R Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l – The Last Word
We gave more space to the petirah and the life of Rav Lichtenstein than anyone else we’ve covered in Cross-Currents, chiefly because we reasoned that our readers knew less about him than they did about others. I thought that we had said just about all that we were going to say – especially after some rather heated exchanges – until I chanced upon a contribution by some of his talmidim a number of years ago, in celebration of his 80th birthday. It was so moving, I had to share it. It will be an appropriate Last Word from those closest to him. It is in Hebrew, with occasional lapses into English. (Subtitles provided for those who have difficulty with that language.)
I think a lesson from this video is not just the gadlus of Rabbi Lichtenstein — which can’t be portrayed that well in a video, anyway — but the fact that there is authentic limmud Torah, toiling in Torah, sacrifice for Torah, and yiras Shamayam among Israelis who do not wear hats and jackets, and that this has been true for decades. I’m not sure that all hat-and-jacket wearers truly believe that this is even possible.
In one word-awesome!
Watched this video when it was first produced.
Ashranu for the Gadlus in klal Yisroel. Whether it is appreciated by others outside of Gush Etzion – is insignificant in the short & long run!
In the interests of accuracy, I must point out that R’ Aharon z’l wore both a hat and a jacket. It was the fusion of two olmamos that made R’ Aharon who he was.
To A Yid — In the interests of accuracy, I must point out that my comment referred to *Israelis* who do not wear hats and jackets. I didn’t mean Rabbi Lichtenstein (who was not Israeli) but the many talmidim you see in the video.