I will never forget a conversation I had with Rebbetzin Zlata Ginsburg a”h. We were discussing the differences between the yeshiva world in the 1990s and the yeshiva world of pre-war Europe, where she was born and raised. Rebbetzin Ginsburg was a daughter of Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zt”l, famed mashigach of Mir and Ponovezh, and the wife of Rav Efraim Mordechai Ginsburg zt”l, rosh yeshiva at Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn and a close talmid of the Brisker Rov. She was born in Kelm and was raised in Mir and Kletzk in the heart of the pre-war yeshiva world.
She told me that one fundamental difference was that bnei Torah of the pre-war era were far more confident in their own abilities to think, analyze something, and make a conclusion based on their own seichel than people are today.
She told me that so many people don’t seem to have confidence in their ability to think and draw conclusions based on what they see. They are constantly running to ask others to think for them.
I asked her, “So people shouldn’t consult with their roshei yeshiva, rabbonim and mentors?”
She replied, “Of course, there are times when you have to ask a question to ah kluger Yid (a clever Jew).” [“Not every talmid chochom is ah kluger Yid,” she added parenthetically.] “But that is only after you have thought the entire thing through on your own and broken the question down to its essence.”
She felt that the lack of ability to think for oneself was a combination of intellectual laziness and lack of confidence in one’s own abilities. The bnei Torah of pre-war Europe were far more secure in their ability to think for themselves, she would say.
