Within three years and at the young age of 25, Rav Uri Yitzchak Shachor of Yeshivat Sderot successfully passed seven exams and qualified for Israel’s Rabbanut.

This would be an impressive feat for any young man but the feat is even more incredible as Rav Uri suffers from cerebal palsy, is confined to a wheelchair and requires around-the-clock assistance just to perform daily tasks.

In an interview with Kol B’Ramah, Rav Uri thanked his parents, whom he said spared no efforts to help him learn Torah.

An article on the Hebrew-language Chabad.org website three years ago provided some interesting details about Rav Uri. In the past, when Rav Uri was in the Nachlat Yosef yeshivah in Shavei Chevron, he completed the Shas every eight months – at one point finishing Shas 12 times in five years!

He’s the oldest son of eight children and his family lives in the Sde Yaakov moshav in Emek Yazreel. When Uri matured, he was particularly pained by the burden he caused his parents. However, an encouraging statement from HaRav Erez Levy, the Rav of the Avnei Eitan moshav in the Golan, who told him that his disability came because his body couldn’t withstand the greatness of his neshama and broke, provided him with a new way of viewing his situation.

Rav Uri is a genius, with his friend testifying that no matter what question he’s asked in the Gemara, he can provide an exact quote and where it’s quoted. Rav Uri learns without a chavrusa – mainly because of his fast learning pace but also due to his speech impediment.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)