Yehuda Leib Shteinman, serving as its secretary. Rothschild wanted his son Shlomo to become director, while the rabbinical committee thought him to be a poor choice. In 2013, Kanievsky wrote a letter of recommendation for Shlomo, with Shteinman and Wosner signing on. One year later, Kanievsky was persuaded to join the board of directors, and all remaining opposition to Shlomo dissipated. From the time of Shteinman's death in December 2017 until his own death, Kanievsky and Ponevezh Yeshiva head Gershon Edelstein were considered to be the leaders of the Israeli Haredi community. Kanievsky, who was reported to have studied Torah for 17 hours each day, was known as the Sar haTorah ("Prince of Torah"). He received thousands of visits every year from Jews seeking religious and halakhic (Jewish law) advice. Eli Paley, the chairman of the Haredi Institute for Public Affairs, a Jerusalem-based research group, told The New York Times in January 2021 that Israel's Haredi Orthodox community saw "their existence as relying on Rabbi Chaim and his Torah learning". He was regarded as the preeminent leader of the non-Hasidic portion of Israel's Haredi Orthodox community as well. Kanievsky woke up early every morning in order to complete what he called his chovot (spiritual debts). He would say Tikkun Chatzot and ten chapters of Psalms, followed by the Shacharit prayer around sunrise. His scheduleconsisting of learning, writing books, and giving advicewas twenty hours long. Every year during the Fast of the Firstborn, he would complete the entire Mishna, Babylonian Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud, Nach, Mishneh Torah, Arba'ah Turim, Shulchan Aruch with commentaries, Mishnah Berurah, Midrash Rabba, Tanhuma, Sifra, Sifre, Tosefta, and Zohar. He claimed that he would even learn Torah in his sleep. Kanievsky was widely believed to have possessed ruach hakodesh (the Holy Spirit). Halakhic rulings In 2012, Kanievsky ruled that it is forbidden to possess or use a smartphone without individual permission from a posek (halakhic authority). He added that owners are not allowed to sell their phones, but should instead burn them. In 2015, he instructed United Hatzalah paramedics that in the event of a terrorist attack, they should not treat the terrorists before the victims, even if the terrorist is more seriously injured, and they may even leave the terrorist to die. In 2016, Kanievsky declared that medical cannabis was kosher for Passover as long as the possession of the cannabis is not in violation of dina