Q:
What is something that we can learn from the character of Rav Isaac Sher, zichrono l’vracha, the Rav’s rebbi?
A:
Well, you have to really know a person to judge his character. Rav Isaac Sher was the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, the last Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka before they moved to Eretz Yisroel. He was a man of very great intelligence. Everything he said was logical. And therefore I admire him no end and I have very many things to say about him. But right now I’ll say this: We can learn from Rav Isaac Sher the importance of learning and understanding the Torah and the Gemara al pi seichel hayashar, in ways that are founded on logic. Seichel hayashar is very important. That was his derech.
It’s called learning through dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv, with ideas that people can grasp and understand. In order to convince people, to teach people, you should talk about dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv, things that are more convincing. Some people like to say sisrei Torah, things that are mysterious, things that we don’t understand. Nothing wrong with that; there are a lot of mysteries in Torah too. But if you want to be effective, you should follow the system of saying dvarim hamiskablim al haleiv.
TAPE # 978
