“Tzaddik Of Bnei Brak” Appears In Dream To Fellow Kovno Ghetto Survivor: “I’m Already In Gan Eden”
Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Grodzenski, z’tl, known as the “Tzaddik of Bnei Brak,” who passed away last week at the age of 91, was one of the last survivors of the Kovno Ghetto.
A few hours after the Rav’s petirah last Tuesday at midnight, before he was even buried, he appeared in a dream to Harav Yitzchak Gibraltar (יבדלחט”א), his childhood friend and fellow survivor of the Kovno ghetto, and said to him: “I’m already in Gan Eden,” Kikar Hashabbat reported.
Rav Gibraltar, who is known for the sefarim on emunah he authored following the Holocaust, went to be menachem avel the family on Thursday and told them what happened. He related that he went to sleep early on Tuesday evening and of course knew nothing about Harav Godzenski’s petirah (who passed away on Tuesday at midnight). In the middle of the night, he dreamed that he saw Rav Yitzchak, z’tl, who appeared happy and told him: “I’m already in Gad Eden.”
In the morning, when Rav Gibraltar remembered his dream, he felt perturbed and asked his sons what happened. They confirmed that Harav Grodzenski has passed away in the middle of the night.
The people at the shiva house who heard Rav Yitzchak’s story firsthand were extremely moved. One of those present told Kikar Shabbos: “You always hear stories third-hand and fourth-hand but this was first-hand testimony from a talmid chacham. There’s no doubt that the Tzaddik [of Bnei Brak] reached his place in Shamayim.”
“There’s a good reason that the niftar was zoche to appear in a dream and say he was already in Gan Eden,” he added. “He was a pillar of tefillah and anavah – that’s what Hagaon Rav Dov Landau [Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka] said.”
Harav Grodzenski, z’tl, the last living child of Harav Avraham Grodenski, h’yd, the Mashgiach of Slabodka, who was murdered by the Nazis, was born in Kovno. After surviving the Holocaust, he managed to reach Israel as a teenager through a certificate that his brother in law, Harav Chaim Kreiswirth, z’tl, obtained for him. In Eretz Yisrael, he learned in the yeshivas of Chevron and Be’er Yaakov and became close to the Chazon Ish, z’tl.
After his marriage, he moved into an apartment on Rechov Chazon Ish 5, one floor above Hagaon Harav Shteinman, zt’l, with whom he forged a deep friendship.
The Rav founded the Toras Avraham kollel, established in the name of his martyred father, and spent many years traveling with great mesirus nefesh to the States to collect money to support the avreichim in the kollel. He also made great efforts to record his father’s sichos mussar which were lost in the Kovno Ghetto, eventually publishing them in his sefer “Toras Avraham.”
The Rav served as the Ba’al Tefilah for the Yamim Noraim in Kollel Chazon Ish for decades, and the Steipler, z’tl, who sat next to him used to say: “The tefillos of Rav Yitzchak sustain the generation.”
Bnei Brak residents knew him through his unusually loving nature and warmth he showed to everyone he met and his diligence in answering “Amen,” at times spending hours in the Itzkovitz shul to “collect” as many as he could.
He was the last of the four surviving Grodzenski children (four perished in the Holocaust) to pass away. His sister Rebbetzin Rivka Wolbe, a’h, the wife of Harav Shlomo Wolbe, z’tl, passed away in 2018.
A second sister, Rebbetzin Leah Rosenberg, a’h, was the wife of Rosh Yeshivas Slobodka, Hagaon Harav Baruch Rosenberg, z’tl, and a third sister was married to Hagaon Harav Chaim Kreiswirth z’tl.
BELOW ARE SOME FASCINATING VIDEOS OF RAV GIBRALTER ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST:
Hagaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch: It’s Currently Assur To Ride New Fast Train From Jerusalem To Tel Aviv
Hagaon Harav Moshe Shternbuch ruled that Shomrei Torah should wait a set amount of time before using the new fast train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv – a shiur “b’kdei shey’aa’seh” – the amount of time that the train could have been completed without the chillul Shabbos that took place during its construction.
A B’Chadrei Chareidim report said that when the train began running last Motzei Shabbos, rabbanim approached Harav Shternbuch to ask whether there was a halachic issue with riding the new train – due to the unfortunate fact that its completion involved massive chillul Shabbos – in light of the halacha of benefiting from a “maa’seh Shabbos” before enough time had passed “b’chadei she’ya’asu” – the amount of time it could have been completed without chillul Shabbos.
Rav Shternbuch ruled that the train should not be used until enough time has passed that the train could have been completed without chillul Shabbos.
“The government here in Eretz Yisrael desecrated Shabbos Kodesh in public when it employed foreign workers (nachrim) to dig the tunnels for the train,” HaRav Shternbuch wrote. “I was asked to decide if it’s forbidden to ride on the train which travels in the tunnels which were dug on Shabbos, and if the issur would be for always or only for the amount of time it would have taken [to complete the train] if they hadn’t worked on Shabbos Kodesh.”
“The fact that they dug the tunnels in the public domain, which is land that belongs to Shomrei Torah, and they could have dug them in a permissible way during the days of the week – doesn’t forbid us from using the land which belongs to us as well. However, although [their chillul Shabbos] doesn’t forbid us from benefiting from it for always, it’s still forbidden for us to benefit from the time they saved due to the work the foreign workers completed on Shabbos, and therefore it’s necessary to wait the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu.”
“And in the matter of what the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu” is, it’s necessary to wait the amount of time that the [possibility] of riding of the train was moved forward due the chillul Shabbos [in digging] the tunnels. And if without the digging that they did on Shabbos, it wouldn’t have been possible to ride the train for only another few months from the time that it is now possible, it’s necessary to wait and not ride on the train until the time that it would have been possible to ride it even without the digging they did on Shabbos Kodesh.”
“And if we don’t know the amount of time that the possibility of riding the train was moved forward due to chillul Shabbos, then it’s like the din explained in the Shulchan Orech (סי’ שכ”ה ס”ז) and in the Mishnah Breura there, which is uncertain if it’s necessary to wait the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu,” (and like it’s uncertain if the nachri did the work for the Jew or for himself). One should be machmir to wait the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu,” and only in “sha’as hadchak” (time of need) or for the sake of a mitzvah, one can be lenient.”
“And that’s the din in this matter where it’s uncertain of how long the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu” is – one should be machmir [to wait enough time] out of uncertainty until the shiur of “b’chadei she’ya’asu” has definitely passed and only be meikel (lenient) at a “sha’as hadchak” or for the sake of a mitzvah.”
