R. Haim Meir Drukman
Although I follow Sefardi rabbis, there are two Ashkenazi rabbis that have earned my respect, both for what they teach and how they act.
R. Israel Meir Lau I was "introduced" to R. Lau by my Syrian, son-of-a-rabbi brother-in-law (once removed)* who gifted me with a book R. Lau wrote when he was Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. He later was Chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel.
I learned to respect the rabbi as I read his book, "יהדות הלכה למעשה". In it he cites halacha, noting that there are differences of approach according to the traditions of the many different groups that constitute Judaism.
Unlike the haridim of Mea Sharim or Been Brak, R. Lau realizes - as do most non-Shas Sefardim and Mizrahim - that "a Jew is a Jew" regardless of how he covers his head (velvet kippa or knitted kippa) or not at all. The Law - from the Torah as interpreted by the rabbis of the talmuds and the likes of the universally accepted Maran and Rash"i - is The Law. The rabbis, particularly those of the haridim, have remade The Law to suit themselves and have ostracized everyone who fails to follow their version of how they think The Law should be applied.
R. Haim Meir Drukman Perhaps there is something in the name Meir -מאור in Hebrew, Meir (ma-or) means "light" - like R. Lau is a Jew who might be called "modern Orthodox." Certainly he, like R. Lau, believes that "a Jew is a Jew" even if a converted Jew fails to keep all possible mitzvot. (I challenge anyone, even the most makped haredi - and that probably is redundant - to name any Jew alive in 2013/5773 who follows all the mitzvot he - or she - is obliged to follow.)
R. Drukman lives as a modern man in Israel. He ran, to the haredi establishment's displeasure, conversion programs for new immigrants and, in particular, for members of the IDF. In 1964 he founded the Ohr Etzion B'nei Akiva Yeshiva High school, where he remains Rosh Yeshiva. In 1977 he established the Ohr Etzion Yeshiva, which for many years was the largest Hesder Yeshiva in the country, and in 1995 founded the Ohr MeOfir academy for high school graduates of the Ethiopian community. Since 1996 he has also been the head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot and ulpanot in Israel.
For those not familiar with the hesder yeshiva movement, the yeshiva students join the IDF and combine both military service and talmud study.
To me, what the haridim call "Judaism" is exclusionary and, in many respects, gives Israel's enemies justification for what they do - specifically refusing to sell property to a Jew; the good rabbis of the haredi sector ruled that Jews could not sell land to an Arab. Of course many of these same Jews don't recognize Israel as a modern state.
Judaism needs more leaders of the caliber of rabbis Lau and Drukman. Imagine, with leaders such as those two, maybe even Sefardim/Mizrahim could find common ground with their Ashkenazi cousins. (Of course the Ashkenazim would have to allow kitniyot during Pesach, but … )
* Shlomo is my sister-in-law's husband, but defining him that way is awkward.
