Rav Yaak Kamenet kov tsky (February 28, 1891 March 10, 198 y M 86),

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Rav Yaak was born in Lithuania i 1891 to Bi kov in inyamin and E Kamenet Etka tsky. His father was a busine r essman in Ru ussia who lost all his money overnight t y because of the Russian tsar. His fam was force to move to a small villa n mily ed o age. Rav Yaak would say that had his father stayed rich, they wo kov y d ould never ha moved, an he would ave nd probably have grown up to be a bus h u siness man rat ther than learn ning from the love of Tora in the smal e ah ll village wh his famil moved. His father would take him at two in the m here ly s d morning to the Beis Medras sh where peo learned as if it were day. His mothe encouraged him to learn and packed a lamp with h ople a er d n his lunch so he could conti h inue learning in school eve after dark. en When Rav Yaakov was 11, he went to the yeshiv in Minsk. T Rosh Yes v t va The shiva question whether h ned he should be admitted since he wasnt yet Bar Mitzv Rav Yaa vah. akov replied in nnocently tha he had com to at me learn, not to be the tent man of a minyan. th m After lear rning in the Minsk yeshiva, Rav Yaakov learned in S M v Slabodka with Rav Aharon Kotler, ztl a h n and with his cousin, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderm the Rosh Yeshiva of N Yisrael. c man, Ner Reb Yaak Kamenets was appoi kov sky inted rabbi of Tzitavyan in 1926. His fa f n amily was ver poor and d not ry did have food or clothes to wear. He wa promised a a job as a Ra in a bigger town but ano d o as av r other Rav was hired inste His fami was very upset. Rav Ya ead. ily u aakov told the that it was Hashems pl He move em s lan. ed with his family to Nort America in 1937. Most of the people in the town w fa th n where he mig have been Rav ght were kille in the Holo ed ocaust. Reb Yaak was alway very hones In his town one of the p kov ys st. n, postmasters a always gave in ncorrect chan to nge the Jews to test them. Reb Yaakov told his comm t R t munity to repa the money . This postma ay aster was very y . impressed and ended up saving 92 Jews during th Holocaust. When he w over 90 ye old, some d u J he was ears eone asked him why he merited to live so long. He rep m o plied that he h never told a lie in his w had d whole life. When Reb Yaakov cam to America, he first bec b me came a Rav in Seattle and t n then in Toron One year on nto. Shavuos, he decided th he could not live in a to without a proper educ hat n own cation for his c children. He moved to New York. He became the Rosh Yeshi of Torah V H e iva Vodaath from 1948 to 196 Later, he m 68. moved to Monsey, NY Y. Rav Yaak was know as the pikea hador (cl kov wn ach lever on of th generation) Rav Aharon Kotler woul he ). n ld consult with him when there was a complicated issue facing K Yisrael. I the 1980s, Rav Yaakov had a w n c i Klal In heart prob blem. His gran ndson was lea arning in Bne Brak and tr ei ried to find ou his great-gr ut randmothers n name so he coul ask Rav Sh ld hach ztl to da aven for him. It took 12 ho ours for the gr randson to lea that Rav arn Yaakovs name for teh hillim was Yaakov ben Etk The grands went to R Shach and told him about ka. son Rav d his grandf fathers illnes Immediate Rav Shach called out th tefillos sh ss. ely, h hat hould be said for Yaakov b ben Etka. The grandson ask how Rav Shach knew the name wh en it had take 12 hours to discover it. Rav e ked en o Shach rep plied that after meeting Rav Yaakov, he couldnt ima r v agine the Jewi world wit ish thout him. He e made sure to daven for his health ev e r very day. kov tive one, ult Rav understood tha he at Rav Yaak was sensit to everyo Jew and non-Jew, adu or child. R Yaakov u represente Torah Jews to the world He also tried to make ot ed d. thers happy. A nun cam to the shiv for Rav Ya me va aakov because he would al e lways say hell to a group of nuns he pa lo assed when walking in Mons and this made a big imp sey m pression

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 In 1954, his wife was very sick. The was nothin doctors h v ere ng could do and she was sent home from the hospita After his a s al. wife was already in the car, Rav Ya e aakov said he needed to go back to th room. The family was su he urprised because they had checked th all her bel hat longings had been taken. Rav R Yaakovs son came with him back to the room. Rav Yaakov t R went to th sick roomm and said good bye and wished her he mate d a speedy recovery. He then thanked the nurses an went r d nd home with his very sick wife. h The day before his wif had surgery he looked up her b fe y, u friends phone number so they wou not have to wait to rs uld t hear how the surgery had gone. h Rav Yaak also tried to complimen every perso with kov nt on whom he interacted. He once told a person who was driving H w him, You drive so sm u moothly that I am able to fal asleep a ll while you are at the wh u heel. Reb Yaak was once in the waiting room of a doctors kov g d office. Th was also a young nono here observant Jew boy wish there too. Reb Yaakov took a ball an began play nd ying with the child. A ta almid asked how come Reb Yaakov did show the h dnt boy that rabbis learn Torah or try to teach the boy the beauty o y of Torah. Reb Yaakov explained tha he wanted the boy to at t remember that a frum person is plea r p asant and kind This would d. d bring him closer to Tor more than anything els m rah n se. During th summer, Re Yaakov wo he eb ould travel to Camp Ohr o Shraga an learn with the young bochurim as cha nd t avrusos. He would not allow any di t isturbance so his chavruso who was oh young wo ould not be insulted. At the end of the su e ummer, Reb Yaakov would ask mec w chila if he did treat the bachur with dnt b respect.

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On 29th Adar 5746 (19 A 986), Rav Yaa akov was nift a few tar weeks after Ra Moshe die He wanted to be buried in Brooklyn w av ed. d d n because most of his family live in Amer and would not always be b rica able to travel if his kever in Eretz Yisroe Even with his last reque a i n el. est, he showed sen h nsitivity to oth hers. One of Rav Ya O aakovs child dren is Rav Sh hmuel Kamen netsky who is the s Rosh Yeshiva of the Philad R delphia Yeshiv and one of the gedolei va f HaDor in the United States H U s,

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