Home › Forums › Controversial Topics › who is "The Gadol Haddar" of America
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March 9, 2017 10:29 pm at 10:29 pm #619438lkwd lamdanMember
I would like to know who the ywn coffee room members consider the gadol haddar of America, I would personally say that its Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel for the Yeshiveshe and Rav Shmuel Kamenatzky for the baal habatim…. Please let me know who you consider to be “the gadol haddar of America”
March 9, 2017 10:33 pm at 10:33 pm #1228530Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantJoseph. Oh sorry, that’s just for the Coffee Room.
March 9, 2017 10:33 pm at 10:33 pm #1228531Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantCrackers. (you asked about the Gadol Haddar – that’s the only Haddar product I’m familiar with…)
March 9, 2017 10:36 pm at 10:36 pm #1228532JosephParticipantSkulener Rebbe, Rav Aharon Schechter, Rav Elya Ber, Rav Shmuel, Rav Dovid are a few of the names that come to mind. There are a handful.
March 9, 2017 10:37 pm at 10:37 pm #1228533lkwd lamdanMemberReb Dovid as in reb Dovid Schustal or Feinstein?
March 9, 2017 10:40 pm at 10:40 pm #1228534lkwd lamdanMemberJoseph I would like to know what makes you consider someones as “a gadol haddar” if he has a lot of followers, how much power he yields or how great you look at him to be?
March 9, 2017 10:57 pm at 10:57 pm #1228535JosephParticipantTorah, Avoda, Gemilas Chasodim.
March 9, 2017 11:09 pm at 11:09 pm #1228536golferParticipantI learn so many interesting things here.
Case in point-
The “Yeshivishe” and the “baal habatim” (his terminology not mine) have a different “gadol haddar”.
I’d call troll, but zrizim makdimim and in the spirit of “kol haposheit yad…” maybe we should try and answer the llamdan.
(Sorry I personally can’t oblige.
When I see gadol haddar the only thing that comes to mind is one of those huge Teimani Esrogim I saw in E”Y. I notice LU, probably already packing her Mishloach Manos, is thinking of cookies.)
March 10, 2017 1:44 am at 1:44 am #1228537☢️ Rand0m3x 🎲Participant“for the Yeshiveshe” / “for the baal habatim”
What do you mean by that?
March 10, 2017 1:46 am at 1:46 am #1228538yytzParticipantIt’s still Rav Moshe. 🙂
March 10, 2017 1:50 am at 1:50 am #1228539Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantYYTZ – 🙂
March 10, 2017 4:33 am at 4:33 am #1228540kj chusidParticipantRabbi Moshe Ber Beck
March 10, 2017 5:14 am at 5:14 am #1228541yehudayonaParticipantlkwd lamdan points out an interesting problem. When one refers to gedolim by their first name, it can be ambiguous. I have a modest proposal: use their full names. In some cases, you may even have to add a location or affiliation in order to disambiguate.
March 10, 2017 5:18 am at 5:18 am #1228542JosephParticipantSome gedolim are universally known by their first name. Take Rav Chaim, for example. Everyone knows when you simply refer to Rav Chaim you’re referring to Rav Chaim Kanievsky.
March 10, 2017 5:22 am at 5:22 am #1228543yungermanSParticipantevery chasidus will tell you that their rebba is the gadol hador of america today
March 10, 2017 12:05 pm at 12:05 pm #1228544zahavasdadParticipantI dont think there is one, If there is a real Shaiala they just call Rav Chaim or Rav Aharon on the phone
March 10, 2017 1:13 pm at 1:13 pm #1228545JosephParticipantThere certainly are a number of gedolei hador in America.
March 10, 2017 2:16 pm at 2:16 pm #1228546zahavasdadParticipantI know for a fact when there is a real shala they called Rav Chaim or Rav Aharon
March 10, 2017 3:22 pm at 3:22 pm #1228547apushatayidParticipantThe mechaber, the rma, the mishna berura and my shul rav who guides me based on their words according to the understanding he has from his rabbeim.
March 10, 2017 3:24 pm at 3:24 pm #1228548JosephParticipantWho guides him when *he* has a shaila?
March 10, 2017 4:21 pm at 4:21 pm #1228549shebbesonianParticipantI sure hope he bases his answers on more than just the mechaber, rama and MB, otherwise you should probably find a new rabbi. What does he do when a question arises that is not in ???? ????? He just paskens straight mechaber and rama? How does he answer questions about ????? ??????? ????, which is barely covered in ???? ????? What does he do about questions about technology that didn’t exist in the time of the MB? What happened to ????? ????, ???????, ??? ?”? ?”? ?”? ?”? ??”? ?????
