Shimon Peres was a very old man when he died, and yet it was hard to think that one day he would not be here. He seemed like a man who would live forever.
This is what our Torah giants mostly look like.
Besides them, there aren't many older people who, when you look at their faces, think they'll never leave the world.
But Shimon Peres was not a giant in Torah.
Shimon Peres has passed away and the Haredi media is bowing its head and making way. There is no man, woman, boy or girl who does not know that he has passed away, who does not witness the nodding of heads and sympathy for the deceased.
Shimon Peres' funeral is packed with people. Among them are Haredi. They felt a personal connection with the deceased, even though they never met him face to face.
But Shimon Peres was not a great rabbi.
Shimon Peres was a politician for so many years. Political people are not popular with the people, to put it mildly. But he, for some reason, managed to create a complete separation between politics and life.
He managed to convey to every person the humanity he was endowed with. There was no one who stood before him and said:
""Well, just politics, I don't believe a word of it!""
Rather, everyone who met him believed his words, just as one believes in a great man in the Torah.
But Shimon Peres was not a great Torah scholar.
When he told about his family members who were murdered in the Holocaust, everyone knew he was telling exactly what happened, and when he told on various occasions about his encounters with great Torah scholars – everyone believed every word, just as one believes in a great Torah scholar.
As if he wasn't a politician at all.
But Shimon Peres was not a 'father in Torah.'.
Even those who disagreed with his ways agreed with his behavior. Those who disagreed with his words agreed with his nobility.
Shimon Peres was received in his life and is received in his death as a respected man in the ultra-Orthodox community. Look at the media fighting for the right to report on his connections with the greatest rabbis of all circles.
For a moment it seems that the title should be added to his name: Rebbe Shimon Peres!
But Shimon Peres was not a Rebbe.
Shimon Peres requested that the song "Abinu Malkenu" be played at his funeral.
No, not some song by Naomi Shemer or Rachel the poet, (whose honor is in their place), but 'Our Father is Our King.'.
And why? Because it's the song that reminds him of Yom Kippur from his childhood, when he stayed with his grandfather, who was a righteous and great rabbi in the Torah.
For Shimon Peres, the tune of "Avinu Malkenu" reminds him of his childhood days in the town, and if he chose this tune for his last day, it proves that true Jewish education is so deeply rooted and deep that no secularism can truncate it.
The Jewish people - with the Torah, will live forever.
No matter how much they try to harass him, tear him from his stronghold, and try to force heresy and assimilation on him - they will not succeed, because the ancient melody will always stick out to him and remind him of forgotten things.
And when these words are uttered from the mouth of a man who is accepted by almost all levels of the people, whose funeral is attended by world leaders from all corners of the world, a man who in his lifetime was not seen as a man of observance, was not seen as a rabbi, and was far from being seen as a Rebbe, when these words are uttered from his mouth, these words take on a different significance.
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