The King

In memory of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv who died today, 28 Tammuz, at the age of 102 years old and my impressions of him from when I was a bachur.

I met a King today.  This was not the type of King that is recognized through a panoply of pomp and excercise.  In fact, nothing external hinted at the fact that he was a King.  His dress conformed to the norm of his people and while he did have a cane, there was no way to confuse it with a scepter.  The only possible sign of Kingship was the enclosed golf cart that took him the short distance from his apartment to his castle, the House of Study, but even that could be explained away by necessity as he is 96 years old.  Despite the lack of obvious evidence, the Rabbi who arranged the meeting explained that this was immaterial as his Kingship did not hinge on any external factors.  In fact, his Kingship did not even extend beyond his own body.  He is described as a King for a simple reason, he rules over that which is most difficult, himself.  He has mastered his free will to such an extent that he has taken his place among the righteous and has become the most knowledgeable soul on the planet when it comes to the wisdom of the Talmud.   His name is Rabbi Elyashiv, and he is consider to be a Gadol Hador, or the leader of the generation. 

The Rabbi who took us to see him was brimming with childlike excitement as he explained the magnititude of who we were about to meet.  He had attended his class many times, and explained that each time he is overwhelmed by awe.  I can understand this turgid admiration as all the great people I have met this year, albeit one of my Rabbis or a family, is actually more impressive under the microscope of time. Up to this year, the rule of life had always been that the more time you spent with someone the more you are exposed to their limitations.  Here, the more time I have the privelege to spend with certain people, the more that their depth and completeness is revealed.  While I may be under the influence of rose-tinted glasses, I am fairly certain that these observations are accurate.  After all, there is almost a tendency to seek out failure, because to see such great human beings summons ones own deficiencies to consciousness.  

What is amazing about Rabbi Elyashiv, is that many years beyond most people's retirement, he is in the prime of his career.  At the age of 96 years old, he has entered the summer of his life and the peak of his influence.  He has taken the reigns of what is a pure meritocracy.  His influence is directly correlated to the extent of his knowledge.  Wisdom equals power!  The mere statement is refreshing.  Socrates' dream of a philosopher King has come to fruition within small circles here in Jerusalem.  The word for old in Hebrew is 'zakan', which can stand for 'this has been acquired'.  What is 'this' referring too? Wisdom, the only thing that is truly ours in life.  Everything else in life ebbs and flows with time; wisdom only increases.  And here he is, the richest man in the world, by this definition, giving a cogent lecture at the age of 96 years old! 

 After his lecture in Yiddish, people stormed to the front of the fragile man and asked difficult and pointed questions. (That is another big difference between typical leadership, and the leadership you find here.  The great respect accorded to him makes him a leader, but the respect is not one of quiet acquiescence.  Rather, it is a respect of a worthy intellectual opponent.  You are free to challenge him and investigate the depths of his intellect.  There is no such thing as classified information.  The information is free and available to everyone, and whoever has the best and most logical argument is credited.)   We could not hear the responses, but people seemed satisfied.  We waited to the side for him to walk by so that we could shake his hand and get a brief blessing. Eventually, the crowd of questioners parted and he stood up.  His gait was remarkably agile, and his posture showed that daedal blend of dignity and humility that very few people can master.  He shook my hand for a moment and then it was over.   It was a great experience and a fitting part of my last week here.