On Saturday night, family members said the leader of the “Lithuanian” Jewish world, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak, was feeling better and that his condition had improved.
One week ago, the Rabbi had tested positive for COVID-19, and a few hours before the start of the Sabbath and the holiday of Simchat Torah, the Rabbi’s temperature spiked.
Doctors said the Rabbi was entering the second and most dangerous stage of the virus.
During the holiday and Sabbath, according to the Hebrew-language Kikar Shabbat website, the Rabbi prayed with a minyan (quorum) of 10 men who had already recovered from the virus and/or who still were infected. The Rabbi ate his holiday meals with his family. By the end of the holiday, he was feeling better, family members said.
“The rabbi is under the close supervision of a doctor and at this stage there is no need to evacuate him to the hospital,” his close associates said Saturday evening. Family members added that the Rabbi had been continuing his usual course of Torah study, even on Simchat Torah, and that the coronavirus had so far not affected his routine.
The public is being asked to continue to pray for the complete healing and recovery for Rabbi Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim ben Pesha Miriam, among all of the unwell of Israel.