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A shtarke bochur who was learning very well, but had a bad scar on his face was having tremendous difficulties in shidduchim. He came to Rav Chaim crying that he was about ready to give it all up. Every time he went out with a girl she would be impressed with him and all, but they all couldn’t get over his facial scar.
Rav Chaim told him that the next time he has a date, he should immediately tell the girl how he got his scar. So a few weeks later he has a date. After they are together he remember Rav Chaim’s instructions. So right off the bat, before she even questions anything, he tells her he wants to tell her how he got his facial scar. He says when he was about 13 years old, he was walking down a small alley in Yerushlayim. As he was walking he noticed ahead of him were a group of Arab youth and they were beating an about 8 year old girl. He went over and pryed off all the Arabs and gave the girl enough time to escape and run to safety. One of the larger Arab kids had a metal rod and in anger slapped him with it. And ever since he has this very visible facial wound.
Says the girl, I’ve been looking for you my whole life! I’ve always wanted to thank you for saving my life!
A short time later was the l’chaim followed by the chasuna.
Amazing story! Is it printed somewhere?
Ldidi hava uvda:
Once upon a time there was a bochur who would run a high fever every month from 101 up to 104 for 3-5 days. This happened for a few years. He went to doctors, he went to specialists, clinics and tests. But all they could determine was that he was fighting off something somewhere. Blood tests, gallium scans, minor surgery all to no avail.
B’chasdei shomayim he was able to lessen the frequency of these fevers for over a year, through a seemingly unrelated diet suggested by a talmid chacham- enough to be able to get married. But a month after his chasunah they returned. So he went to Rav Chaim and told him the story. Rav Chaim said, “You just got married? Then you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” And he never got it again.
A man was witholding a get from his wife for a long time.
When it came to the attention of the town rav, he was summoned to see him.
The Rav sternly told him that there were two ways for her to be free. Either he gives her the get as soon as apossible, and she will become a Grusha, or she will become an Almonoh.
He gave her the get immediatly!
Which R’ Chaim??
It’s printed in People Speak, by Chaim Walder. I don’t know which one (for sure either the first or second).
Are either of these stories falsifiable? If they are not, they are merely myth.
Isnt it Rav Chaim Kanievsky??
The ‘myth’ is the train of thought to which you subscribe.
Aishes Chayil: That story is with R’ Akiva Eiger. But you got it slightly wrong. He told the man about the 2 ways as you said but the guy laughed it off, walked out and immediately dropped dead.
Maybe the story you heard was a more recent Rav trying to use the same threat.
In people speak there is no mention of Reb Chaim and the event spoke about the family of the little girl traveling to some hotel somewhere,not an alley in Yerushalyim.Additionally, the girl wanted to dump the guy after a few meetings because of the scar and then he explained himself. A few possibilities:
A)Either the story in people speak and this one are similar but not one and the same
B)They are the same story but to help assure privacy, certain facts were changed
prior to publication in people speak
C)The part of the boy seeking advice from Rav Chaim kanievsky was attributed wrongfully, or conversly in print version or other versions it was not rightfully attributed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
AC- The story is with Rav Akiva Eiger zt”l. he told a recalcitrant husband that there are 2 ways acc. to the Mishna to free a woman. Get (divorce) will you? he said , NO! I won’t! The second is misas habaal, death of the husband. he dropped dead on the spot!
IUB: I think these days a stam Rav Chaim is Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
AC: That story is about Rav Akiva Eiger.
catoresq: The problem with history is that its in the past. We aren’t capable of going back and verifying the event. That doesn’t mean that all of history is a myth. But I can testify about my story since it happened to me.
ON The Ball- If a current Rav is trying the same.
I sometimes wish we had Rabbanim who could use it…. but then I wish we had Rabbanim who are on the level when an how. Myabe that’s what we daven for in Shmoineh Esray- Hashiva Shoftainu….
RABBAIM, if you want Klal Yisroel to have such Rabbonim, get working on it. For now, I’ll do my part. I’m logging off now.
Derech Hamelech, the stories reported here are recent enough that sufficient information to verfy or debunk them ought to be available. And believe it or not, history can be verified as well.
Be careful, everyone. Don’t you know that one of the ikkarei emunah is to believe every gadol story as it is related. I doubted a story about a woman being in a coma for 73 years and was called a Kofer for it.
So, if I’m an apikorus for doubting that story, I suppose that I am apikorus for having even the slightest doubt about this one. Just another sign that I am the worst person on the face of the planet.
The Wolf
I can barely get straight facts about something that happened last week let alone decades ago.
Seriously though, my parents had no children for ten years with zero physical chance of having one. My father gave money to The Steipler to help him have one of his seforim published (he was not ‘known’ at that time) as a zchus. They had several children after that.
WolfishMusings,
I doubted a story about a woman being in a coma for 73 years and was called a Kofer for it.
You are rabbiofberlin? (since in the post you linked us to it was ROB who was called the “koifer”)
You are rabbiofberlin? (since in the post you linked us to it was ROB who was called the “koifer”)
No, I’m not. But if he was called a “kofer” for refusing to believe the story of a 73-year-coma, there’s no reason to think that the person who made the accusation would think any different of me considering that I was even more strident in my disbelief than RabbiOfBerlin.
