Eulogy for Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein

Abstract

We would all like to believe that Torah on the part of a believing Jew automatically brings with it a status of supreme righteousness. This certainly should be the case, and most probably is. Nonetheless, in a Jewish world of contentiousness, of ideological friction, of access to every position and even every casual comment regarding matters of the day issued by rabbinic scholars, this conviction can be sorely tested. At their cynical ·worst, some Jews,, especially Modern Orthodox Jews, wonder if the coexistence of mastery of Torah and supreme righteousness is a realistic expectation. ¶

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein reinforced our faith in the ethical power of Torah. His control of the corpus of the written and oral Torah approached the absolute, and he personified integrity, concern for others, genuine, almost startling, humility -- everything that the word tzaddik.conveys. (from Introduction)