ABSTRACT
If a pious Jew in Israel were asked the question, ‘Who was the most important Ashkenazi rabbi in modern Israeli history?’, it is very likely that the answer would be ‘Rabbi Shach’. This distinguished scholar was someone who linked the old and the new – he lived until the almost ‘biblical’ age of 103 years (some sources even say 106 years), and he was a Talmudic mastermind, a graduate of the most significant yeshivot and an important halachic authority (posek), all in one person. Although he was an opponent of Zionism, he was also one of the pioneers of creating Israeli religious political parties.
