Sorry, CS, that I reposted my question about the Rashba after you had already addressed it but before it appeared on my screen.
Here is what you wrote: “They were definitely both tzaddikim. More likely the Rashba was greater as he lived in a much earlier generation.”
More likely!!! What happened to your quote of “im harishonim…”? Are there exceptions? It seems as if you think there may be. If that’s the case you shouldn’t have quoted it as an inviolable rule.