a breath of fresh air

My Rosh Yeshiva from my yeshiva days was a fairly eccentric fellow. That is pretty common among these "iluy" types, that they are kind of quirky.

His main quirk was that he cared about nothing else aside from getting the right pshat with clarity in the gemara.

Nothing else mattered.

He did not care about appearances. He did not care about what people thought. He wanted to learn, to teach, to get the true pshat, and that the boys should learn. That's it.

Any time he tried to change something in the yeshiva for appearance sake (e.g.. to make it more "yeshivish"), it was always because other people pressured him to do so. They would tell him if he wants a better caliber boy, he has to do x, y or z. A different rebbe would say if he wanted to attract boys from yeshiva x he had to implement y or they would not come. A mashgiach would say they had to change q so the yeshiva would have a better name. Sometimes he became convinced of it and followed the advice, and sometimes not.

One thing I remember clearly was how he would run for the bus. At the time the yeshiva was in a different neighborhood than the one he lived in. He would travel to and from by city bus. That's right - you could often see this big-time rosh yeshiva sitting on an Egged bus muttering to himself (he was always learning).

The most interesting thing was to see him run for the bus. If he was caught up in something and only realized at the last minute that his bus was coming, he would just pick up and run. I think he would have give Car Lewis a run for his money! You would see him dash out towards the bus stop with his frock tails flying behind him as he waved to the bus driver to wait for him..

Eventually some people told him it was not respectable and made the yeshiva look bad and they insisted he take taxis rather than the city bus. He held off or a long time because he saw no reason for it, as the bus was just fine. But others insisted that it is not respectable for such a important rosh yeshiva to be on the bus. He gave in and took taxis or got rides, but he could still sometimes be seen getting on the bus.

Why do I recall this now?

I just read about how Rav Wosner is planning a trip to Switzerland. When one of his supporters heard that he will be travelling, he approached Rav Wosner and offered to arrange for him a private plane, all expenses paid. He felt it was not appropriate for the great Rav Wosner to be travelling like the common man on a regular flight.

Rav Wosner first accepted, but after a few days he contacted his benefactor and rejected the offer. he said I am just like any other Rav and I do not need any special travel arrangements. I can travel like everybody else.

That is a breath of fresh air to me. We have gotten so used to treating our rabbonim like chassidishe rebbes that we lose perspective. In the chassidishe world and the sephardic world it is common. Their supporters pay big money to be able to sponsor something for the Rav/Rebbe/Chacham.

I just read about the Satmar Rebbe will be going somewhere (do not remember where) and anybody who wants to sit with him will have to donate some astronomical sum, something like $50,000. The sephardic Rabbonim all drive the top luxury cars, which are sponsored by supporters.

I know of a sephardi shul where the Rav decided to open up a new shul. he went to collect to build a building. He raised a million dollars for the building in one fundraising trip. The only problem was he had nobody to daven in the shul. He built a large building very quickly, not completed but built enough to use, and one can see often people outside the shul looking to shlep someone in to help complete the minyan. But he has his big building.

It is something cultural in these communities. The litvishe community however always eschewed that style. The litvishe community always looked for simplicity. Torah was the main thing and everything else was minor.

Yet as time goes on, the litvishe community has begun treating its rabbonim like chassidishe rebbes. A Rav needs to take a trip and he gets a private plane!! Certainly the trips can be difficult and, especially for an elderly Rav, anything to help ease the discomfort can make a big difference. But it always made me uncomfortable to see the change in the way the Rabbonim were treated and how they allowed themselves to be treated like that.

To read that Rav Wosner decided such a luxury was unnecessary and wasteful, as he can travel like everybody else, is a breath of fresh air.