In 2012, HaRav Kanievsky ruled that it is forbidden to possess or use a smartphone without individual permission from a halakhic authority, and 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, HaRav Kanievsky declared that medicinal cannabis was kosher for Passover as long the possession of the cannibis is not in violation of the law of the land. In 2017, HaRav Kanievsky ruled that reporting instances of sexual child abuse to the police is consistent with Jewish law. Harav Kanievsky has made several statements that indicate he feels the coming of the Messiah is possibly imminent. In 2011, he interpreted Arab Spring uprisings as evidence that the Messiah might be near. In 2015, following the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack, he repeatedly referred to the imminent arrival of the Messiah and urged diaspora Jews to make aliyah, reportedly resulting in the arrival of a substantial number of French Jews. In February 2020, shortly before the Israeli legislative elections, it was reported by one rabbi that HaRav Kanievsky had stated that the coming of the messiah was possibly imminent. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, HaRav Kanievsky originally ordered his hundreds of thousands of followers to defy the Israeli Health Ministry's order to close all schools by keeping ultra-Orthodox schools open and claiming that the best ways to defeat the virus are to avoid lashon hara, strengthen humility and place the needs of others before their own. As a result of the ruling, he was visited on March 15 by senior police officials in an unsuccessful bid to convince him of the importance of following the orders of medical professionals with regards to the outbreak. On March 29, after the ultra-Orthodox community was hit hardest by the virus with Bnei Brak having the highest percentage of coronavirus cases in Israel relative to its population, HaRav Kanievsky ruled that one who does not follow the Israeli Health Ministry's guidelines on COVID-19 is in the position of one who pursues another with intent to murder. He also ruled that telephones may be answered on Shabbat to get COVID-19 test results, and that minyanim must not meet at all during the pandemic, a stricter requirement than the Health Ministry's rules which allow congregations to meet outdoors as long as participants are at least two meters distant from each other.
Published works
Kanievsky is the author of many works of Jewish law, such as Derech Emunoh, on agricultural laws, Derech Chochmoh, on the laws of the Jewish temple rites, and Shoneh Halachos. His halakhic rulings on prayer are recorded in Ishei Yisroel, and rulings pertaining to Shiluach haken are recorded in Shaleiach T'Shalach.
Derech Emunoh on agricultural laws of Eretz Yisroel., , ,
