The House of the Righteous will Stand: The Gadol HaDor, the Steipler's, Library

The House of the Righteous will Stand: The Gadol HaDor, the Steipler's, Library

"The object a tzaddik uses, albeit physical, grants a person knowledge and all sorts of this-worldly goodness."

Unique ritual item, important and extraordinarily rare: the sideboard and the display cabinet that belonged to the gaon of the Jewish people, Rabbi Ya'akov Yisrael Kanievsky - the Steipler, that once stood in its place of honor in his living room. It was the most "lavish" piece of furniture in the Steipler's modest and ascetic home.

The Steipler studied and received visitors in his living room [where he actually did everything] while he sat there most of the day on Shabbat, Yamim Tovim and weekdays. Many still recall this sideboard on the left side as one enters the room, opposite where the Steipler sat.

The family relates: The bottom part of the sideboard was used by the Steipler to store his sefarim - Kehillot Ya'akov - his life's work, by which he is known for posterity. The Steipler would sell them himself [but not before confirming that the buyer was occupied with the relevant topics, and would indeed study the sefarim]. The top part of the sideboard  - the "display case" was used by the Steipler for the special time-bound mitzvahs related to the holidays. The family relates that the Steipler would use the display case to store the Shabbat candlesticks he himself would light after his wife's passing, for the eruvei chatzeirot matzahs eaten on Shabbat, the shemurah matzah for Passover, and for the candies he would distribute to his grandchildren. The three drawers of the sideboard were the designated location of the many letters he received and those he intended to send, as well as to store his medications and ... the cigarettes. The shelf between the sideboard and the display case was used by the Steipler for placing sefarim he received and intended to study for the purpose of giving approbations or other reasons.

This is an aron kodesh in the full meaning of the expression, a rare tzaddik's object that served the Steipler for his spiritual needs all his life; it stood opposite him most hours of the day. The Steipler stored copies of Kehillot Ya'akov there - the essence of his world, the Shabbat candlesticks used by his wife for blessings, and after her passing, by the Steipler himself, both pleading for - and receiving - "Grant us the privilege of raising wise and understanding children and grandchildren, who light up the world with Torah and good deeds, " his personal drawers, etc., etc.

The segulah of the belongings of tzaddikim has always been known among the Jewish people. This is noted already in the time of the gemara, as brought in the Yerushalmi (Moed Kattan, Chap. 3, page 5b) "He had Rabbi Meir’s rod in his hand, and it taught him wisdom." Even giants of the generation not counted among the Chassidim, such as the author of Chatam Sofer, and his teacher, the author of Hafla'ah and the Makneh, write explicitly about this with their ruach hakodesh. The Chatam Sofer states (Parashat Toldot, beginning with HaLo ...) "The Yerushalmi implies at the beginning of Chap. "V'Eilu Megalchin" that a person’s clothing is influenced by the sanctity of its wearer, and the opposite is true as well, such that one who wears it after him receives that same spirit for better or worse. This is the secret by which a person’s sons wear it after him.” The Ba'al Hafla'ah, in his work Panim Yafot (Bereishit 14:22) writes as follows: "And also to the contrary, property of tzaddikim, had spiritual inspiration upon it, as we found in Dor HaMidbar, about whom it is written that their clothes did not wear out, etc." In addition, in the previous generation, there was a famous letter from the gaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach quoting the gaon of Munkacs, as follows: "The inyan of an object that belonged to a great person is extraordinary: as it says in the Yerushalmi Moed Kattan Chap. 3 page 5a and Nedarim Chap. 9, page 5a, "Rabbi Meir’s rod was in his hand, and it taught him wisdom." The gaon of Munkac's sefer of Torah thoughts, first edition, ot 22, "The object a tzaddik uses, albeit physical, grants a person knowledge and all sorts of this-worldly goodness."

This is a rare, one-of-a-kind sacred object, glowing with an aura of sanctity that cannot be found anywhere, any living room or office. The personal sideboard from the personal study of the gadol hador, and according to the above-mentioned explicit words of the kedoshei hadorot whose waters we imbibe and whose words are as Torah miSinai, the power of this wonderful and sacred piece of furniture, ennobled by the sanctity of its owner, can impart knowledge and even more so, other good things of Olam HaZeh!!

Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of Rabbi Yisrael Ya'akov Kanievsky.

Dimensions: The bottom sideboard: Width: 1.50m, Depth: 50 cm.

The display case: Width: 1.30m, Depth, 30 cm.

Joint height of both cabinets: 1.98m

Condition: Moderate. Sold without the capacity.