Interesting Psak From Rav Chaim Kanievsky: Naming A Baby

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I cannot believe how people bother the gedolim with silly questions, wasting time that is obviously very valuable - valuable from the perspective of the gadol, and valuable form the tzibbur's perspective in the sense that the gadol could be learning or answering serious questions during that time..

Yesteday, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel died. It is very common for students and admirers to name their children after a gadol or rav after he has died. It is, or can be, both a sign of respect and a wish that the child be imbued with some of the character traits of the rav.

Yesterday, before the funeral was set to take place, a baby in Jerusalem was scheduled to undergo his circumcision. Before the bris, the father questioned whether it is really appropriate to name the baby after the rosh yeshiva considering he had not yet been buried.

Bechadrei reports that the question found its way to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. This means that none of the baby's family members, rosh yeshivas and talmidei chachomim, were able to answer this difficult question that has serious halachic ramifications, and a heavyweight like Rav Chaim Kanievsky needed to be called in to rule on the matter.

Anyway, the interesting psak issued by Rav Chaim Kanievsky on this question was that it is perfectly ok to name the baby "Nosson Tzvi" even though the burial had not yet taken place.