Q&A: Who Is a Torah Scholar?
Who Is a Torah Scholar?
Question
With God’s help
Just out of curiosity: did the Rabbi study under some rabbi or Torah scholar whom the Rabbi sees at least as something like his teacher?
Or alternatively, who, in the Rabbi’s view, in the last generation came closest to the model of the ideal Torah scholar in the Rabbi’s eyes, and why that person?
I saw on the site that the Rabbi wrote a eulogy for Rabbi Shach, and I couldn’t understand how the Rabbi eulogizes and values someone who seems to me like the sort of person who should most of all be placed on the altar of the Rabbi’s criticism. Thank you, and sorry for the nosiness.
Answer
Not anyone well known. In any case, the person I learned from and whom I see as something like my teacher is not close to my current views.
There are quite a few such people, but usually not among the well-known ones. I won’t go into names here.
If you’ve read things I’ve written, you could understand that one of the focal points is taking a complex view of people and phenomena. Rabbi Shach was a figure I deeply admired, even though I agreed with almost nothing he said or did.
Discussion on Answer
I no longer remember what I wrote, but I think it’s written there.
In general, this was a person who devoted himself to the public and did what he truly believed and understood. He did not use trickery for his personal benefit or that of his family, unlike most of the others. Until his very last day, at a very advanced age, he cared for the public. He received insignificant people and important people alike graciously and with great patience.
And even the conflict and the politics were not for his own benefit, but for the sake of what he believed in, even though I of course do not share that. In my eyes, he was a great man.
I would like to know what you admired in his character, which comes across as stirring up conflict and politics.