Q&A: Chaim K.’s “Letter of Protection”
Chaim K.’s “Letter of Protection”
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Recently, “Kupat Ha’ir” has been publicizing a “letter of protection” produced by Chaim K. As I understand it, this “letter of protection” is not a gift but a sale in exchange for a donation, and therefore if the donor or someone in his household gets sick with coronavirus, would “Kupat Ha’ir” be obligated to return the money?
Best regards, Benjamin “judging unfavorably,” Goralin
Answer
No. It is clear to every donor that this is a blessing, not a transaction and guarantee.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Kanievsky could have made a fortune for himself, and instead he is causing major donations to the poor and needy, and people still have complaints. Fortunate is the people.
Why is the Rabbi responding to his bitter questions?
These questions are coming only to provoke, with no intention at all of receiving a proper answer.
Where have the forum rules disappeared to?
The same question was asked here:
And a related question by the same questioner (H.G.), here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%92%D7%93%D7%95%D7%99%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%95%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%92%D7%93-%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94
Chaim, please be precise about what I said; I recommend you read the questions again and find the distinctions.
SSS etc…. Chaim Kanievsky is indeed making a fortune, and so are the members of his court.
Elchanan, regarding you Jeremiah prophesied: “But, O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the kidneys and the heart, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You have I revealed my cause” (Jeremiah 11:20).
Benjamin, I wrote ‘a related question,’ not ‘an identical question.’ I don’t have a problem with reading comprehension.
And still, I assume you didn’t bring the question in order to get an answer, and you surely guessed or knew what the answer would be.
I assume that ‘the end of the act is in the original thought’: you asked in order to bring the quote from Haaretz afterward.
I noticed something interesting.
When there are complaints about ‘rabbis’ who behave improperly, it makes a difference who is doing the complaining. Usually, if the attacker belongs to the religious public, he will omit the title ‘Rabbi’ as a sanction.
On the other hand, when a secular journalist attacks a rabbi, for example Moti Elon or Berland, he won’t omit the title ‘Rabbi.’ Why is that?
In the eyes of a religious person, the title ‘Rabbi’ is sacred. People with depraved behavior are not worthy to bear it. A rabbi-adulterer, for example, is an oxymoron.
In the eyes of a secular person, ‘rabbi’ is an office, or an education, a kind of role. A rabbi who has gone bad is a rotten rabbi, just as a thieving architect is still an architect.
From the fact that Rabbi Chaim Goralin is careful to omit the title of Rabbi from Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, I infer that deep down he still feels reverence for the title ‘Rabbi.’ That means that inwardly he is still bound fast to religious education.
Mr. Goralin always signs with the name ‘Benjamin Goralin,’ and now I see people calling him ‘Chaim Goralin.’ Is this a typo, or are both in fact present, both ‘Benjamin’ and ‘Chaim’?
Best regards, Samson Zvi
Or perhaps you decided to give him the name ‘Chaim’ because it contains ‘two yuds,’ in line with his fondness for using ‘double and slender twin yuds’ 🙂
It should have said so; my mistake.
And by way of pilpul: because of the two yuds, we shouldn’t have taken ‘Chaim,’ for after all, in ‘Benjamin’ too there are still two yuds.
Rather, the main point is that the name Benjamin came to exclude the name his mother, Rachel, called him, namely ‘Ben-Oni.’ And since ‘Ben-Oni’ has the aspect of death, then ‘Benjamin’ has the aspect of ‘life,’ as it says: “Whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.”
A. Omitting it also serves a propaganda function: all the “real rabbis” who continue to bear the title “Rabbi” are upright and decent.
B. Continuing to use the title serves a similar propaganda function too — that rabbis who go bad are like everyone else. And in my opinion that’s the reason secular journalists refuse (rightly, in my view) to omit the title Rabbi after misconduct.
C. Even so, the omission can stem from a minor protest against the unique custom of adding the title ‘Rabbi’ in every single appearance of the name, unlike other titles (prime minister, judge, Dr., Prof., attorney, CPA, hairdresser). In that sense, the omission serves to say that the title Rabbi is like all the other titles on the market, meaning it signifies a role or achievement, and not a title that indicates the person’s character.
Or perhaps Benjamin merited also being called ‘Chaim’ because he asks and discusses so many issues of ‘corona,’ which in gematria comes to 367, the same numerical value as ‘Chaim Goralin.’
In any case, ‘Benjamin’ too is an important name for eradicating the ‘corona,’ for 367 is also the numerical value of ‘Benjamin too Benjamin,’ a combination that will, with God’s help, defeat the ‘corona’ 🙂
Best regards, S.Z.
With God’s help, 27 Nisan 5780
To Aharon — greetings,
As for what you mentioned, that ‘Ben-Oni’ can mean ‘son of my sorrow’: according to the plain meaning, it seems to me that ‘oni’ is in the sense of ‘my strength’ (as Jacob says in his blessing to Reuben: ‘You are my firstborn, my strength and the first of my vigor’), meaning that Rachel is saying: ‘In this son I invested all my strength.’
