lost a great, wise student who was the central link in the chain passing the Torah down from generation to generation. Rabbi Kanievsky's home in Bnei Brak served as a pilgrimage site for our people from all walks of life. They thirstily drank in the words that emerged from his mouth, sought his blessing and his advice, and drew mental strength from his unique Torah authority. The image of the old rabbi who was constantly diligent about his Talmud story inspired the hearts of those around him. He took advantage of any free time to study, and this was given expression in his immense knowledge of the written and oral Torah."
Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy said: "On my and the Knesset's behalf, I express great sorrow at the passing of the greatest of his generation, the 'Gaon' Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, whose Torah leadership and humility lit the way for many in the Israeli public. I send condolences to his family and those who cherish his path and who feel the pain of his passing today. May his memory be a blessing."
Defense Minister Benny Gantz expressed "great sorrow" at Kanievsky's passing. "Beyond his Halachic greatness, Rabbi Kanievsky was a man with the deep wisdom of life with which I was impressed in the number of conversations I had with him."
"A great loss for the many Israeli men and women and sisters and brothers in the Diaspora who looked up to Rabbi Kanievsy, who was for them a leader and a guide. At this difficult hour, I share in the grief of the family and the grief of the many male and female members in the Haredi public. May his memory be a blessing," Labor party head Meirav Michaeli said.
Religious Zionism Party leader Bezalel Smotrich: "Grief and pain with all of the Jewish people over the passing of the … great "Gaon" in Torah and in virtue, the leader of the Lithuanian public, Rabbi Chaim Kanivesky."
Kanievsky had felt unwell over the last few days before collapsing Friday afternoon. Emergency responders attempted at length to resuscitate him before declaring him dead on site.
Hundreds of people gathered outside of Kanievsky's home upon learning of his passing.
Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to attend Kanievsky's funeral in Bnei Brak Sunday afternoon.
To prepare for the mass event, an Israel Police official said they were preparing for a "complex security operation with multiple forces."
Police closed off highways around Bnei Brak to regular traffic hours before the funeral to accommodate fleets of buses ferrying mourners to the city.
A senior police officer said that while some Israeli media predicted that up to one million people would flock to the funeral, police had deployed in accordance with the force's own estimate that crowds would be about half of that.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service was also on high alert, with memories still fresh of a stampede last May at a crowded Jewish Lag B'Omer festival in northern Israel in which 45 people were crushed to death.
In Bnei Brak, large numbers of Haredi men, wearing traditional black hats and suits, stood shoulder-to-shoulder in streets leading to the cemetery, as other residents squeezed onto nearby balconies.
Channel 13 put the number of mourners at 750,000, without citing a source for the figure.
Although Kanievsky was the leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community, he in many ways served as the leader of the entire Haredi community. Evidence of this was seen during the coronavirus pandemic when Kanievsky urged people to take precautions and get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Kanievsky called for religious schools to remain open in defiance of public health authorities and reportedly said the best way to combat the virus was to refrain from gossip, practice humility, and help others.
In recent months, he led protests against egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.
The ultra-Orthodox make up around 12% of Israel's population of 9.5 million but have outsized political power because their parties often serve as kingmakers in Israel's governing coalitions. They are also known to stage huge, disruptive, and sometimes violent protests when they feel their way of life is under threat.
Kanievsky was born in 1928 in Pinsk, Poland in what is now Belarus to Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, known as the "Steipler Gaon," and Rebbitzen Miriam Karelitz, sister of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, known as the "Chazon Ish." He moved to then-Mandatory Palestine in 1934. He married Batsheva Elyashiv, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv.
Kanievsky's first venture into public life came with the establishment of the Degel HaTorah party in 1989 when Rabbi Elazar Shach asked him to appear alongside him at the International Conference Center in Jerusalem. When that party went on to establish its rabbinical council, Kanievsky was asked to join but refused. He was later ordered by Shach to join the council. Following the death of Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman in 2017, Kanievsky became the de facto leader of the Lithuanian Haredi community alongside Rabbi Gershon Edelstein.
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