The Special Connection Between HaRav Shach, Zt’l, And HaRav Shalom Cohen, Z’tl

Since the petirah of HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, much mention has been made at the shiva house about the special connection the Rosh Yeshivah, z’tl, had with HaGaon HaRav Menachem Man Shach, zt’l.

On Tuesday night, when Bnei Brak Mayor Avraham Rubinstein and UTJ MK Uri Maklev visited the shiva home, the Rosh Yeshivah’s sons spoke about their father’s relationship with HaRav Shach, z’tl.

“We remember the personal phone calls in the middle of the night between Abba, z’tl and HaRav Shach, z’tl,” they said. “They had a heart-to-heart relationship.”

Only several hours after HaRav Cohen’s petirah, Maklev spoke about HaRav Shach’s great kavod for HaRav Cohen, z’tl, at a summer camp program for Yeshivah Ohr Yisrael.

Maklev said: “I heard from Rav Nosson Zukovsky that people used to ask HaRav Shach, z’tl about his strong support for Shas. They asked him, how do you know them? It wasn’t like HaRav Elyashiv, z’tl, who knew HaRav Ovadia Yosef, z’tl from the Beis Din.”

“Rav Shach would respond: ‘There’s one name that I trust, Chacham Shalom Cohen. I rely on him and I know that he’ll worry about the Bnei Torah, it will be a party of Bnei Torah.”

HaRav Yechezkel Ishayek, who was HaRav Shach’s shamash, came to the shiva home bearing a letter that HaRav Shach, z’tl, had written to HaRav Cohen, z’tl.

He spoke in a brokenhearted voice about HaRav Shach’s love for HaRav Cohen. “He loved him very much. He always said about him that he’s an ish emes without negios (personal interests) and a great anav.”

Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was visiting the shiva home at the time, took an interest in the letter.