The audience participating in the Bar Mitzvah celebration of one of the children of the city of Bnei Brak deserves a surprise: at the entrance to the celebration hall, a familiar figure suddenly appears. "The Steipler!" she whispered by word of mouth. And everyone rose from their seats, wishing to witness the splendor of the face of the tzaddik, who for a long time did not leave the door of his house because of his weakness. The family members of the groom were particularly excited, both excited and embarrassed, for they were not relatives of Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky. What and why did they merit it, then, that the tzaddik, who for many years does not participate even in family celebrations, will come to their joy? Soon things became clear. As soon as he entered the celebration hall, the Steipler asked to speak privately with the Bar Mitzvah groom.
The boy was completely shocked to hear what the Tzadik HaDor had to say. And after the conversation, the honorable guest left the place. "What did he say to you?" the boy surrounded the boy, "What did the Steipler tell you?" choking on excitement, the boy managed to ejaculate: "He came to ask him for forgiveness."
It turned out that the father of the bridegroom of joy used to pray in the Beit Midrash Lederman, where the Steipler zt"l prayed. When the child was about seven years old, it seemed to him, Maran zt"l, that the child was studying during prayer. He rebuked him for this, and later he found out that the child's arrangement was similar to the Talmud, and the child did indeed pray and did not learn. As such, The tzaddik wished to ask for the child's forgiveness, but since minors (before his bar mitzvah) were not forgiven, he could not ask for his forgiveness. Therefore, the Steipler zt"l inquired about the child's name and his age. For six years, he kept the matter in his heart, and as the boy's bar mitzvah approached, he wanted to know where the joy of the mitzvah would be held. Immediately after the stars came out, on the day the boy turned thirteen years old and he was out of the "minor" category. From the righteous mountain to ask for his forgiveness...
