I just saw the following short story online, and thought it particularly poignant, and I think it follows perfectly with much of what I heard of him this past week - how he made everybody feel important, there was no such thing as a stupid question, he did not stand on airs, no pomp and circumstance...
When a High School educator in Chicago asked Rav Lichtenstein several years ago to autograph a baseball, he put his pen to the baseball and wrote: "Aharon Lichtenstein, who strives for stardom in another league"
Rav Lichtenstein could have balked (pun itended) and said why a baseball? I'll sign a sefer for you. He could have said no, not appropriate. He could have taken it as an insult and considered it demeaning - what do I have to do with a baseball??!!
But someone asked, and he did what he could for that person, while teaching a lesson, without being demeaning or insulting to the other person, without standing on his own kavod.
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Beautiful. I wish for other Gedolim to confront the challenges of modernity and show more balls.
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