Sunday, March 29, 2015

All that Sarah tells you

An extraordinary anecdote from the book Rav Breuer, His Life and Legacy by Kranzler and Landesman. Page 185, footnote 12
"R. Schwab was responsible for eliciting the first clear responses from the roshei yeshiva of Eastern Europe vis-a-vis their attitude toward Torah im Derech Eretz....Most interesting is the response of R. Avrohom Mordechai Alter, the Gerrer Rebbe. The Rebbe did not reply at first to R. Schwab's question, but R. Schwab had the opportunity to meet him personally and asked him the question directly. The Rebbe then responded by saying: כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה . R. Schwab was understandably perplexed by the Rebbe's response until the gabbai clarified matters for him by pointing out that שרה is an acronym for Shamshon Raphael Hirsch."

(Translation: "All that Sarah tells you, listen to her voice.")

2 comments:

  1. Nice story.

    If combined with the comment of Rashi on those words, in בראשית כא יב, it can be made even more powerful.

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  2. Tufel in navuah. I got you. That's a great point.

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