Rav Chaim Walkin zt”l

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Chaim Walkin zt”l, mashgiach at Yeshiva Knesses Yisroel in Yerushalayim. He was 77.

Last week, Rav Walkin collapsed at his home on Rechov Kasuto in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Yerushalayim. Hatzolah paramedics were called to his home and they performed resuscitation until his pulse returned and he was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

The mashgiach passed away early Sunday morning.

Rav Chaim was born in Shanghai, China, a son of Rav Shmuel Dovid Walkin, noted talmid of the Chofetz Chaim, one of the leaders of the Hatzolah of European Jewry, and one of the leaders of the community that escaped to Shanghai. He became famous for his devoting to refugees, and in the United States he founded a shul for refugee families.

Rav Chaim’s grandfather was the famed Rav Aharon Walkin, author of Bais Aharon who served as rov of the city of Pinsk in Belarus. His maternal grandmother’s father was Rav Moshe Londisnky, rosh yeshiva of the Radin Yeshiva. His uncle, Rav Chaim Walkin, after whom he was named, served as the last rosh yeshiva of the Volozhiner Yeshiva.

At the end of World War II, his family escaped from the clutches of the Nazis together with the members of the Mir Yeshiva from Vilna to Japan and from there by ship to China.

His family ultimately left China for the United States and settled in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The story of the refugee boy who survived the war was published in the American media. When he was 8 years old, he was granted American citizenship. On the day that he received his citizenship before a judge, a picture was published in the New York Times and the Herald Tribune of “the boy who survived the war and became a citizen.”

Rav Chaim later joined Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin and learned under the rosh yeshiva, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, before joining Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio.

After his marriage, he moved to Eretz Yisroel and settled in Yerushalayim, joining the Mir Yeshiva, where he learned under Rav Chaim Shmulevitz.

He married his wife,  nee Engel, a granddaughter of Rav Dovid Zvi Zilberstein, and together they built a beautiful family, with the rebbetzin devoting herself to his limud and harbotzas haTorah.

After about 15 years of learning at the Mir, where he learned with Rav Shmuel Yaakov Bornstein, Rav Walkin was appointed to serve at Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in the Old City of Yerushalayim. He later moved to Petach Tikva and served as the mashgiach of Yeshiva Or Yisrael.

The Walkin family had a warm relationship with the rebbes of Ger since the days of the Bais Aharon, who maintained a correspondence and friendship with the Gerer Rebbe in Poland. The relationship continued between the young Rav Chaim and the Bais Yisroel of Ger.

In 1989, after the petirah of the mashgiach of Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel, Rav Meir Chodosh, Rav Chaim was appointed as the mahgiach of the yeshiva, where he delivered shmuessen alongside his good friend, the rosh yeshiva, Rav Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi.

Rav Walkin developed a mussar approach based on the derech of his rebbi, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, with an emphasis on personal attention and care for each talmid.

He became especially close to Maran Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach, and would consult with him regularly.

Rav Chaim would give shmuessen to students of Beia Yaakov and also gave several weekly shmuessen in English.

Rav Chaim served as the nosi of the Shuvu kiruv network and as the president of the Knesses Yisroel kiruv institutions. He held a number of other positions of the years as well.

The levaya will be held at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening on Rechov Kasuto in Bayit Vegan, Yerushalayim, followed by kevurah on Har Hamenuchos.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com Israel}