A chilling story was told by Rav Eliyahu Keller of Givat Shaul in Yerushalayim in the Yated Hashavua about the kevurah of his father, z’tl. Three years ago, Rav Eliyahu’s father, Rav Avraham Moshe Keller, made Aliyah from Argentina at age 79, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Rav Keller made his home at the Shomrei Hachamos senior living center where he became known for his love of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. He was never seen without the sefer, learning out of it every day and teaching others from it. A month and a half ago, Rav Keller was niftar at the age of 87 from the coronavirus. Due to the pandemic, his levaya – which took place at the Shamgar funeral home on the day he was niftar per Yerushalmi minhag – was held with very few people present, at 1 a.m. in the morning. Another Yerushalmi minhag is that the children and grandchildren of the niftar do not go to the bais hakvaros during the kevurah. This fact led to a painful situation of the possibility of less than a minyan of men being present at the kevura. Rav Eliyahu, the only son of the niftar, couldn’t go and neither could his two sons-in-law since both are Kohanim. Rav Eliyahu’s sister who lives in Israel and the four members of her family were the only ones who could attend the kevurah. Suddenly, a man who appeared to be about 70, who was standing on the side during the levaya, approached and said that he was joining in to travel to the kevurah at Har Hazeisim. The relatives were astounded that an elderly stranger would travel at 1 a.m. in the morning during a pandemic to Har Hazeisim and they politely told him: “You don’t have to trouble yourself.” However, the man insisted. The family members asked him his name and if he knew the niftar and the man responded that he’s a relative of the niftar. Now the family members were even more confused. There were very few family members living in Israel since most of their relatives still lived in Argentina and they were familiar with all of them. They were sure the man must have made a mistake. Since there were many levayos at Shamgar that night, one after the other, they gently explained to him that he must be looking for a different levaya. However, the man held his ground and without explaining himself further simply entered the car of Rav Eliyahu’s sister’s son-in-law who was driving to the kevurah. Along with some volunteers from the Chevra Kadisha, they now had a minyan for the kevurah. After the kevurah, the son-in-law, still puzzled by the stranger’s presence, approached him and said: “What’s your name?” “Gantzfried,” the man answered. The son-in-law was sure that there were no relatives of the family named Gantzfried and was now even more puzzled. The mysterious man returned from the beis kevurah in the son-in-law’s car along with another relative. After they dropped off the man, the son-in-law asked his relative: “Do you know this ‘relative’ of ours named Gantzfried?” The relative turned white. “That’s the name he told you?” he asked in astonishment. He quickly turned around, craning his neck to see if he could still spot the man, who had just […]

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