OU TORAH Toldos By Rav Moshe Twersky, HY"D
Everybody asks the question, why is the teffilah of a tzadik ben tzadik greater? We would have thought that the tzadik ben rasha should have a greater teffilah since Chazal say that even perfect tzaddikim are unable to stand where baalei teshuva stand. There is a famous answer from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz that for the tzadik ben rasha it is inherent that he will have his own unique personal connection to his avodas Hashem since, after all, he had to swim against the tide to get to where he is. The tzadik ben tzadik, on the other hand, lives with the difficulty of finding his own approach. When a tzadik ben tzadik overcomes the natural tendency of simplistic imitation and instead carves his own niche, his own new unique approach – both in terms of his understanding of Torah as well as in avodas Hashem; everything should be alibah dideih – that is a supreme accomplishment that makes his teffilah more effective.
In Orach Chaim siman 53, the Tur brings in the name of the Rosh that the selection of a Chazan is not contingent on the individual’s yichus. Rather, if the person himself is a tzadik, we do not hold it against him if his family stock happens to be degenerate; it is good to bring close the offspring of the distant, as the pasuk says, “Shalom shalom la’rachok v’la’karov.”
There is a machlokes between the Maharshal and the Taz how to understand this statement of the Rosh.
Everybody asks the question, why is the teffilah of a tzadik ben tzadik greater? We would have thought that the tzadik ben rasha should have a greater teffilah since Chazal say that even perfect tzaddikim are unable to stand where baalei teshuva stand. There is a famous answer from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz that for the tzadik ben rasha it is inherent that he will have his own unique personal connection to his avodas Hashem since, after all, he had to swim against the tide to get to where he is. The tzadik ben tzadik, on the other hand, lives with the difficulty of finding his own approach. When a tzadik ben tzadik overcomes the natural tendency of simplistic imitation and instead carves his own niche, his own new unique approach – both in terms of his understanding of Torah as well as in avodas Hashem; everything should be alibah dideih – that is a supreme accomplishment that makes his teffilah more effective.
In Orach Chaim siman 53, the Tur brings in the name of the Rosh that the selection of a Chazan is not contingent on the individual’s yichus. Rather, if the person himself is a tzadik, we do not hold it against him if his family stock happens to be degenerate; it is good to bring close the offspring of the distant, as the pasuk says, “Shalom shalom la’rachok v’la’karov.”
There is a machlokes between the Maharshal and the Taz how to understand this statement of the Rosh.
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