How long does the recipient of a favor need to be grateful to the giver? A week? A year? Thanks to our cherished relationship with the Kanievsky family, our family has come to understand that for a gadol, hakaras hatov spans decades, even generations. Perhaps it is even limitless.
On some level, I was always aware that although I had never met Rav Chaim, zt”l, personally, he would have done anything for me and my family. But when the gadol hador was ripped away from us, I felt a layer of security that I had always sensed protecting me, but never consciously recognized, crumble.
In 1962, my great-grandfather, Rav Chaim Shmaryahu Dardac, zt”l, recently retired, fulfilled his dream of moving from New York to Bnei Brak, to live out the rest of his life in artzeinu hakedoshah. The Bnei Brak of that era was, at most, a fledgling hamlet.
My great-grandfather found himself being drawn to the Steipler Gaon, Rav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, zt”l, who was still relatively unknown at the time. He recognized the jewel that was the Steipler, and began, with the help of his son, my grandfather, Rav Yaakov Levi Shmuel Dardac, zt”l, to distribute the Steipler’s sefarim in the United States.
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