Rav Shach and Rav Amital

Today is the yahrtzeit of R. Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt"l. Just yesterday, as I am making my way through the recent, moving biography of R. Yehuda Amital (Be-Emunato by Elyashiv Reichner), I learned something about him and R. Shach that I thought the readers here would find interesting (p. 64 of the book):

Click here to read moreR. Shach had been a student of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer in Europe and he eventually married R. Meltzer's niece. R. Amital married R. Meltzer's granddaughter. In addition to this family connection, when R. Amital was relatively young, he attended R. Shach's talmudic lectures and developed a close relationship with him, one that could be called a Talmid-Chaver (student-colleague) relationship. The two would discuss R. Shach's lectures, with R. Amital adding ideas and R. Shach rewarding him with cigarettes. And they would also argue about Zionism, army service and the young State of Israel.

Decades later, their paths crossed and R. Shach hugged R. Amital and said, "R' Yehuda, R' Yehuda, we are now so distant that we don't even argue anymore."