Reply To: A gadol on his own

“Why do you think it is any different from any other person who loses a spouse?” I think in many “regular” families, even the husband has some experience shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc, and could pick it up when necessary. But I have been in the homes of several gedolim who, because of their unusual focus on learning and avodas haklal, would have absolutely zero idea of what to do in a kitchen. Any they certainly haven’t gone to the supermarket to shop, or maybe it’s been 50 years since they have. For these people, starting from basically zero at age 70+ would be substantially more difficult than for you or me.

On further thought, I would think that even my own father, from a different generation, would also have no idea of what to do in a kitchen. I’m not sure what he would do without my mother shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc… But I guess you’re right, I guess this does come up all the time for regular people too. Perhaps the additional complications of kavod harov make this sound like a trickier problem for a gadol than for regular people.

I like the story of Rav Pam, and it certainly says alot about him. But I’m sure that there are many gedolim that feel much less comfortable in their kitchens than Rav Pam felt in his…. I’m trying to picture R’ Chaim making a chicken soup or cholent…