Monday, July 20, 2015

Gedolim poll

Lifeinisrael
For the first time ever, supposedly, a survey was conducted to determine the most popular leaders in the Haredi community. According to Israeli website Bechadrei, the survey checked who is the Haredi leader that most people in the Haredi community follow his rulings. Not surprisingly, Rav Shteinman came out on top pulling in 33% support and adherence. Second place was taken by an additional 33%  saying their "admor", so the hassidic rebbes all together would take second place. Third place was taken by Rav Shalom Cohen with 7.6%. The remainder was split among Rav Shmuel Auerbach, Rav Weiss of the Eida, Rav Mazuz, and "other" taking the bulk of the remainder. I am surprised that Rav Cohen only pulled in 7.6%. Considering that he is the maran of Shas and its followers, that seems like an awfully low number.  What bothered me about this survey is its existence. While interesting, it makes it seem like the rav you follow is part of a popularity contest.  And like all surveys, the results are likely skewed to the tune of whomever it was that commissioned it for whatever purpose he had in mind...

1 comment:

  1. Fotheringay-PhippsJuly 23, 2015 at 9:02 AM

    The real skew IMO is not whoever commissioned it, but the type of people who respond to such polls. These are not evenly distributed between followers of the various gedolim.

    Nonetheless, it would be interesting to get the breakdown among the various chasidisher groups.

    I'm not surprised about R' Cohen. A lot of the support that Shas has is from non-Charedi Sefardim, and this poll was a poll of Charedim.

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