Torah, Torah chigri sak
V’hisfalshi b’aifer
Tears do flow on every face
Of each yodeia sefer
A living Sefer Torah
Each breath an education
From that home, Rechov Rashbam
A light unto our nation
Shall I list the seforim
In which he was proficient
Ten pages in this paper
Would not be sufficient
Bavli, Yerushalmi
Tanach, Sifri, Safra
Rabbah and Tanchuma
Mishnah and so much more
Seforim on each topic
Esoteric as they may seem
Rav Chaim’s great proficiency
On every Torah theme
From shortly after chatzos
For the churban he would cry
Then Zohar, Tehillim and Tanach
As hours passed him by
A district seder he would make
From Midnight until day
Only Malachai Hashem
I thought could learn that way
Mishnah Berurah, Rambam,
Then the Tur, Shulchan Aruch next
Bavli, Yerushalmi, Medrash
As the clock would tick toward netz
Kisvei Ari and then Ramchal
And then he would write Torah
Each night from after chatzos
Until the morning’s orah
All Torah on his fingertips
Nothing was above him
Kol “Siach” tadshei v’saria
Ad karnei chagavim
Zeraim, Taharos, tefillah
For any Rambam a mekor
Sugyos no one understood
He opened up the door
His own door forever open
To any Yid in need
Together with his rebbetzin
Every cry they’d heed
From every corner of the world
When pain struck anytime
Illness, pain, financial woes
“Please! Someone call Rav Chaim!”
Sefardim, Ashkenazim
Gedolim and ketanim
Every day, kabbolas kohol
Never bein hazemanim
Cheder yingelach, soccer kings
Some who hardly knew
Yet Rav Chaim was mekabel them
With his love for any Jew
Indeed, he never refused a plea
To anyone in pain
His words though few
Soothed every Jew
As they resounded with amein!
Mofsim! Awesome miracles
With Rav Chaim’s a vort
As thousands clamored for a glimpse
Into his holy court
Each year a siyum he did make
On kol haTorah kulah
The only words, Sar HaTorah
Depict the “Torah ruler”
The smile for a geshmake vort
The twinkle for a chiddush
Whether the speaker spoke Ivrit
French, English or Yiddish
Every Yid connected
A language universal
Toraseinu hakedoshah
Was his only dispersal
What can I say?
What can I write?
I do not know how we will go
In a world without Rav Chaim
