Rabbi Gil Student approvingiy links (an "excellent post", he says) to a foolish post by an RCA rabbi calling himself Rabbi Without A Cause defending the gedolim. Here's an excerpt:
…I’m reminded of Rocky (the original film), the scene when Rocky is in a bar, watching a television interview with World Heavyweight Champion Apollo Creed. Apollo is yukking it up and playing the dandy, telling kids to wear suits and carry briefcases rather than become a professional athlete. The bartender calls Apollo a clown, and Rocky turns on him. “You calling Creed a clown? You calling the heavyweight champion of the world a clown?” Rocky, the third-rate ham-and-egger, knows what boxing is about, knows the kind of work you put in to train and win a fight, and knows the work ethic, not to mention talent, that goes into becoming heavyweight champion. He respects it in a way that others cannot, because they’re not in the field.
That’s the way I feel when I hear people mock gedolim and question their Torah knowledge and their ethics. These are rabbis who have spent decades learning and teaching, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen hours per day. They’ve been dedicated to this their entire lives. They don’t take breaks and luxurious vacations, they don’t watch TV and movies or read paperback novels, they don’t hang out with their friends schmoozing. I’m not romanticizing it; this is the life.
There are some 2700 daf in shas, and the Gedolim can tell you what's on each page. They can quote Rishonim and Acharonim and debate and discuss the different sides of each argument. They know Shulchan Aruch, they know poskim and teshuvos.
And they know life. They answer questions from rabbis like me every day, with sensitivity and wisdom and creativity. They know how to be lenient, and they know when to be strict. They are quite familiar with the human condition.…
Here's the comment I left on that blog, just in case this fool follows the example of his mentor Rabbi Student and censors me:
Yup. What they did to Rabbi Slifkin – and how they did it – was pure gadlus. That's why so many of us make fun of them – and it.
Are you foolish enough to believe that dedication to a cause equals gadlus? I don't care how many hours or how few vacations. I care about results.
How about a certain child abuse coverup with heavy participation from gedolim? Is that gadus?
Is telling victims that, because there was no penetration, there was no abuse, gadlus? Telling them that calling the police is mesira – is that gadlus?
You're not rabbi without a cause, you're rabbi without a clue.
With rabbis like these, who needs haredim?