[Avodah] Who is Great

[Micha Berger]

And yet another Y-mi Yomi thought from Nedarim 10:8 (vilna 35b):

R' Chiya bar Aba got R' Lezer to appeal to R' Yudan Nesiah (the grandson
of the compiler of the mishnah) for a temporary semichah as a letter
to take with him to Bavel. RYN agrees, and includes in the letter "I am
hereby sending you an adam gadol".

According to R' Chizqiyah, R' Dustei, R' Aba bar Zimna, and others repeat
it in the name of R' Dustei Saba, he wrote "I am hereby sending you an
adam gadol, for he is not embarassed to say 'I didn't hear it.'"

I wish I had more rabbeim willing to say "I don't know". Elementary and
HS would have been much smoother.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When you come to a place of darkness,
micha at aishdas.org        you don't chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org   You light a candle.
Fax: (270) 514-1507        - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l