March 10, 2017 5:24 pm at 5:24 pm #1228550apushatayidParticipantJoseph and shebbo. you guys are way to literal.
I have a Rav. so does he. so does his rav. its called a mesorah.
its a shame some people are too caught up in who is bigger, or noisier, or flashier (not you, but the fact that this is a topic of discussion to begin with…) or more prestigious.
March 10, 2017 5:30 pm at 5:30 pm #1228551JosephParticipantDo you think it would be okay for you to ask a shaila to his rebbe?
March 10, 2017 5:39 pm at 5:39 pm #1228552apushatayidParticipantIf that question is aimed towards me….
I dont have access to “his rebbe”. I have access to my Rav, therefore I ask him. I also do not see the need to ask his Rebbe because I know that if my Rav needs clarification he goes to his Rebbe for it. In fact, a number of times when we needed practical guidance, he told us he consulted with his Rebbe for clarity. I know he has a mesorah, and I am comfortable asking him my questions.
March 10, 2017 5:39 pm at 5:39 pm #1228553apushatayidParticipantas far as the gadol haddar, you could probably ask them [email protected]
March 10, 2017 5:46 pm at 5:46 pm #1228554JosephParticipantDoesn’t your family have its own mesorah?
March 10, 2017 8:29 pm at 8:29 pm #1228555apushatayidParticipantSure. It has a mesorah of following rabbonim.
March 10, 2017 8:53 pm at 8:53 pm #1228556JosephParticipantNo other mesorah?
March 11, 2017 6:32 pm at 6:32 pm #1228557american_yerushalmiParticipantRegarding the OP’s question. “Who is the Gadol Hador?” (There can be more than one, BTW.) This is not a popularity contest, or a democratic electoral system. The biggest, the greatest Talmidei Chachomim in a given generation all know who — among them — is the biggest expert. That person is the Gadol Hador.
March 11, 2017 6:58 pm at 6:58 pm #1228558Avi KParticipantEach group has it own gadol/im.
March 12, 2017 4:25 am at 4:25 am #1228559JosephParticipantWho are the Conservative gedolim?
March 13, 2017 6:55 pm at 6:55 pm #1228560It is Time for TruthParticipantlkwd,
That sounds positively marxist
“How many tanks and divisions does he have?”
american_yerushalmi,
well said
March 13, 2017 8:20 pm at 8:20 pm #1228562☢️ Rand0m3x 🎲ParticipantWho are the Modern Orthodox gedolim?
March 13, 2017 9:00 pm at 9:00 pm #1228563apushatayidParticipant“No other mesorah?”
This one is quite adequate.
If the family kept changing mesorah, what type of mesorah would that be?
March 13, 2017 9:26 pm at 9:26 pm #1228564mik5ParticipantRav Belsky was before his petira.
Now it’s Rabbi D. Feinstein, Rabbi S. Kamenetsky, and a few others.
March 13, 2017 10:27 pm at 10:27 pm #1228565Geordie613ParticipantAssuming this isn’t another trolling thread…
The premise of the question is all wrong. What does it mean a Godol Hador for yeshivishe and for baale batim?! Godol Hador by its very definition means for the whole generation; the one person who is looked up to by ALL the Rabonim, Roshei Yeshiva and Rebbes as the last word and authority and Daas Torah. For example, Rav Moshe Feinstein, or in Eretz Yisroel, The Steipler.
BTW, ZD, who do you mean by ‘Rav Aharon’?
March 14, 2017 3:14 pm at 3:14 pm #1228566visitor1ParticipantHagaon Harav Mordechai Marcus Shlit”a, a tzadik and the biggest talmid chachom in America for many years. Rav of Lakewood Minyan of Flatbush, Chief editor Artscroll Sha”s. Someone called him “The Torah World’s Greatest Secret.”
March 14, 2017 3:37 pm at 3:37 pm #1228567zahavasdadParticipantRav Aharon Shteinman
March 14, 2017 3:44 pm at 3:44 pm #1228568visitor1ParticipantI should have qualified my posts with “‘possibly’ the biggest talmid chochom…” (Not claiming that it is really possible to know.)
