QUESTION:
How do we know who the Gadol HaDor (the greatest person in the generation) is? Is it determined by the Gadol HaDor before him who appoints him to be in his place?
ANSWER:
The Gadol HaDor is the one who has the soul of Moshe, either for the most part or at least a spark of Moshe in his soul. One of the Sages told his student, “Moshe, you have spoken well” (Talmud Bavli Succah 39a) and Rashi there says that just as Moshe was the “gadol hador”, so is the gadol hador in every generation called “Moshe”, because there is an illumination of Moshe’s soul that shines within the soul of the gadol hador.
See also Tiferes Yisrael (on Shabbos HaGadol) who says that the gadol hador is the one in whose merit the entire world is sustained, such as R’ Chanina ben Dosa, of whom it was said, “The entire world is sustained through my son, Chanina.”
See also sefer Sheairis Yisrael (Shaar Hiskashrus 5) that if one has mesirus nefesh for the EinSof which goes beyond the level of keilim/vessels and he draws down nourishment from there to the world, he is the Gadol HaDor.
See also sefer Bas Ayin on Parshas Beshalach.
See also Tiferes Yisrael (on Shabbos HaGadol) who says that the gadol hador is the one in whose merit the entire world is sustained, such as R’ Chanina ben Dosa, of whom it was said, “The entire world is sustained through my son, Chanina.”
See also sefer Sheairis Yisrael (Shaar Hiskashrus 5) that if one has mesirus nefesh for the EinSof which goes beyond the level of keilim/vessels and he draws down nourishment from there to the world, he is the Gadol HaDor.
See also sefer Bas Ayin on Parshas Beshalach.
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