The U.S. has destroyed most of Iran’s navy. But not the one Tehran uses to control the Strait of Hormuz.
The regular navy operated Iran’s big battleships largely for prestige and occasional long-range deployments. The paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, on the other hand, has its own extensive fleet of more nimble boats designed to control the crucial waterway with missiles, mines and harassment of commercial ships—and they are much harder to reach.
very interesting (Open access) article by Benjamin Brown on Haredi influence, and how editor of Yated almost made Rav Shmuel Auerbach the gadol hador.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.22177844.12
Rav Henkin, zt"l, Rav Moshe zt"l and the other greats of their time weren't anointed as Gedolim(tm). They earned their spots through scholarship, piety and years of quiet leadership through merit.
ReplyDeleteToday it's like the Catholics - a public appointment and semi-official position. It started with Rav Schach, z"l, where we were just told he was the Godol HaDor(tm). Why? Because he is and how dare you question it! All the rest since then have been the same right down to the current Jewish Pope, Rav Landau. Why is he in charge? Because he is and how dare you even ask that question!
Today there is no outright leader. Rav Lando may be consulted but his influence is much more limited than 30 years ago in Bnei brak or in Jerusalem. And he makes statements which I don't think he declares them as the Daas Torah that we must all accept.
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