Sad news: Petira of Hagaon HaRav Meshulam Dovid Halevi Soloveitchik zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Brisk. He was 99.
Thousands of people joined the levaya at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning, which began from the niftar’s home on 17 Eli HaCohen Street and passed by the nearby Yeshivas Brisk on the way to Har Hamenuchos, where he will be buried next to his father, z’tl.
It was announced at the beginning of the levaya that according to the wishes of the niftar, z’tl, his oldest son, HaRav Yitzchak Zeev, the son-in-law of HaGaon HaRav Baruch Dov Povarsky, will take his position as Rosh Yeshivas Brisk.
The sons of the niftar, HaRav Yitzchak Zeev and HaRav Asher, and his son-law Rav Kaplan are being maspid their father. Their hespedim will be followed by those of the niftar’s brother-in-law, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch, Av Beis Din of the Eida HaChareidis and his mechutan, HaGaon HaRav Povarsky, Rosh Yeshivah Ponevezh.
The Rosh Yeshivah contracted the coronavirus in October and after initially being treated at home, was hospitalized at Hadassah Ein Kerem after his condition worsened and was subsequently sedated and ventilated.
He was released to his home in early December, where a private ICU unit had been set up. His condition continued to deteriorate, until his Petira early Sunday morning.
The Niftar is the fifth of twelve children and the third son born to the Brisker Rov, Hagaon HaRav Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik and his Rebbitzen Alte Hindl. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but it is known that his elder brother Reb Chaim was born in January 1920 and his younger brother Reb Refoel Yehoshua was born in the spring of 1924.
The Rosh Yeshiva emigrated to Mandatory Palestine with his father during World War II, and they settled in Yerushalayim. He married the daughter of HaRav Asher Sternbuch of London. He is the brother-in-law of Hagaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, the Posek from Yerushalayim.
In the late 1970s, he opened his yeshiva in the Gush Shemonim section of the Givat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem.
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