March 14, 2017 3:44 pm at 3:44 pm #1228569Avi KParticipantRandomex, Rav Herschel Schachter, Rav Gedalia Schwartz, Rav Mordechai Willig.
March 14, 2017 3:46 pm at 3:46 pm #1228570JosephParticipantAvi, who are the RZ/Dati gedolim?
March 14, 2017 3:56 pm at 3:56 pm #1228571yichusdikParticipantThe historian in me is curious. When/where was the first known usage of the specific term “gadol hador” referencing a generational Rabbinic leader in any widely recognized source? Who used it? In reference to whom? TIA.
March 14, 2017 4:17 pm at 4:17 pm #1228572Geordie613ParticipantThis is a most interesting discussion.
Visitor1, far be it for me to judge the merits of anyone as Godol Hador. However the very term implies someone who is known and to whom the world’s Rabonim, Poskim and Roshei Yeshiva turn to for advice. There are many many ‘Shas Yiedden’ in the world who keep to themselves and for some reason are not known. Tzadik Hador, maybe, but Godol Hador implies more a leader, than a great, learned but hidden tzadik.
To me, and this is maybe an answer to yichusdik, I think Godol Hador may be interchangeable with the term that used to be used, Rabban shel kol b’nei Hagolah. This was used relatively recently, as a title for the Chofetz Chaim and R’ Chaim Ozer, and in my lifetime, R’ Moshe Feinstein.
ZD, I don’t know how it is in the American Torah World, but in EY and in Europe, Rav Steinman is known as Reb Aharon Leib.
March 14, 2017 4:20 pm at 4:20 pm #1228573JosephParticipantGodol is a relative term; it means someone who stands out among his generation in greatness, which is measured in terms of Torah knowledge, and righteousness. There is no measurable threshold beyond which you are categorically a “godol”, like there is when a person gets a medical degree and becomes a “doctor.” Being that the term is relative, different people apply it to different levels for people, and even among those who are commonly referred to as Gedolim, they are not all the same. Rav Shach was a Godol, but he was not the Chazon Ish, for example.
The Tzitz Eliezer uses the term posek hador all over the place in his titles. The Teshuvos Maharshal writes it among the titles to the Ramah, or the Teshuvos Ramah about the Maharshal, I think.
March 14, 2017 5:33 pm at 5:33 pm #1228574bmyerParticipantIs there a difference between gadol hador and posek hador?
Rav Dovid Feinstein is the posek of the yeshiva world in America (and maybe the world).
I don’t think anyone argues…
March 14, 2017 5:36 pm at 5:36 pm #1228575zahavasdadParticipantIn America the gedolim dont get invovled in politics as much as they do in Israel, so they are also more political leaders in Israel and in America they are mostly religous leaders
March 14, 2017 5:45 pm at 5:45 pm #1228576Geordie613ParticipantBmyer,
I would say yes, and to illustrate, I would say, Rav Steinman is the Godol hador, but he is not known as a posek.
March 14, 2017 6:04 pm at 6:04 pm #1228577Avi KParticipantJoseph, a gadol hador must also have extensive secular knowledge or at least access to those who do. For example, before the Tzitz Eliezer paskened on listening to the radio on Shabbat he read a book on radio engineering and took a guided tour of the station with the chief engineer.
March 14, 2017 6:18 pm at 6:18 pm #1228578american_yerushalmiParticipant“… a gadol hador must also have extensive secular knowledge, etc.”
In which “Handbook for (Prospective) Gedolei Hador” does it say that? I’ll reiterate what I wrote previously. It’s not a popularity contest or an election. It’s the consensus of leading rabbonim at any given time who among them is the biggest expert. The “vote” and even the opinion of laymen and certainly amei-ha’aretz do not count for much in arriving at this determination.
March 14, 2017 6:45 pm at 6:45 pm #1228579Geordie613ParticipantAvi K. The Tzitz Eliezer was a prolific posek who obviously researched his subject exhaustively before issuing a psak. But that is called being a posek. Any Rov who doesn’t know everything about a subject will refrain from paskening on it. A few years ago, I had occasion to ask a world famous Rov and Posek about a certain subject. He said to me, Ich bin an am ho’oretz in dem inyan. (I am ignorant in that subject). It is quite a specialist area of halocho. He sent me to another Rov who was well versed in that area.
This is the point where the Godol Hador question begins. Who is the final address where all difficult questions end up?
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