NEWS
HaRav Yerachmiel Gershon Edelstein zt"l

by M Berger

Rabbeinu was born on 2 Iyar, 5683 (1923), just over 100 years ago, in what was then the Soviet Union. He was the first born of his father, HaRav Tzvi Yehuda zt"l, the rav of Shumiatz in Russia, and later the rav of Ramat HaSharon just north of Tel Aviv and author of the sefer Ben Aryeh. His mother was Miriam, the daughter of HaRav Mordechai Shlomoh Mowshowitz zt"l the rav of Malestova. In this home that was an heir to an illustrious heritage of great Torah scholars, Rabbeinu grew up.

The atheistic Communist authorities closed all of the traditional chadorim. There was only one large Jewish school of some 400 pupils, but they were not allowed to teach any Torah.

When rabbeinu reached the age of Chumash study, his father took him out of the communal school and sent him to the only practicing melamed there was in the city at that time. The melamed only had seven students, but the situation required a considerable amount of mesiras nefesh on everyone's part since the regime of Lenin and Stalin, aided by Jewish traitors, tried very hard to eliminate all Torah study. Legally every child was obligated to attend a Communist school. Even though he risked severe penalties, Rav Tzvi Yehuda insisted that his children study only with a teacher who was a yirei Shomayim, like that melamed.

Later HaRav Yaakov Edelstein, the younger brother of HaRav Gershon who studied with him all the time, recalled that when the melamed got up to the posuk in Noach, vayiskor Elokim es Noach, he announced that they would stop the lessons since emissaries of the government had told him, "No more."

Life was very difficult of shomrei Torah in those days. The prospects were bleak and many despaired of any future for Torah life. The Communists ruled a sixth of the world in those days, including Ukraine, Georgia, Buchara and more with millions of Jews.

HaRav Gershon recalled, "When we were small, our father taught us Torah in secret at home, and he made sure that we had no contact with children who were not religious. In order to avoid the requirements of mandatory education, our mother tried and succeeded in getting us birth certificates that showed us to be three years younger than we really were. Our mother put all her power into raising us to Torah and yiras Shomayim, and the love of Torah that she projected is still engraved on our hearts."

After his father saw that the shochet was sent to prison, he realized that the children could not safely stay at home so he decided to send his two sons to their uncle in Klimovitch, where they had a tutor to teach them Chumash and gemora.

They went to the Ashkenaz shul, where the rav still said a shiur between mincha and ma'ariv, however their were no children their age. They were told that in the Chassidishe shul there are children so they went over there. They found there a group of children their age, and they learned Torah together.

Rabbeinu commented that his mother's love of Torah knew no bounds, as at that time she was ill with typhus, yet she still agreed for her sons to be sent to Klimovitch, knowing that she would probably never see them again. In fact not long after they arrived in Klimovitch they received news of her passing. Their father decided to leave them living with his sister, in order for them to continue their chinuch. They were there about two years.

On 3 MarCheshvan 5693 (1933) the family got a letter certifying that HaRav Tzvi Yehuda was a recognized rabbi and they were allowed to enter the British Mandate Palestine.

They only port from which they could book a passage to Palestine was Odessa, and they were finally able to leave on Rosh Chodesh Iyar 5694 (1934). On the ship all their luggage was in the hold except for the bare necessities, but the bare necessities included a gemora Bava Kamma and a Chumash Vayikra. Their father learned with Rabbeinu and his brother regularly on the passage.

Rabbeinu later recalled that his father had said at the time, "If there had been a possibility to go from Russia to Poland (Lithuania) I would have gone to Poland. My rebbe, HaRav Boruch Ber Lebovitz zt"l was there as well as the great yeshivas Mir and Kamenitz. My sons would have grown up in the yeshivos where my rebbe was still rosh yeshiva. I wanted my own sons to also learn by him. But Russia and Poland were so at odds that it was impossible to pass anything over. Therefore we went to Eretz Hakodesh where it was also possible to learn Torah."

