Last Friday, Jerusalem passed away from one of its senior builders, the late Rabbi Yisrael Zvi (Hershel) Klein, who was one of its greatest builders and activists, a man with a spirit in him, a man whose joy in action and creation led him to accomplish so much during the years of his life, and who was connected heart and soul to his many.<\/p>\r\n
He had many faces, Rabbi Hershel. We, who knew him well, were also moved more than once when we discovered another new layer of his colorful personality that we had not known; he would always talk excitedly about the privilege he had to engage in the construction of Jerusalem for 35 years, and we knew that Hershel never finished building, he built projects for the entire Haredi population, projects of charity that would operate for a long time and would be for the upliftment of his pure soul and as a continuation of his path.<\/p>\r\n
Ibn Ezra wrote: "The past is not, the future is yet, and the present is like the twinkling of an eye." Rabbi Herschel was a violinist at the feet of Ibn Ezra, and was the connecting thread between the worlds, as he operated on three fronts simultaneously - the past, the present, and the future.<\/p>\r\n
We could see him adoring an ancient photo, lacking in his legendary memory the details of those present, while recounting the details of that event in detail with his characteristic sweetness. At the same time that he is so devoted to perpetuating and preserving the past, he knows his role and duty to engage in building and creating a future, and to develop creative plans for the benefit of all of Israel - and all this while armed with his camera and taking care to document every moment.<\/p>\r\n
A noble man who combines within himself a connection between a rich past and a new future, and who never misses the moment.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022<\/p>\r\n
Much will be said about his efforts and work on the issue of employment for the Haredi. We, who were at his side, always heard and knew that Rabbi Hershel placed much more emphasis on "Haredi" than on "employment." His concern for employment among the Haredi sector was secondary to his main concern - that Haredi of form remain wherever they may be.<\/p>\r\n
Countless ideas and solutions were rejected by him because the ideas were not "ultra-Orthodox" enough, with him confronting his many opponents at every step.<\/p>\r\n
With unparalleled grace and sweetness, he managed and led complex systems, all with good taste and extraordinary cosmic wisdom.<\/p>\r\n
Everyone admits that there was something unique about Rabbi Herschel, far beyond being our manager.<\/p>\r\n
At the last meeting we had, where he gathered all those he worked with. Everyone came, from all over the country, even those who had not worked with him for many years, but still felt part of it. Because with Rabbi Hershel the connection was a special one, a lasting one, a connection that combines Torah and greatness at one table.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022<\/p>\r\n
At that meeting, Rabbi Hershel revealed to us his new book - Zekut Ha'Akeeda, 3 parts - which he wrote with great dedication in his final years, while recounting to us in detail all the stages of writing and editing the book, and the stage of collecting recommendations for the book, which he also took great pains to do, in order to adorn his book with recommendations from the great men of Israel and the Rebbes.<\/p>\r\n
\u00a0Because such was Rabbi Herschel, even the action that seems to him to be the best action still must receive the consent of his rabbis.<\/p>\r\n
Rabbi Herschel testified to himself that his life's work was the books he wrote. All other things he did and did were marginal to him. He was so happy that he was able to finish writing his book, and those of us who knew him received further confirmation as to why Rabbi Herschel saw his books as the most important thing in his life.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022 The writer is the director of a key center at Beitar Illit<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much will be said about his work on the issue of employment for the Haredi. We, who were at his side, knew that Rabbi Hershel placed much more emphasis on "Haredi" than "employment" \u2022 His concern for employment in the Haredi sector was secondary to his main concern - that Haredi remain Haredi \u2022 At the bedside of Rabbi Hershel Klein, late","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[16664],"class_list":["post-338590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-138","tag-16664"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n