Joe emails: By the age at which he spent time at Har Etzion, I am thinking he is about 37-38. He works the room like a rabbi in his 50s.
I think that Orthodox shuls should give up with the “pasotoral” version of a Rabbi – Rabbis are not mental health specialists. What they are are full time experts in the code – that code implicitly answers the pastoral questions – you are depressed – then turn to the torah and seeks its answers and you will not be depressed – if you doubt the torah’s solutions, then try therapy and all the BS there, but do not expect a rabbi to right the wrongs based on anything else but his transmission of the Torah.
The only key qualification for an orthodox rabbi should be a talmid chacham – an erudite scholar – however, he must be able to work the room, not just a page of gemara. If you want a shrink, the phone book is full of them and they have offices full of people who have been in therapy for many years. There are not such full phone books of scholars in torah who can transmit the code to the laity.
