Rav Sholom Kaminker was named after his grandfather Rav Sholom HaLevi Rosenfeld son of Yechiel Eichel HaLevi whose yichus dated back to the Maharshal a descendant of Rashi, Rav Yochanan HaSandler and Dovid HaMelech. His grandfather was a wealthy man and nicknamed the Graf of Rava. Back in those days the railroad did not yet run past those environs and when Rav Sholom the Graf was ill his name was added to a larger list of petitioners on a large kvitel by the Chassidim who passed through town on their way to the Rebbe, the Chozeh of Lublin.
It took them weeks to arrive. When they handed the Chozeh the kvitel, the tzaddik began to run his finger down the names on the kvitel and pronounce his blessings and tefilos for them one by one. When he reached the Graf Rav Sholom Rosenfeld’s name, the tzaddik shook his head sadly, “I can no longer do anything for him. He has traded in his crown for another, instead of kesser Malchus he has donned the kesser Torah.” The Chassidim didn’t understand the Chozeh’s cryptic pronouncement, however they later learned that Rav Sholom had already passed away succumbing to his illness and in the meantime a grandson was born and named for him. Since he was known as the wealthy Graf they later understood the Chozeh to mean that he himself had left this world and the crown of malchus and wealth behind. His soul now descended into his new grandson, bearing his name, and was crowned with the kesser Torah as the tzaddik Rav Sholom Kaminker. (Nifla’os HaRebbe)
