Torn pants of late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky up for auction

JTA — A pair of pants coming up for auction are being described as “holy” — and not just because they’re a little torn.

Rather, the pants once belonged to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an Israeli ultra-Orthodox leader considered by his followers to be the leading Jewish authority of his generation. Kanievsky died last year at age 94, and now anyone can be the owner of his pants – provided they can afford them. The starting bid is $3,200.

The bidding at the Prime Judaica auction house, in the heavily ultra-Orthodox New Jersey city of Lakewood, begins March 1. The item is listed in Hebrew as “Holy pants from the Prince of Torah, our leader Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.”

Included on the auction house page is a letter written and signed by Gedalyahu Konigsberg, who identifies himself as a grandson of, and former aide to, Chaim Kanievsky.

“I, the undersigned, testify that these black pants… of the Shai Shaul company, with a rip on the bottom, were worn by my elder, the esteemed Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, of blessed righteous memory, for a long period of time,” reads the letter signed by Konigsberg. “I merited to see him wearing this with my own eyes.”

On the website of an online retailer, Shai Shaul pants run from roughly $13.50 to $16.25.

Pants on Fire – "I the undersigned do testify that the black trousers size 64 from the Shai Shaul company ripped at the bottom were worn by my grandfather… R. Chaim Kanievsky OBM for a long period and my eyes were privileged to see him dressed in them" https://t.co/jj7faXGQcy pic.twitter.com/tZOXFLG1Zp

— IfYouTickleUs (@ifyoutickleus) February 21, 2023

Letters and legal rulings written by Kanievsky have gone to auction for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, and started going up for sale during his lifetime.