Rabbi Eliezer Sorotskin, the general manager of “Independent Education” and CEO of Lev Laachim, was a guest at the Kikar Hashabat studio and paid tribute to his close friend Rabbi Uri Zohar. The full interview, tomorrow on the program ‘Closing a Week with Yishai Cohen’.
He said: “When we spoke in study he would speak like a Torah scholar who studied in Brisk. He was a great man who used to dismiss himself in the face of the great men of Israel. I remember once we wanted him to do something he did not want to do, and then he suggested we go hear Maran’s opinion. The then Rosh Yeshiva, the late Grail Steinman, told him this at the entrance.
“Rosh Yeshiva, I do not want to hear what the Rosh Yeshiva says, but to do what the Rosh Yeshiva does, and that is to sit and study.
“I remember that the Rosh Yeshiva replied that he had a duty to do the deed, and that otherwise he was considered a real deserter, and when he heard the answer he did not have even a single moment of hesitation. It was Rabbi Uri Zohar. I think if we mourned recently Maran Sher “The Torah, now we are mourning the Minister of Approach.”
Rabbi Sortzkin added: “Rabbi Uri Zohar took advantage of every minute of study and the use of time, and it can only be said that he was the minister of Teshuvah by inspiring many converts who saw him as an exemplary figure.
“He inherited a very clear legacy on the subject of repentance and the treatment of converts that was so close to him that he would give me clear instructions and not consult with me when it came to the issue of having a child, a son of converts to the independent education system.”