Rav Avrohom Kanarek zt”l

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Avrohom Kanarek zt”l. He was 99 years old.

Born in Leipzig, Germany, young Avrohom enjoyed a childhood of comfort. Rav Avrohom’s Polish-born parents had moved to Leipzig for the economic benefits of that metropolis. Despite a path for prosperity for the family, his parents were moser nefesh to send their sons away to yeshiva.

After learning for a couple of years in Belgium, Rav Avrohom, at age 15, followed his older brother, Rav Yisroel Eliezer zt”l, and went to learn in Kaminetz under Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz zt”l.

In Kaminetz, the bochurim shteiged, working in great depth on the shiurim of Rav Boruch Ber. The shiurim were so profound that most bochurim didn’t fully grasp the concepts. There were three older bochurim who were the “chozarim,” reviewing the shiur with the talmidim of the yeshiva. Each one gave chaburos to the talmidim. Rav Avrohom attended the chaburah of “Nachum of Trok,” who would later gain fame as Rav Nochum Partzovitz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim. Rav Avrohom appreciated Rav Nochum’s clarity in Rav Boruch Ber’s Torah and basked in the beauty of learning in pre-war Kaminetz.

With the onset of World War II, Rav Avrohom traveled with a group of Kaminetzer bochurim who attached themselves to the Mir Yeshiva as they crossed continents to Kobe, Japan. There, Rav Avrohom was reunited with Rav Nochum, who had left Kaminetz to learn in the Mir. Rav Avrohom, though, didn’t follow the Mir to Shanghai, as his family had procured visas to go to America.

In America, Rav Avrohom joined Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, which was then led by a young Rav Henoch Leibowitz after the untimely passing of his father, Rav Dovid Leibowitz. Rav Avrohom would learn with Rav Henoch as he prepared his shiurim that were to be delivered to the talmidim. [Rav Henoch would first say these shiurim to Rav Aharon Kotler. Rav Henoch would use Rav Avrohom as his first “line of defense” in preparing for his presentation to Rav Aharon.]

In America, at that time, there weren’t many bnei Torah. Rav Avrohom took advantage of the opportunity to go to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he had a seder with Rav Moshe Feinstein. (Rav Moshe quotes Rav Avrohom multiple times in his teshuvos.) Rav Avrohom described this period of his life as being ” like a child in a candy store.”

Rav Avrohom took this same attitude with him when he moved to Eretz Yisroel close to fifty years ago, becoming rosh yeshiva at Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in Yerushalayim. He established a close relationship with Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv at a time when Rav Elyashiv was not yet well known amongst the masses. He was also able to reestablish his relationship with Rav Nochum Partzovitz and they had a chavrusashaft on Friday afternoons, when they weren’t busy with their own yeshivos.

From Kaminetz to Kobe, from New York to Yerushalayim, Rav Avrohom always capitalized on opportunities to learn Torah with other gedolim, like a child in a candy store.

Rav Avrohom was a tremendous masmid and naturally a quiet, perhaps even shy, person. Nevertheless, he made a colossal impact on his talmidim. They saw him as the epitome of hasmadah baTorah.

With his passing, the Sanhedria Murchervet/Ramot Eshkol neighborhoods, Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, and the greater Torah world has lost a unique marbitz Torah and oveid Hashem.

Rav Avrohom’s son is Rav Shlomo Chaim Kanarek of Lakewood.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}