The Wolf
(I would like to relate a story that belongs in this thread, and which may pertain to some of the commenters.)
When i was in yeshiva in E”Y about three years ago, I had eaten a seuda by Hagoan Harav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita. The experience was something that I wish everyone can experience, for it is hard to explain in words the palpable kedusha that was felt in the air. It was a friday night seuda, and by R’ Chaim Shlita on Shabbos most of the lights are not on. In the dining room there is one light bulb near the door that stays on. (The reason for this minhag is spoken about). Throughout the seuda the grandchildren and other guests of R’ Chaim Shlita were asking questions, mainly in regards to halacha. I was quiet for a while, but then started getting more comfortable, and felt a little left out of the fun. I reminded myself of a side sugya i was learning, it was about birchas mezonos. There is a halacha that if there is any mezonos in a food, even a minority, one makes a mezonos on that food (except if it is hamotzi). So the question arrises with shnitzel (chicken cutlets) , if the beracha should be mezonos. So i asked R’ Chaim in yiddish “what beracha does one make on shnitzel,” he looks up and asked, “Vos is shintzel, ich vais nisht vos dos is” (what is shnitzel)? Now that is amazing that someone in EY does not know what shnitzel is!
Another amazing story from that seuda came right after the seuda when R’ Chaim left left the dining room, the three bachurim including myself stayed to thank the Rebitzen Aleha Hashalom, and as was her custom, throughout her life she always praised and expressed reverence for her husband. Then also she related a story that happened not long before we came. The first part of the story happened many years before, and is known by many. She related that first. As R’ Chaim was writing a sefer on chagavim (locust), He realized that he was missing the identification of a single chagav. He did all he could to try to find the specifications, his daughter was asked to check with sciences, but to avail. Before the Shabbos seuda that week, that chagav was sitting there on the table. Harav Chaim studied it and thus was able to finish his sefer!
The Rebitzen continued, there was a kollel in Bnei Brak that was learning the sugya of chagavim, a number of weeks prior. The Rosh Kollel said over the story that happened to R’ Chaim when he was learning that sugya. There was one man in the kollel with obnoxious attitude denied that such a story could happen with R’ Chaim. The man went home that day to find his apartment infested with chagavim! (Just like tzefardea, said the Rebitzen). The man called exterminators and for three days tried to get rid of them, but to no avail. He went to his Rosh Kollel and asked him what to do. He told him to ask mechila from R’ Chaim Shlita, so he went and R’ Chaim said “I dont know what you want from me, but machul lach machul lach machul lach”. Yup it was all gone!!!
WolfishMusings,
If something that is said regarding rabbiofberlin can be applied to you (ROB = X, Wolf = ROB, therefore Wolf = X), then it follows that things said regarding you can be applied to others.
Syag, that is very interesting! I had never heard that! I would be curious who it was that introduced them to the Steipler? Because that would’ve been quite a while ago! I don’t know exactly how old you are, or where you fit in in relation to your siblings, but it should be close to 50 years ago!
Wolf,
You specifically stated that you were called a koifer, yet now you are equivocating.
On another note you say that “Just another sign that I am the worst person on the face of the planet.”
I don’t know if that is the case but your shtick is definitely incredibly annoying. No redeeming features to it at all.
then it follows that things said regarding you can be applied to others
Not necessarily. If someone commits all the same sins that I do, then perhaps what I say about myself can be applied to them. But no one (other than myself) is that bad.
No redeeming features to it at all.
It has one important redeeming feature. It’s the truth. Kabel es haEmes miMi sheAmro.
The Wolf
Sorry dogo, no dice. To be believed, a story needs verifiable (i.e. falsifiable) details. The name of the yungerman in question, the name of the kollel where he learned etc. I don’t know you at all, and have no reason to believe you. I don’t have any reason to disbelieve you either. Thus the need for falsifiability in the narrative; to resolve the doubt. That it isn’t forthcoming, renders the story unfalsifiable and therefore not believable. Additionally, I’m not all that impressed that R. Chaim didn’t know what schnitzel is. How is one supposed to be a posek, if he does not know the basics of how people live?
Many years ago I heard the story, that when Reb Chaim was a yungerman, he was once learning with his chavrusa in the winter, and he noticed that his chavrusa was very cold, so he said to him, “believe me, if I would know how to make a glass of tea I would go make it for you”.
Its also known that until a few years ago before his involvment with Kupat Ha’ir, he literaly didn’t know a ???? ?????
cantoresq: R’ Chaim will be the first to tell you that he’s not a posek.
cantoresq – you sound like a lawyer
Midwesterner – My father’s brother was also childless. I think The Steipler was in to collect for the book but am not positive. My uncle heard about him and told my dad. They both had several children afterward (my oldest brother is 54) and are mentioned in the “thank yous” in his sefer. My father knew he gave the money to “a talmid chochom” and filed the sefer away. 25 years later a cousin noticed their names in the sefer and asked them about it. My dad was shocked! He had never put 2 and 2 together in regard to who The Steipler was, and who’s book he donated to. I have it at the house, you are welcome to see it. Has his signature too!
