Chassidish Stories and Great Rabbis

"So," the director began, "why does a person who asks a rabbi a halachic question have to act according to what the rabbi tells him? Don't rabbis make mistakes sometimes?"

In honor of our Matriarch Rachel, about whom we learn in this week's Torah portion of Vayishlah, we present a collection of thoughts on what she stands for, and what all mothers stand for.

I learned that if a rabbi takes a position that opposes that of all the other rabbis in his generation, he is not to be listened to. Would this not apply to Rav Kook who was a lone voice in his generation?

The loss of tzaddikim has an effect on the world. "Save, O Lord - for the pious are gone; for the faithful have vanished from among men" (Psalms 12,2). That is to say, when a righteous man passes away, the world suffers a loss of emuna and trust. Emuna diminishes because tzaddikim help ensure that it remains strong, and when they leave, it becomes weaker. Rav Tzvi Yehuda was a great man of emuna, and his loss left a great vacuum of emuna in the world.