Torah scholars of the Jewish religion

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asked 8 years ago

Hello,
The rabbi will forgive me for the strange question, but are there among the national religious public Torah luminaries of a similar magnitude to those who supposedly exist in the Haredi public?
And in general, how is greatness measured in the Torah, and is there any benefit to a decision on this matter?

With respect and appreciation

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מיכי Staff answered 8 years ago

The question is how do you define greatness in Torah? If you are talking about pure knowledge (knowing what is written in the Rishonim and Aharonim), I think there is no comparison. But in my opinion, knowledge is not so important nowadays when there are databases (and so does Rabbi Volozhiner in the Nefacha, who says that today there is no prohibition on forgetting anything from the Torah). What is important is honest, deep, and creative thinking and understanding of reality (common sense). And in this, there are many more great Torah scholars in the modern public. There’s no reason for this that I can think of.

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ב' replied 8 years ago

Continuing with his answer, isn't "common sense" the result of pure Torah knowledge? Can it be said that everything that adds to Torah knowledge detracts? How does one acquire that "common sense"?

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

I don't know of a systematic way to acquire common sense. You simply need to be aware of the need to develop it and invest in it. And most of all, you need to believe that it has value, and not invent all sorts of concepts like "Torah sense" and other baseless inventions. Common sense is true in all fields and with all people. Torah knowledge does not necessarily lead to common sense. The question is with what kind of sense you interpreted that Torah knowledge. There is no neutral Torah knowledge without interpretation.