Reb Chaim's Rebbetzin passed away on
Shabbos Chol Hamoed Sukkos in her home in
Bnei Beraq. She was the daughter of
Rav Elyashiv, a
meyucheses in her own right.
An eynikel of
Reb Aryeh Levin. The
Leshem! ניט שייכות צו זאגען! what more can you say. [מאמר המוסגר: what's with the "
nifteres"
shtick? all the "
yeshivishe" sites write she was "
nifteres" on
Shabbos. No more "
niftar." Is that even grammatically correct? She is a
Nifteres, but she was
Nifteres? Am I wrong on this one?] During the subsequent
hespedim by the
levaya and after
YomTov she was dubbed the "mother of
Klal Yisroel." I'm not here to bash that. וואס גייט מיר אהן what people say? זאל איר זייער וואויל באקומען. I'm just worried about the future. Who will be the
Rebbetzin Kanievski of our children, screams this Circus Tent headline, and I could not have said it better myself. Who will bless
Esrog Jelly from now on. Who will say
Perek Shira at dawn with the
Netz minyan at
Lederman? Who will be
mafrish challah for the rest of
Klal Yisroel that cannot do it? If this what we make of
frumme Yiddenes אך און וויי to us. What do we leave for the men? Maybe I'm jealous. Maybe it's because my
Bubbe, who was a
kaylichdig'e yesomeh at a young age in Hungary, didn't have a
zeide like
Reb Aryeh, could've very easily been not
frum even before the war, was deported to Auschwitz, lost her siblings, nieces and nephews, made bombs for the Nazis in Leipzig - you get my drift.
Bah-Bee also
davened three times a day with a
minyan, (she lived next to a
shul) fasted on the
Yohrtzeit of her husband, parents, siblings, said
tehillim (Perek Shira wasn't a "thing" yet) every spare moment, took care of an Alzheimer's patient many years her junior, and best of all
PASSED AWAY ON HER BIRTHDAY!!! She wore a white
tichel and
shirtzel on
R"H and
Y"K and cried to
Hashem for a
Gut Yohr. She cried to him because she loved him and wished only that she have to strength to serve him, not to לעבן א גוטען טאג,
chas vesholom. Never have you seen a woman cook and bake with more lofty
kavonos. Every poke of the fork into the
Kokosh Cake dough was with the loftiest of intentions, no less than a
Brisker rolling his
rrrrreish during
KrishMeh. And I say that in all seriousness. I'll show you her Hungarian צאינה וראינה one day.
Halevai my
Tanya should one day look like that, or your
shas. Or any of our
siddurim.
So if my
Bubbe would be alive I'd say that she could very easily take the place of the lofty
Rebbetzin BatSheva. Despite the fact that her husband was not the
Sar Hatorah, nor was her father the
Posek HaDor/Urim VeTumim. (He was a
musmach of the
Pressburger Yeshivah, though) Maybe BECAUSE of that she'd be a very good candidate. She was self-made, after all. (Yea, Yea, צדיק בן צדיק, I know what you'll say.) They say that
Reb Chaim appointed his daughter
Rabbanit Kuledtzki to replace his wife as mother of
Klal Yisroel. I haven't seen her at all, but I saw her husband, and he's no
Reb Chaim.
Rebbetzin Batsheva had a old time
Yerushalayimer charm that you can't just pass on to your children, necessarily. In the pictures
Reb Chaim looks very, very distraught. Utterly devastated. May the
Eybershter comfort him and his family בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים.
(I would go be
menachem avel if I had the means.)
