JEWISH ACTION SUMMER 2013 The Great Sar HaTorah by JA Mag
A Tribute to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv on His First Yahrtzeit
A few weeks after I arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1974 to learn in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, I received a heartfelt letter from a kollel fellow I knew.
The letter detailed the difficulties that he and his wife were undergoing, as her last three pregnancies had ended in miscarriages and doctors could not identify the cause. The couple had heard about a mekubal in Netivot who dispensed bottles of water rumored to prevent miscarriages. Since I was the only one he knew living in Eretz Yisrael at the time, he asked if I could travel to Netivot, obtain a few bottles of water from the mekubal and send them to him.
In those days, a round trip from Yerushalayim to Netivot required at least six hours. Moreover, with the inevitable long lines at the mekubal’s home, I could expect the trip to take all day. I wasn’t sure what to do: Should I give up an entire day of learning in yeshivah for this act of chesed?
When I asked the mashgiach of the yeshivah, Rabbi Avrohom Kanarek, for advice, he recommended that I present the she’eilah to a posek in Meah Shearim who at the time was not known outside of the small circle of scholars in Yerushalayim. His name? Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
A Tribute to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv on His First Yahrtzeit
A few weeks after I arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1974 to learn in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, I received a heartfelt letter from a kollel fellow I knew.
The letter detailed the difficulties that he and his wife were undergoing, as her last three pregnancies had ended in miscarriages and doctors could not identify the cause. The couple had heard about a mekubal in Netivot who dispensed bottles of water rumored to prevent miscarriages. Since I was the only one he knew living in Eretz Yisrael at the time, he asked if I could travel to Netivot, obtain a few bottles of water from the mekubal and send them to him.
In those days, a round trip from Yerushalayim to Netivot required at least six hours. Moreover, with the inevitable long lines at the mekubal’s home, I could expect the trip to take all day. I wasn’t sure what to do: Should I give up an entire day of learning in yeshivah for this act of chesed?
When I asked the mashgiach of the yeshivah, Rabbi Avrohom Kanarek, for advice, he recommended that I present the she’eilah to a posek in Meah Shearim who at the time was not known outside of the small circle of scholars in Yerushalayim. His name? Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
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