QUESTION:
I was always taught to believe in the greatness of tzaddikim, but on the other hand I have also become educated and sharper in the last couple of years to the reality that if a “tzaddik” doesn’t keep even the smallest section in Shulchan Aruch, he belongs in Gehinnom and it doesn’t matter how much of a tzaddik he is known to be. Therefore, I am trying to understand what I’ve been told about the Admor of Amshinov, shlit”a. I’ve been told that he makes Kiddush on Sunday and he skips tefillos, and other things. I cannot understand how it’s possible to overlook these facts. Yet, I’ve heard that there were Gedolim who held him in prestige. Therefore, I want to ask: What is the way to view him? I hope that the Rav will not answer me something like “We are not supposed to harbor any thoughts against our sages/tzaddikim”, because I want to understand this.
ANSWER:
He is an oved Hashem, a person who serves Hashem, with t’mimus (earnestness) and yashrus (uprightness) and mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), from intense ahavas Yisrael (love for the Jewish people). Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l was already asked about him and he ruled that there is nothing to suspect at all. From the little that I know about him, he acts according to the halachah, even if he doesn’t follow all the views in the Poskim on every matter.
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