Rav Simcha Kook

R' Hutner told R' Simcha that when he quoted something from the Vilna Gaon, it was often something that he'd heard from Rav Kook.

When the post of Teveria chief rabbi was suggested, he discovered that the city already had a prominent rav - R' Asher Zev Werner, of the Eidah HaChareidis community. Hesitant to step into what he felt was fertile ground for rabbinic infighting, R' Refoel went to ask the Chazon Ish what to do. The Chazon Ish replied, "Only someone who isn't afraid of machlokes needs to worry about machlokes."

In 1972 at the end of his tenure in Netanya, the Israeli Olympic team was slaughtered in Munich by Palestinian terrorists. As the crisis unfolded, R' Simcha helped organize a citywide gathering of high school students from across the spectrum, secular and religious. The roster of secular speakers held forth about kochi v'otzem yadi, Israeli heroism and self-sacrifice. Then, R' Simcha stood to conclude the event, and his address struck a totally different note. He spoke before the hundreds of teens in the hall with great emotion about the evil facing the Jewish people, saying that it was "eternal hate for an eternal people." Quoting the Shir Shel Yom of that day-a Wednesday - he spoke about the Divine source of Jewish success. "We say, "Keil nekamos Hashem," that Hashem is the G-d of vengeance. That's what we need now!" he declared in ringing tones. "Reveal Yourself, G-d of vengeance, and save us!"

There was one final piece of wisdom from R' Shach about communal leadership. "When you speak to your congregants, speak on their level, but elevate their perspective a little,"

In R' Simcha's mind, Shabbos was the first duty of every Rav. In keeping with the principle that the first mention of a concept in the Torah is definitive, he would often note that the first kedushah that appears in the Torah is that of Shabbos. Hence, all the holiness that follows originates in Shabbos

Unlike in other places, where Shabbos demonstrations often descended into ugly name-calling and public disorder, R' Simcha's gatherings were both a last resort and joyous celebrations of Shabbos. There were no speeches and no exhortations - simply mass Kabbalas Shabbos events. "We're not demonstrating against," he would repeat. "We're demonstrating for. For Shabbos. For the Torah. For Hashem."

As far as R' Simcha was concerned, responsibility was a mindset; it didn't always matter whether a person could act or not - what mattered was the sense of duty

A significant lesson he taught was that the role of a rav is to be proactive. A rav needs to take the initiative and become a builder of Torah, not just a service provider.