Rabbeinu understood from this that learning Torah was the highest value and they were headed to wherever they could learn Torah.

The Edelstein family reached Eretz Yisroel on Lag BaOmer 5694 after a very eventful voyage. Word of their arrival spread among their family who were in Eretz Yisrael, especially the Mowshowitz family, several of whose members served as rabbonim of cities: Herzlia, Kfar Chassidim, Bat Shlomoh and neighborhoods in Tel Aviv. When their ship arrived in Jaffa a number of them came to give them a warm welcome.

Since they had no place to live, the family lived with various relatives. The grandmother lived with one relative and their sister (later Rebbetzin Gershonowitz o"h) lives someplace else. However their father insisted that he stay together with the two boys and wherever they were (Kfar Chassidim, Yerushalayim or Tel Aviv) they continued their regular learning. Rabbeinu later recalled, "Wherever we were, father immediately picked up a gemora and learned with us."

By the end of 5694 the family moved together to Ramat HaSharon where HaRav Tzvi Yehuda was appointed rav of the settlement. They moved into an apartment at first without any furniture. Then an old man who had come from America bought himself new beds and sent his two old beds to the Edelstein family. The adults slept on the beds and the children slept on the floor.

The first thing their father did upon arrival was to go to the shul and ask to borrow two copies of Bava Kamma so that it would be easier to learn with his sons. This was even before he did anything about furniture.

Rabbeinu said that their landlord had a small orchard of 5 dunam (about 1.25 acres) in Ramat HaSharon and he said they could take orange crates to sit on. They sat on them and learned together. "This taught us about proper values: before worrying about what to eat, or for a bed to sleep on, you worry about having a gemora to learn."

At the time their father once exclaimed, "Just imagine. Our whole body is now in the holy air of Eretz Yisroel, just like in a succa where the whole body is in a holy place. And now we learn Torah!" This made him very happy.

There was only one school in Ramat HaSharon from the general (non-religious) stream. Very few of the children that went there remained religious. His father tried to convince the families to insist that their children get a Torah education. Only one family listened to him, the Ben Shalom family. They used to walk every day to Herzlia where HaRav Mowshowitz (who had arrived three years earlier in Eretz Yisrael) had opened a Torah school.

The Edelstein brothers learned only with their father. He often said that his hope was that they would eventually go to Europe to learn with his own rebbe, HaRav Boruch Ber. However by they time they were old enough the War had started and also HaRav Boruch Ber was niftar in 5700, so they remained with their father.

HaRav Yaakov once described their learning in those days. "Abba learned many gemoras with us. We used to cover about a daf each day, with four reviews. I remember that one year on Rosh Hashanah after davening we started maseches Pesochim, and four months later, on Rosh Chodesh Shvat, we finished it. Every day we would also review what we had learned the previous day. At the end of every perek and at the end of a maseches we would review again. Each time it would get easier and more things would become clear. When we got a bit older we learned the Rambam on the maseches we were learning, after we finished the maseches. When we finished maseches Bechoros we learned through the entire Maharit Algazi. Once our Father thought that perhaps it was not the right thing that he was doing in learning with us and not sending us to a yeshiva. He asked the Chazon Ish and the Brisker Rav about this and they both said that what he was doing was good and that he should continue."

Rabbeinu once said, "We did not learn in cheder or a yeshiva ketana (high school). We learned only with our father until we were old enough to go to a yeshiva gedola. Then we went to learn in the Lomzhe Yeshiva in Petach Tikva. At the time the Chazon Ish said that we already got a derech in learning from our father and we should be careful that the yeshiva should not undermine this."

At the age of 16 the proposal came up to go to a yeshiva. The father consulted with the Brisker Rav about what to do. The Rav asked, "Do they learn or not?" When told that they learn he asked why they should look for anything else. "You learn with them," the Rav said.

