 Until his illness in the period before his death, he was regarded as one of the leaders of Charedi Jewry, and was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and chairman of the Rabbinic Administrative Board of Torah Umesorah, until he resigned from both in June 2002, reportedly due to an ideological dispute with his colleagues.Rabbi Svei's father was a member of the Kovno Kollel in Slabodka and spent his early years there.Rabbi Svei was a son-in-law of Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz, the founder of the Brooklyn branch of the Mir Yeshiva, and was the brother-in-law of Rabbi Shmuel Berenbaum.