When my daughter went to his kever last week she said she thought about the fact that she wouldn’t exist if not for his bracha.
cantoresq: everything you post is a myth unless falsifiable, by your own argument.
“It has one important redeeming feature. It’s the truth. Kabel es haEmes miMi sheAmro.
The Wolf”
See your buddy Cantoresq’s comment regarding your comment being the truth.
More to the point, your comment is keneged halacha, see hilchos lashon hora where it talks about accepting the truth from someone who says it.
I believe my point remains.
nishtdayngesheft-“your shtick is definitely incredibly annoying. No redeeming features to it at all.”
You sound like a very unhappy person. My heart goes out to you. Maybe Wolf can offer you some counseling.
Wolf, don’t flatter yourself. You’re nowhere near the worst person in the world. You’re not even in the top (bottom?) 20.
@hershi, What is your point?
@cantor; same point as yours!
Wolf, don’t flatter yourself. You’re nowhere near the worst person in the world. You’re not even in the top (bottom?) 20.
1. You don’t know me. How can you possibly state that?
2. Even if I’m the 21st worst person in the world, that’s still bad enough.
The Wolf
@cantoresq: My point is, that based on your own argument, if (for example) you ever claimed to be married, it is a myth. And you aren’t married. Since it isn’t a falsifiable claim considering the lack of your name, wife’s name, etc.
Does that make any sense to you? You aren’t married because it isn’t “falsifiable”?
OTB, Rabbaim and DH,
I heard it was Reb Itzikel of Pshevorsk. Could be he quoted R’ Akive Eiger…
@Hershi, you’re correct to a point. Without someone supplying falsifiable information about my marriage, there is no reason to believe that I am, beyond the assumptions that might be made about people. But, the need for falsifiable information grows in proportion to the improbabilities contained in a story. For example, it might be reasonable, all things being equal to believe a story that says “Cantoresq got married to his wife on May 13, 1998 and they have three children.” The reason that can be believed here on this blog is because there is enough information in the statement that can be examined to establish its truth, and such a story does not need more than a cursory exam as there is nothing remarkable about it. But when one presents a story with fantastic allegations, like a story in another thread about a girl who lay in a coma for 73 years, or the story here, that requires more information to render it believable. It the unbelievability of the story that necessitates greater falsifiability.
@cantoresq: The story in the OP is not fantastic and is more reasonable and believable than the claim that you got married in the month of May. (And I do not doubt your claim.)
Sorry hershi but the OP’s story needs more detail before it can be at all believed.
I once heard from a tzaddik (whose name shall remain anonymous), that the last Great Person who lived, who he felt was the last one who had NEVUAH, was the Chazzon Ish. Now there are great Rebbes and tzaddikim since the Chazzon Ish, but he felt that the Chazzon Ish was in a catagory that is unmatched in his level of nevuah.
Here is a story he told us.
Once the chazzon Ish was learning in his home in Bnei Brak, and there was a ‘Hoiz Bochur’ there who was to take care of whatever the rav needed. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Chazzon Ish screamed “Get out! Get out, I told you so, and I don’t want to have anything to do with you!” The bochur froze, and his heart must have skipped several beats. He started to sweat, and stammering, he begged the rav for forgiveness for whatever it was that he did. The chazzon Ish smiled and calmed the bochur down saying he wasnt talking to him. “But there’s nobody else here!” the bochur said. The chazzon ish said, “I’ll tell you, but do not reveal what I say during my lifetime.”
Many miles away, many years ago, in a city in U.S.S.R. russia, there was a bad yid, an informer, who would inform government officials of jewish boys who were in hiding, trying to escape from being drafted into the army. The fact was that jewish boys that would be drafted by the tender age of 15-16, and would remain there for 10 years, eventually losing everything they had learned about yiddishkeit during that time. The yidden who were rich would be able to bribe authorities, but the poor were totally vulnerable. People begged him to stop, and even asked the Chazzon Ish who was visiting then, to try to speak to him. He spoke to him telling him of the terrible cheit he was committing, and he should stop immediately. He told the Chazzon Ish he needed parnassa and this was how he made his living. Bekitzur, he laughed him off. The Chazzon ish told him sternly before he left, “I’m warning you! You better stop now, or you will end up suffering for all that you have done”!
The Chazzon Ish turned to his Hoiz Bochur and said, this jew just passed away. As soon as his soul left him, the malachei chavala leaped upon him, and started torturing him. He screamed out that they are mistaken, and there is a big tzaddik who can save him. They laughed saying your tzaddik is not our tzaddik! But as soon as he mentioned the chazzon ish, they let go and let him seek the chazzon ish’s help. He flew from russia to BneiBrak in seconds, and before you know it, his soul appeared before the chazzon ish! He cried, begged, told him of the malachim ready to tear him apart, but the chazzon ish told him coldly,”Get out! Get out, I told you so, I don’t want to have anything to do with you!”
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