At the cemetery

A little later their father consulted the Chazon Ish on the same issue, but the result was the same: he should continue to learn with them.

When he was about 18 (around 1941) Rabbeinu found a new reason to go to a yeshiva. Their father, as a rav, was responsible for shechita, and that interfered with their learning. Rabbeinu said that he thought they would learn more in a yeshiva. Their father thought that was a winning argument.

Asking around about the various yeshivas that existed in those days, their father decided on the Lomzhe Yeshiva in Petach Tikva. Asked once why his father agreed to that yeshiva, Rabbeinu answered, "Because there were bochurim who were gedolei Torah, like HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky, HaRav Zeev Wilensky, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, HaRav Mordechai Man and HaRav Moshe Shmuel Shapira. Also the mashgiach, HaRav Abba Grossbard was very strong and made sure the yeshiva functioned properly. Another simple reason was that it was close by."

He arrived at the yeshiva on the second day of Rosh Chodesh Elul (1 Elul). The Mashgiach greeted him and told him there was no room for him in the yeshiva. He asked that his father has spoken to the Mashgiach and he was accepted in the yeshiva. HaRav Abba said, "True, but the zman started yesterday and we saw that you had not arrived so we did not save a room for you."

Somewhat miraculously, the secretary of the yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Zalman Moses overheard what was happening and offered for him to stay at his home until other arrangements could be made.

He soon proved himself to be one of the top bochurim and he took part in lively discussions with the other bochurim.

He became close to the Mashgiach HaRav Eliahu Dushnitzer zt"l, and through him he came to appreciate the importance of Mussar, and since then he always stressed the importance of learning Mussar. He once recommended that every bochur should learn the first chapter of Mesillas Yeshorim by heart.

After about a year and a half in the yeshiva, his father asked him to go back home and he continued his learning with hasmodoh.

In Kislev 5704 (December 1943) the Ponovezher Rov had decided to open his yeshiva and he asked HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky to say a shiur there. HaRav Rozovsky recommended that the Rov ask the Edelstein brothers to join the yeshiva.

The first group included five more students besides them. At first they learned in the Heligman beis medrash.

There was no dormitory at first, and HaRav Tzvi Yehuda asked the Chazon Ish to make sure that they had a quality place to sleep. The Chazon Ish in turn spoke to the Ponovezher Rav about this and the Rov rented a room for them in the home of HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz. Rabbeinu always spoke affectionately about the opportunity to live with HaRav Michel Yehuda, recalling his pure heart and his great hasmodoh. At that time HaRav Michel Yehuda was authoring his sefer Omke HaShaar and whenever he woke up in the middle of the night he always found his host deeply engaged in writing his sefer.

The yeshiva soon gained a deserved reputation, and it began to attract good bochurim. Rabbeinu was one of the leaders in learning but he was always low key. It was soon evident that he was thoroughly familiar with Shas and especially the masechtos of Noshim and Nezikin, and also had impressive knowledge of all the other masechtos, that is, not only Kodshim and Moed but also Zeroim and Taharos.

Nonetheless his basically simple character, in a positive sense, was evident at his engagement to the daughter of HaRav Zelig Diskin, the rav of Pardes Channah. At the simchah the chosson said a chabura in which he answered a question about meitav on Bava Kamma 7. The Ponovezher Rov responded with a gentle smile, "Is this what the best bochur in the yeshiva has to say at his engagement? He should say a long and involved ma'arochoh!"

One of his talmidim who asked him about the incident years later was told, "Yes, I did not have any chidushim at that time..."

*

Rabbeinu once recalled the early days of Ponovezh yeshiva:

The yeshiva opened with Rebbi Shmuel [Rozovsky] saying shiurim in the winter of 5704 (1944). In those days Rebbi Dovid [Povarsky] was still saying shiurim in Tel Aviv, where he some important talmidim like HaRav Zukarov, HaRav Diskin and HaRav Shlomo Berman and others.

