“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh parshas Vayetzei 5786
8 Kislev 5786/November 28, 2025
TRUE GEDOLIM
Every time that I have had the opportunity to meet one of the Gedolei Yisroel it’s been an uplifting experience. The common denominator is that these great, busy people who bear such immense responsibility and have to make such weighty decisions, somehow make time to make everyone feel special.
When I was a bochur, I and a few friends had the opportunity to accompany two of my rebbeim to meet Rav Ovadia Yosef in his home in Har Nof.
Before we left his home, we lined up to shake Rav Ovadiah’s hand and to receive his beracha. As was his practice, he affectionately gave each of us a light potch on the cheek as he blessed us.
He did the same thing to my rebbeim afterwards. I found it somewhat amusing to see my rebbeim receive the same loving potch on the cheek as we did. In the presence of Rav Ovadia Yosef my rebbe was a student, just as I was.
We love our Gedolim and we cherish our Gedolim.
We refer to them as “einei ha’edah – the eyes of the nation” (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1:15). They guide us and teach us what the Torah expects of us.
But just what constitutes a Gadol?[1]
Fascinatingly, in a New York Times article dated May 19, 1975, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was asked how one becomes a Torah leader.
The article quotes that Rab Moshe replied that one doesn’t, “achieve the heights of religious jurisprudence by appointment or election, but by recognition of his talents.
“You can’t wake up in the morning and decide you’re an expert on answers,”’ he said recently as disciples clustered round. “If people see that one answer is good, and, another answer is good, gradually you will be accepted”.”
It seems a Gadol is one who is accepted as such by the masses.
However, these days we seem to be swept away by the “miracle phenomena”. At our Shabbos table recently, my son-in-law asked me if I heard of a certain Rav in Eretz Yisroel who has a large following that seems to be growing exponentially. I replied that years ago I heard he was a tremendous scholar and was renowned for his insightful and well-attended shiurim. But more recently, when I see his name or picture it’s connected with incredible stories of prophetic like statements he made, or miraculous events that seem to have been influenced by him.
Sadly, we seem to define Gedolim as such by dint of how many and how incredible the miraculous stories people tell about him. If there are no such stories making the rounds, he must not really be so great. If he was, he would obviously have more pull in the celestial spheres to make things happen.
But that is not our tradition. The Rambam (hilchos Yesodei Hatorah) writes that a prophet is determined by whether his prophecy – at least a positive prophecy – comes to fruition as he said it would. But the Rambam never writes that a Torah leader is determined by dint of the supernatural acts he generates. (In fact, the Rambam is reticent to speak about the supernatural.)
The pasuk in Tehillim praises Hashem Who performed, “Osos umofsim b’admas b’nei Cham – Miraculous signs and wonders in the lands of the Children of Cham.”
The Kotzker Rebbe quipped that the pasuk is also alluding to a tenet of our faith. Those who feel they need to witness miraculous signs and wonders in order to believe, are from the lands of the Children of Cham. Miracle-based faith is not a Torah perspective.
Our faith is not the result of constant miracles and wonders. Rather it is a matter of unbroken tradition and fierce loyalty to the Torah.
The Tolna Rebbe, Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Weinberg, makes this point regarding berachos (Dibros Kodesh, Toldos 5782). People think that if the beracha of a tzaddik isn’t fulfilled, it’s indicative that the tzaddik isn’t really a tzaddik. Only one who gives berachos that come true is hailed as a saintly miracle worker, automatically worthy of adulation and veneration.
The Tolna Rebbe explained that that this is a tragic mistake. The effectiveness of berachos has to do with the level of the recipient’s faith and worthiness, and other factors that we aren’t privy to. (The Rebbe then connects this idea to the berachos of Yitzchak Avinu.)
We have to remember that righteousness is defined by…. righteousness.
The supernatural wonders of a Gadol should refer to his supernatural sensitivity and selflessness, his uncompromising adherence to every facet and nuance of halacha, his love for Torah and for Hashem, and his uncanny devotion to his people.
I was recently reading an essay by my rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, in which Rabbi Wein was reflecting on Rabbi Aaron Leib Shteinman’s visit to America in 2005 when he was 91 years old.
As an example of Rabbi Shteinman’s incredible meticulousness to halachah, Rabbi Wein related that when Rabbi Shteinman was visiting the Skverer Rebbe, a bowl of fruit was set before him. Rabbi Shteinman said ha’eitz and, to the surprise of those in attendance, ate only half of a grape.
When asked afterwards, Rabbi Shteinman explained that a grape is a beryah (a complete entity), and therefore eating a whole grape would create a doubt about whether he was obligated to recite a beracha acharonah.
Rabbi Wein is not one to wax poetic. That is an added reason why I found his reflections so moving:
“Is there anything more inspiring than to look at him and realize that here is a man who, at the age of 91, picked himself up and left his home for a two-week trip to foreign cities, in order to inspire fellow Jews? Is there anything more inspiring than to realize that there really are people who do things without an agenda? Is it not inspiring to recognize that here in front of me is a man who is an exemplary eved Hashem, who came all the way here to inspire me?
“When you look at him and consider the fact that he is oblivious to the hubbub surrounding him, when you realize that de- spite the headlines announcing his visit, he himself will never come across his picture in the newspaper, you start thinking that it really is possible to be a good and modest person. It really is possible to be a good and ehrliche Jew. It really is possible to sit in your corner and learn Torah all day. It really is possible to live a life without luxuries and be content. It really is possible to never fight with anyone. It really is possible to never trample on anyone’s feelings and still get ahead in this world.
“When you look at him, talk to him and hear him speak, you realize that he has no ulterior motive. You see that he has no agenda other than to be mekadeish sheim Shamayim and to spur people on to do good.”
We have no dearth of stories of the greatness of our Gedolim. That is why we have a special beracha in Shemoneh Esrei to pray for their welfare.
On a deeper level, it isn’t only a beracha for them, but also a beracha for us that we recognize their greatness and have the wisdom and insight to learn, not only from their teachings, but also from their living example.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
STRIVINGHIGHER.COM
[1] A few years ago, Rabbi Yaakov Hillel offered a facetious definition of Gedolim when he sharply stated:
“The posters and newspapers and mass media are ruling the world and ruling our mind. There is no da’as Torah anymore. Often when people come from chutz la’aretz they want me to write a letter in a sefer Torah and they come with 3 or 4 expert photographers, and they are snapping pictures. I tell the photographers, “In my eyes you are as great as Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.” They ask me, “What do you mean? You’re making fun of us.” I explain to them: “When the Chazon Ish came to Eretz Yisroel, Rav Chaim Ozer sent a message “The Gadol Hador has arrived! The lion has ascended from Bavel!” Because of that the Torah world began to view the Chazon Ish as the Gadol Hador.
“But today… it’s all in the hands of the photographers. If your picture is in the papers and posted all over of you lighting a menorah, you’re a gadol hador. Obviously, if you state a political opinion then you become a Gadol Olam. And if you make a machlokes then you are gaon shebig’onim We see this today. There are fools and ignoramuses who never opened a sefer in their life, and they cause machlokes, and all of a sudden they are deciders of Halacha, judges, and Roshei Yeshivos. This is what builds people today.
“I’m not speaking about the real Gedolim. I’m speaking about the next generation of so-called gedolim. If one of the show-business rabbis walk in, everyone stands up for them. I’m not even sure they are truly religious. The true gedolim are not treated like anything anymore.”
(Lecture entitled “The Tragedy in Meron” posted on TorahAnyTime)