Rabbi Gershon Edelstein Believed in a Respectful Discourse With Secular Israelis, but as Far as He Was Concerned, the Haredim Remained a Tiny, Vulnerable Minority. The Next ‘Gadol Hador’ Will Almost Certainly Be a Nonagenarian Like Him, Who Will Bring No New Direction for Thousands of Young ultra-Orthodox Who Seek a Future Outside the Confines of the Yeshiva
Rabbi Kanievsky, who died on Friday, had been elevated to the status of community leader because there was no one else who could be mythologized as he had been. But he failed to come to grips with his own rapidly changing community and world