Q&A: And You Have Risen Above Us All: Why Do Halakhic Decisors Receive Such Fame?
And You Have Risen Above Us All: Why Do Halakhic Decisors Receive Such Fame?
Question
To the esteemed Rabbi Michi, may he live long and well,
Why is it that today people value rabbis who deal with Jewish law much more than rabbis and Torah scholars who deal with Bible, Talmud, Kabbalah, and so on? Why is Jewish law given so much importance relative to the other parts of Torah?
For example, nearly all of the great Haredi rabbis in the last generation dealt with Jewish law—Rabbi Elyashiv, Rabbi Ovadia, Rabbi Wosner, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and others.
Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, and certainly in the Lithuanian yeshiva world, for example, they also value Torah scholars who aren’t so involved in Jewish law, but in general it seems that the halakhic field receives special prestige, both among Torah scholars and among the masses.
Answer
That’s not correct. People value analytical Torah scholars and halakhic decisors—that is, those who engage in halakhic and Talmudic analysis. There is very good reason for this, in two respects: 1. These are the fields that require more talent. 2. These are the fields that constitute Torah and Judaism. The others are usually cheap musings that have nothing to do with either Torah or anything else.