According to this, ‘Ben-Oni’ is identical to ‘Ben-Yemini,’ but Jacob prefers the name ‘Benjamin,’ in which the side of strength is expressed unambiguously, and which does not also carry a meaning of sorrow. Rachel’s life expressed the ability to toughen oneself out of sorrow, to transform sorrow into strength. Jacob prefers that those immense powers be revealed in his son even without his having to be forged in the furnace of suffering.
Best regards, S.Z.
With all due respect to the Rabbi, the article published in Haaretz suggests something a bit different:
Why do you need to donate 3,000 shekels to protect yourself from coronavirus? “Rabbi Kanievsky said it has to be a significant amount”
On the line with Kupat Ha’ir
Haaretz writer Nir Gontarz
Nir Gontarz
17.03.2020
Kupat Ha’ir.
Hello, who am I speaking with?
With Hanna.
Hello Hanna. Regarding a donation to Rabbi Kanievsky.
Do you want to make a donation and be included in the prayer ceremony that Rabbi Kanievsky is holding today?
It says on your site: “The ‘And I will remove sickness from your midst’ fund, and to merit the historic decree of our master, the gaon Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, may he live long, that measure for measure one will merit not to become ill with coronavirus and that there should be no sick people in his home.” I’m afraid of coronavirus.
Yes. So basically, do you want to set up the standing order for 3,000 shekels?
What is that?!
The standing order of 3,000, split up… 100 divided by 30?
Wait. Explain to me what exactly this is.
I’ll tell you: there is… Rabbi Kanievsky said that there is measure for measure. Whoever donates… then he sees to it that there will be no sick people in his home. Now, uh…
And there isn’t anything less than 3,000?
Rabbi Kanievsky said the amount has to be a significant amount for measure for measure. It’s possible… he said that 3,000 is…
He said that himself?
They asked him whether 3,000 is an amount… Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein also said that even 1,000 counts as a significant amount.
Can I get a discount? That’s a lot of money.
Kupat Ha’ir really asks for the 3,000 amount because that’s the average monthly support for a sick person. We ask people to reach a standing order of 3,000.
Who are you exactly?
Kupat Ha’ir Bnei Brak.
What is that?
It’s under Rabbi Kanievsky.
Do you belong to Kanievsky’s court?
Yes. Yes.
I see. Tell me, will it work? Because I’m very worried about the situation.
It’s basically… it’s basically not… it’s not a blessing. It’s a matter of measure for measure. In nature it’s measure for measure. That’s how the Holy One, blessed be He… and therefore he said that whoever donates, he will see to it that there won’t be sick people in his home.
And if I do have a sick person in my home, will I get a credit?
Getting the money back — that for sure won’t happen. The thing is that… uh…
But 3,000 is a lot of money for me. If someone in my family gets infected — I deserve a refund. No?
No. It’s a matter of a donation. Not of, uh… right?
What?
We don’t understand the accounting of Heaven. We pray. We don’t behave like that. Right? Everything has what we can do for… yes?
Who runs the fund?
Do you want me to transfer you to the manager of the fund?
Yes. It says on your site that “our master Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, may he live long,” is “a member of the presidium of Kupat Ha’ir.”
One moment.
—Waiting. Then the call was disconnected—
Kupat Ha’ir.
Hello?
Yes.
Did I speak with you?
I don’t know. What’s the phone number?
What’s your name?
Leah.
It was someone else. I don’t remember her name. Doesn’t matter. I spoke with her about the coronavirus matter. I just wanted to understand whether Kanievsky gives a personal blessing.
We will take your names for prayer and pray for you regularly. You are entered into a special prayer book that is always placed on his table, and besides that, if you make the full standing order, you also receive a special protection note that will reach your home, God willing, by messenger.
A protection note is excellent! I asked the one I spoke to before whether in the event of illness we’d get the money back. That’s important to me.
I don’t think so. The money is distributed to sick people.
Who are the sick people?
Kupat Ha’ir supports families of sick people.
Where are these sick people from?
Cases that come to us.
Where are they from?
From all over the country.
Arabs too?
No! No! Only Jews! Of course not! Only those approved by the Rabbis’ Committee.
Arabs also get infected with coronavirus. You don’t approve them?
No, of course not!
I see. Then I think you’re both frauds and racists.
Why?
You take 3,000 shekels. You don’t give credit in case of illness. And you also distribute by race. Is an Arab worth less?
What’s the connection? Why? Tens of thousands of families in the Land of Israel made this standing order in order to merit this matter of measure for measure.
Tens of thousands?
Dozens. Hundreds of families made the standing order because Rabbi Kanievsky said so, and also because he blessed it. It’s a law in the Torah.
Tell *** that I think he’s a fraud and a charlatan.
God protect us!! God protect us!!
For 3,000 shekels.
I’m not passing that on to him.
And that he’s exploiting people’s fear. And racist.
He’s not exploiting, and not racist. We’re not supposed to support Arab families who are sick!
I understand. Thank you very much.
Am I speaking with a Jewish person on the line?
Yes
Then I am really, really shocked by those answers!
Same here.
—Disconnected—