The Rebbetzin brought him in to Rav Chaim and told him, ‘R’ Chaim, mazel tov! A son was born to us”* “R’ Chaim smiled broadly and welcomed him, gave him a kiss, and said to him, ‘You will be my son.'”*”She’d always say she had eight children and another one, Rabbi Sender, and that he was more dedicated to her than all of them. We were a little insulted- but this is what she would always say”
After the passing of the renowned mechanech HaGaon Rav Sender Preizler zt”l, his stepsister Rebbetzin Kolodetsky tlit”a and her husband HaGaon HaGadol Rav Yitzchak Kolodetsky shlit”a, the son-in-law of Maran Sar HaTorah zt”l, sat together and reminisced about the days when Rav Sender appeared in the home of Maran Sar HaTorah zt”l and instantly became a member of the family.
HGR’ Yitzchak Kolodetsky shlit”a, appearing before the camera, spoke: 35 years ago, a boy a bit after his Bar Mitzvah came to R’ Chaim, my teacher, my father-in-law, sent by Rav Shach. He’d come to Rav Shach saying that he was orphaned from his father and he wanted that they should instruct him, that they should direct him, that they should guide him on the proper path since he didn’t have a father. Rav Shach told him: ‘Go to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and tell him in my name that he should try to help you.’
He came to the Rebbetzin; the Rebbetzin welcomed him warmly and straightaway took him to R’ Chaim’s room She said, “R’ Chaim, mazel tov, a son was born to us! Here’s the new son! He doesn’t have a father, and Rav Shach sent him here to be with us.” R’ Chaim smiled broadly and welcomed him, gave him a kiss, and said to him, “You will be my son.”
From then on he came regularly, whenever he wanted, without knocking on the door, food, drink, even sleeping sometimes, and of course he helped the Rebbetzin a lot.
To our sorrow, he was niftar at a young age. He married off 4 children, and another 8 unmarried orphans are left at home, and since they don’t have a father, in the Gemara it’s written that the Beis Din of the city is called the father of the orphans. Also this was an orphaned child who suffered much in life. In addition he was raised by Rabbainu Sar HaTorah R’ Chaim zt”l, and all of Klal Yisrael is indebted to R’ Chaim. He felt he was like a son!
When he came to the Rebbetzin’s home- the Ashkenazim have a custom to add a candle when they light Shabbos candles for each child. When she passed away, and R’ Chaim had to like the candles in her stead, he saw that there was another candle. He had eight children, and there were candles for nine children. R’ Chaim asked, ‘What’s this- another candle?’
They told him that the Rebbetzin had added it for R’ Sender. R’ Chaim said,’If so, then I will also light for him.’
So R’ Chaim and the Rebbetzin will certainly be righteous advocates for whoever helps this widow and these orphans, so that chas v’shalom they shouldn’t be thrown into the street.
The poverty in the house is shocking,” Rav Kolodetsky concludes his words with a request to the public to contribute for the Preizler family. “There is no source of income, and they are orphaned in every sense of the word.”
A little insulted…
After the Rav, the Rebbetzin tlit”a began to speak, relating how Rav Sender Preizler zt”l became like a brother to her and the rest of the children.
“Rav Sender was truly our brother,” she shares. “My mother would wait for him to come. Especially each Friday, he’d come before Shabbos to the Rebbetzin’s house and help her. She’d say, I have eight children plus another one, and the son Sender is more dedicated than all of them. We were a little insulted- but this is what she would always say. He’d help her before Shabbos; he’d help her with all the last-minute things; he’d come and help her until Shabbos [with] all the things- she loved him tremendously.”
Painfully, the Rebbetzin tlit”a speaks about the recent events: “He was sick only for a short period of time, a young man with 12 children… Whoever merits to contribute to this righteous family, so the house will continue to function, to help them marry off the children, each person giving $320, $40 per child, per orphan, b’ezras HaShem he should merit all the brochos written in the Torah, robust health, long life, satisfaction from all his children, finding suitable marriage partners, healthy and pure children, mental and physical health, and HaShem should fulfill all his heart’s desires in a beneficial way, and we should speedily merit the geulah sheimah in our days.
B’ezras HaShem we’ll daven for them at hadlakas neiros and we’ll daven for them at the kever of the Rav and the Rebbetzin, who’ll be righteous advocates for all the contributors and supporters.
You should have a thousand,” the Rebbetzin gives a brocha to contributors, “However much you give, you’ll receive a thousand times over. In this merit we should merit the geulah shleimah, and all of Am Yisrael will return home healthy and whole and the war will end, and we’ll merit the geulah shleimah speedily in our days, amen.”
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