Tearing Garments in Mourning for a Rabbi Who Taught Torah

My rabbi, who taught me a lot of Torah in yeshiva, has passed away. Do I need to tear my garments in mourning?

The custom is to tear garments only for a rabbi from whom one has gained most of his wisdom, for a great person of his generation, and for a sage who is asked about halacha everywhere and answers. It is also permissible to be lenient in tearing by tearing the hem of the coat.

The Talmud in Shabbat, page 105b, and similarly in Moed Katan, page 25a, explains that tearing is only done by the relatives of the deceased. The Talmud questions: "And if he is a sage, is one obligated to tear, as it is taught: if a sage dies, all are his relatives. All are his relatives? Can you think so? Rather, say: all are like his relatives, all tear for him, all remove their shoes for him, all eat the mourning meal in the public square! - No, it is not necessary, if he is not a sage. And if he is a righteous person, is one obligated to tear, as it is taught: why do a person's sons and daughters die when they are young? So that he will cry and mourn for a righteous person. So that he will cry, do they take a pledge from him? Rather: because he did not cry and mourn for a righteous person. Anyone who cries for a righteous person, all his sins are forgiven for the honor he showed. - No, it is not necessary, if he is not a righteous person. And if he is present at the time of the soul's departure, is one obligated to tear, as it is taught, Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: one who stands over the deceased at the time of the soul's departure is obligated to tear, what is this similar to? To a Torah scroll that was burned. - No, it is not necessary, if he is not present at the time of the soul's departure."

It is explained that one is obligated to tear for a sage and a righteous person, even if not at the time of the soul's departure. And at the time of the soul's departure of any person who is not righteous.

It is also explained in Bava Metzia, page 33a: "His teacher, of whom they spoke - is the teacher who taught him wisdom, not the teacher who taught him Scripture and Mishnah, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: anyone from whom he received most of his wisdom. Rabbi Yossi says: even if he only enlightened him in one Mishnah - this is his teacher. Rava said: like Rav Sehora, who explained to me that dirt is listron. Shmuel tore his garments for one of the sages who explained to him that one descends to the armpit and another opens like. Ulla said: the sages in Babylon stand for each other and tear for each other."

Thus, the Shulchan Aruch in Siman 340 outlines the degrees of tearing: for a person who is not righteous (and does not sin intentionally, nor sins out of desire regularly), one tears only at the time of the soul's departure. For a righteous person: one tears between death and burial. For a sage and a scholar who is asked everywhere and answers, one tears within thirty days, and if not torn within thirty days, one tears at the time of his eulogy. For his teacher from whom he received most of his wisdom: one tears all his garments and does not mend, and some say one tears a handbreadth.

The Rema wrote there in paragraph 8 that the custom is to tear only for his teacher from whom he received most of his wisdom. And he holds that Shmuel's tearing was merely a stringency, not the main law. And so the poskim wrote that one tears only for an outstanding teacher.

The great of the generation, Beit Yosef, wrote that he has the status of an outstanding teacher.

However, it is surprising about the custom, as it is explained in the Talmud that one should tear for a righteous person and for a sage? And regarding a righteous person, it must be said as the Gra wrote in SK 17 that he holds that the main version is like the Talmud in Shabbat, which does not mention tearing. And regarding a sage, the Shach in SK 17 wrote that it is surprising about the custom from the Talmud that one should tear for a sage, and explained that he holds that a sage is one who is asked about halacha everywhere and answers, and wrote that now, unfortunately, there are no such scholars. And according to this, even according to the custom, there is a complete obligation to tear for one who is asked everywhere in his study and answers.