Rav Simcha Kook created a consensus in Rechovot and beyond
Over almost five decades at the helm of the central Israel town, the Chief Rabbi — a fixture at every public event from a kollel siyum to the inauguration of a new police chief — had made a special effort to reach the town’s youth.
Yet that year, with the snow-white of his beard marking the onset of old age, the grueling task of speaking at the city’s many schools proved too much.
“We’ll put off the last few visits until after Yom Tov,” Rav Kook told his longtime assistant, Rabbi Nachman Fogel.
The next morning, Rabbi Fogel — a soft-spoken Vizhnitzer chassid who’d acted as the mazkir of the Rechovot Beis Din since 1973 — was surprised to hear that the venerable rav had changed his mind.
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