A 'Gadol' Came to Town

Today a 'gadol' came to town. That's what the ad promised. So I came and listened for an hour and walked away with the usual sense of shame and guilt I get from these encounters. I won't say that the guy was horrible. He spoke halacha. He was reasonably articulate for a guy from Brooklyn. He was knowledgeable about halacha and the technology behind the kashrut topics that dominated his talk. He made a few attempts at sardonic jokes. He didn't yell. Not terrible.

But we got the usual condescension towards all kinds of parties. Rabbis who give heterim where he feels they shouldn't want one. It's not the criticism I object to, it's the supercilious scorn. Then there's the snide remarks about the baal habatim and their excuses and pursuit of the easy way out. On the topic of showers on a three day yom tov in the summer he said you can't take a shower. He said in the old days they didn't and today we have air conditioning so we have even less of a reason.

If they were taking questions I'd pose three factors that are different: 1) For the past 400 years, when all the halachic literature go down to these details, we were in much cooler climates, granted without AC 2) For the past 50 years, in NYC at least, people lived in brick buildings which are much cooler. 3) Today there is a new standard of hygiene. I for example don't like showering every day, but my coworkers and wife wouldn't accept anything less. Today, we must smell like roses at all times. So we are used to daily showers and we feel a social pressure to have them.

But we don't get to ask questions. This is common today in shiurim. Even in Teaneck and YU, public talks are not followed with Q & A anymore. The feeling I get is, hey lowly baal habyit, your job is to take orders. So for me, it was a disappointing morning. The promise of wise leaders who are not afraid of your questions, who understand your needs, well it still remains unfilled. But I recalled Rabbi Soloveitchik's adage that klal yisrael is a nation of free men and women who are joined together with a common set of goals. Thus, it doesn't matter who the oilam puts before me as authorities and saints. I am not here because of the greatness of men. I am here for the greatness of God and klal yisrael as a general historic entity.

Last point, I'm not discrediting here the idea of gadolim. I believe that people like Moshe Feinstein, Yaakov Kamenetsky, Joseph Soloveitchik, and Shlomo Zalman Auerbach were gadolim. I'm just saying that just because someone names a guy to be a gadol doesn't mean you have to believe it. I'm actually trying to protect the concept of gadolim. I'm also protecting the people who are special but aren't quite great because the over-promising leaves you disappointed and even critical of the person.