YWN obtained rare footage of the Steipler, z’tl, and HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, z’tl, at the groundbreaking ceremony of Yeshivas Haran in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1983.

It’s intriguing to see the great kavod accorded to HaRav Chaim, z’tl, so many years ago while he was still relatively young and his father, the Steipler, z’tl, was still alive. Despite literally decades of being revered by hundreds of thousands of people, HaRav Chaim, z’tl, acted with great anivus and simplicity to his last day, a spiritual phenomenon that can only be been in those whose kavod stems from the Torah and the Kisei HaKavod.

The Steipler was the great-uncle of the founder and Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Haran, HaRav Tzvi Weissfish, who named the yeshivah after his great-great-great-grandfather, HaRav Nochum of Shadik. It is now a network of dozens of yeshivos and kollelim across Israel but it began with a tiny kollel in Ramot. The Steipler published the first letter supporting the yeshivah and instructed HaRav Weissfish to ask all shailos about the yeshivah to HaGaon HaRav Elyashiv, z’tl.

HaRav Weissfish was one of the first residents of the new neighborhood in Ramot, which at the time was a largely secular neighborhood where residents drove their cars on Shabbos. Instead of demonstrations, HaRav Weissfish decided to respond to the chillul Shabbos by opening a Kollel, initially with only ten avreichim.

Today, hundreds of avreichim fill the Beis Medrash at the Ramot Kollel HaRan, and thousands of bochurim and avreichim throughout Israel learn at yeshivos and kollelim that are part of the Yeshivas Haran network – a result of HaRav Weissfish’s great efforts. He once told HaRav Elyashiv that he could have filled a kosher mikveh of 40 se’ah with the tears he shed on his fundraising trips abroad.

HaRav Weissfish followed the Steipler’s instructions and didn’t make a move without consulting HaRav Elyashiv, z’tl, to which he attributes his great success. HaRav Elyashiv, zt’l, even designated a set time every week when HaRav Weissfish would update him on the mosdos and ask him any relevant shailos.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)