Trutharchivist

At this (Hebrew calendar) date, three years ago, Rav Adin Even-Yisrael (better known as Rav Steinsaltz, ז"ל) died.

Why am I mentioning this here? That's a good question. It has two parts: why I mention it, and why I do it here. The answer to the first one is somewhat easier than the second: I mention it because I find that in some ways, though I hardly ever talked to him, though I don't read his books all that often, I'm still connected to him in some way. I didn't study under him; rather, I've learned from people who did, or sometimes people who learned from people who learned from him, at least a little. My high school was founded (supposedly) in his vision.

So, let's assume for a moment that this is a sufficient answer. Why am I writing this here? After all, most of my audience are non-Jews, with about two to three exceptions. Rav Adin didn't write much for gentiles - unlike Rav Sacks (ז"ל), for example, who was the chief rabbi of Great Britain. So, how does any of this relate to any of you?

Honestly, I have no idea. Maybe it will end up being irrelevant for you. But I feel like sharing ideas I believe in, and many things from my faith, so I might as well try to talk about this, too. Maybe this is a mistake; maybe after just a few seconds I will erase this whole thing. I don't know.

In no way can I actually do justice to Rav Adin. I hardly knew him, and what I heard of him can be - and was - summarized better by others. Most Jews know him from writing commentary on the Talmud. But while those commentaries were indeed a lifetime achievement, it hardly gets even close to summing up who he was.

He was a teacher; he founded an institute with the motto "let my people know". I think I've heard in his name (though I'm not sure of it) that if you get to choose between ignorants or heretics - the latter might be preferable, since they at least know what they disagree with. In a way, sometimes, when I write my esssays on Judaism here, this goes through my mind - that people need to know. 

Something I've heard many of his students say is that he wanted to leave everyone with a constant drive to do more, to move onward. 

There probably are many other things I can say about him. But as I said, I would do a bad job of it. I really don't know how to better focus this. In any case, Shabbat is coming, so I kind of have to stop here.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day