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while in lakewood this shabbos, I saw a picture from a shtel and it turns out it was of the Chofetz Chaim, my hosts told me this is the only known photograph of the Chofetz Chaim (Id post a link if it was allowed of this photo) and all the other pictures of him are not real. This one photo is not even a close up, you can only see him from a distance
Is there only one actual photo of the Chofetz Chaim in existance?
Even Rav Chaim Ozer has more than one photo and they lived approximately at the same time
There are actualy two or three photos of him. The popular well known one is not realy him
Wow – the popular well known pic is not really him? I never knew that! I always pictured him looking like that. So how did that pic end up being THE picture that everyone sees? I wish the real pic could be posted here.
The Living Torah Museum in Brooklyn has another picture. I believe it is an invitation to the writing of a Sefer Torah from soon after the Chofetz Chaim passed away, in his memory. It has a picture on the invitation. You can see it here: http://www.torahmuseum.com/Viewer_personalities/Person01_ChofetzChaim.html
They claim the famous picture is not him. I was told by a Talmid of his Talmid that it is him. Also, this person claims there is another picture which can be found in the Encyclopedia Judaica (I forget which volume and page, sorry).
I heard that the chofetz Chaim’s daughter said the pic going around looked NOTHING LIKE HIM.
There are different versions of what the story is, but I often hear that the pic is in actuality the butcher of Radin. Anyone know the story behind that?
He was very much against people taking pictures of him.
Sam2: In this weeks Hamodia Magazine there is an interview with R’ Yisrael Yenowitz, who himself is a talmid of the Chofetz Chaim, and he says the pic is not him.
Mak: I once quoted that to this guy. He started screaming at me that I was calling his Rebbe senile because then he didn’t know what his own Rebbe looked like.
There is also a picture of the CC (with half of his face covered) from his passport when he came to New York. That one is decently famous.
I believe the Ya’avetz (doesn’t sound right but that’s who I recall) says that Al Pi Kaballah one should not have a portrait of themselves drawn. Presumably people are Makpid not to have pictures taken for this same reason.
New York?
When did the Chofetz Chaim come to NY?
I was always told he came to America for a bit. I’m looking for when. There are a few famous stories about his passport.
The Chofetz Chaim’s grandson, Rabbi Zacks, told me that his mother said “The man in the picture looks like a good, frum Jew – but it’s not my father!”
As far as I know the CC never came to America. He had a passport made for his planned trip to Eretz Yisroel.
Passports weren’t required to travel or prevalent in Europe during the CC time.
There are gedolim now adays who are against photos, for example, R’ Don Segal shlita and R’ Chaim Kanievsky shlita (although many pics of him are around from when he didn’t notice people taking them). I think also R’ Moshe Shapiro shlita is against pics.
Nowadays many Gedolim, especially Chasidish ones, still don’t allow themselves to be photographed.
That doesn’t mean people still don’t photograph them.
R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l was very much in favor of children taking pictures of gedolim. He said it was better for them to put pictures of gedolim on their walls than pictures of baseball players.
Feif: Never heard that. Do you have a source for that?
Rav Elya Wientraub a”h didnt like when pictures were being taken of him…
My rebbe knew the Chofetz Chaim well and told me that the Chofetz Chaim did not have payis [contrary to the popular picture/painting]
shlishi: I’ve listened to many tapes/cd’s from R’ Yaakov Bender. On one of them, he tells over a story where he was in a bungalow colony with R’ Moshe zt”l. Kids were crowding around taking pictures, and someone asked R’ Moshe if he should make them stop, as he felt it was disrespectful towards R’ Moshe. R’ Moshe responded with what I wrote above.
I don’t remember what tape/cd it was. Listen to all of them, and you’ll find it! Rabbi Bender is worth listening to!
Sam2,
You write; “There is also a picture of the CC (with half of his face covered) from his passport when he came to New York”.
I think you are mixing up the Chofetz Chaim with his talmid Rav Elchonon Wasserman, HY”D, who did come to New York in the late 1930’s and 1940.
Feif un – Thank you for the link!!! I never saw that picture of the Chofetz Chaim! Whoever is the “other” picture, must have had some zechus having his pic plastered on all of the Chofetz Chaim’s works!
BaalHabooze: I don’t know if the picture from the museum is really him or not. It’s probably one of those things we’ll never really know.
Check this out. I got this from the Hamodia website. An interview with Rabbi Yenowitz.
(One of the questions)
As a talmid of the Chofetz Chaim, do you remember what he looked like? Is this picture that appears on the popular edition of one of his sefarim a good likeness?
Notice how he says “Perhaps he looked more like that when he was younger.” I recall reading an article (not this one) in the Mishpacha or Hamodia magazine, that interviewed someone who said that this picture was indeed the Chofetz Chaim, but was taken when he was younger. I am currently trying to find that article, if I do I will post it.
Here is a link to the whole interview. (If it gets posted)
Found it.
Taken from the Hamodia website.
Some people say that the well-known portrait of the Chofetz Chaim disseminated widely today is not accurate and that there is a snapshot of him sitting outside his home in Radin. Do you remember which image the Chofetz Chaim resembled?
I remember the Chofetz Chaim as he appears in this portrait [pointing to the standard image hanging on his wall]. It seems that in the 1920s the Chofetz Chaim still looked like he does in this portrait, but maybe later on he became very weak and frail and his age was more apparent, like in that photograph of him sitting outside his house after his doctor instructed him to go outside for fresh air every day.
Here is the whole article.
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