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21 Cheshvan 5762 - November 7, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
Talking About Maran HaRav Shach ztvk"l

Virtually the entire chareidi world is now learning, for the first time ever, what it is like to live in a world without Maran HaRav Shach, zt"l. For over ninety years he was part of the yeshiva world, and for most of them he was at or near its summit.

And what a height he scaled! He was truly one who lived, even in our day, on the Har Hashem. He was one who could stand in His holy place.

As HaRav Shach said in his hesped of the Brisker Rov, "No matter what words of eulogy or appreciation we use, they will only serve to detract from the stature of the niftar, for we are not capable of grasping what he really was."

HaRav Shach's suggestion then was just to "talk about the event." Everyone, he said, can contribute something to such a discussion. We can only tell of what we have seen in our small corner of the world.

As is well-known, HaRav Shach started Yated Ne'eman together with the Steipler, and the English edition of Yated Ne'eman on his own. He felt very strongly that both are important for our times.

It is critical that there be a way to disseminate the da'as Torah of maranan verabonon the leaders of our generation. The only way to ensure that, as extensive experience has shown, is to have a newspaper in which the actual board of directors is made up of rabbonim. The rabbonim are in control, and they can write or not write whatever they want, because they have the actual power of the company that is Yated Ne'eman. The only publications in the world of which this can be said are the two editions (Hebrew and English) of Yated Ne'eman that are published in Eretz Yisroel.

There are many other publications whose staff is chareidi and basically share the same goals. However, these are all run basically for a profit, and that can and does affect what is said in them and what is left out of them.

This what Maran HaRav Shach accomplished when he set up Yated Ne'eman: that the full material control of the newspaper is in the hands of rabbonim, the Vaada Ruchanit. This ensures that pure daas Torah is broadcast, uncolored by any extraneous interests such as profit and loss or circulation numbers or any personal feelings of the staff.

Many described the founding of Yated Ne'eman as a political move calculated to advance his interests. But it should be abundantly clear from all the material about him and certainly to anyone who ever had contact with him that his only interest was promoting the benefit of Malchus Shomayim and of Klal Yisroel.

After so long, and after so much accomplished, his great work is finally finished and it is left to us to try to live up to his legacy. We should take with us the closing words of his will: Haporeish mikem be'ahavoh -- who parts from you with love.


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