It was planned that in Elul Rebbi Dovid would come to serve as rosh yeshiva. He left the yeshiva in Tel Aviv at the end of the summer. He did not arrive in Elul but on Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan he did come. Some of the talmidim from that yeshiva already joined Ponovezh before the winter zman like HaRav Shlomo Berman.

During the summer several new bochurim joined Ponovezh, including HaRav Naftali Nebenzahl, HaRav Yissochor Meir and others. At that time they split up the bochurim into two groups: a younger group and an older group. They were not called Alef and Beis but just younger and older. Rebbi Shmuel taught the older group and Rebbi Dovid the younger. So in 5705 there were two groups and Rebbi Dovid and Rebbi Shmuel switched off — each one for half a year. We were learning Yevomos and in the middle of the winter when we reached daf 45, Rebbi Dovid and Rebbi Shmuel switched.

In the daily shiur in 5773 he remarked that when he learned in the yeshiva as a bochur, they used to use their time fully for Torah. In the dining room they used to speak only in learning. HaRav Yissochor Meir used to sit at his table and he would raise some issue and Rabbeinu would expand on it.

Once HaRav Yissochor Meir started out saying, "The Rambam says such and such." Rabbeinu immediately responded, "There is no such Rambam!" A spirited discussion arose. Im summarizing it later, HaRav Yissochor Meir said, "Naturally Rebbi Gershon was always correct. But by the time we finished the discussion, the food was cold."

Rabbeinu used to say Hamapil while still in the beis medrash so that he would not talk any devorim beteilim in going to bed.

His brother-in-law HaRav Diskin once said that at the beginning of the shiurim of HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky, the latter would pose a strong question, igniting a discussion in the beis medrash. Rabbeinu stood next to HaRav Diskin and he whispered in his year, "Probably, judging from the way he approached a different sugya and the style he followed in another place, he will say the following answer."

A few minutes later it turned out that Rabbeinu's prediction was spot on. While the bochurim were discussing that answer, Rabbeinu told his future brother-in-law, "Probably Rebbi Shmuel will bring the following proof." And he did.

This was not a one-off occurrence but it happened over and over.

Rabbeinu used to visit the Chazon Ish often to speak in learning and ask him about his questions and issues. A neighbor said that the Edelstein brothers used to come to the Chazon Ish almost every day.

Rabbeinu once told a talmid that speaking in learning with the Brisker Rav was an especial pleasure, but speaking with the Chazon Ish used to arouse fear and tension in him. The talmid said that by reputation it should have been the opposite. The Brisker Rov is to have been more serious and intolerant while the Chazon Ish was said to have been more patient and easygoing. Rabbeinu smiled, "You won't understand but that is not how it was."

In 5708 HaRav Yehoshua Zelig Diskin, the rav of Pardes Channah went to the Chazon Ish to ask him about a shidduch for his daughter Henya Rochel (o"h). The Chazon Ish answered him, "You only have one daughter and iy"H you will have only one son-in-law. Therefore he should be unique and special. Nu! Take Gershon Edelstein. I know him well."

And the rest is history.

When Rabbenu went to the Chazon Ish to invite him to his wedding, Maran asked him, "When is the chuppah?"

The Chazon Ish did not usually go to weddings, but since the father of the chosson and the father of the kallah were both rabbonim of cities who had done a lot for their communities, the Chazon Ish decided to be mesader kiddushin for their children.

Rabbenu answered honestly, "I had not intended to ask Maran to come. Should klal Yisrael lose a few shticklach in the Chazon Ish because of my wedding?"

Maran smiled in appreciation of the answer, and gave him a copy of the Chazon Ish on Shabbos as a wedding present. His brother HaRav Yaakov said his shiur during the sheva brochos.

At the end of the sheva brochos, the Ponovezher Rav said to him, "Keep wearing the frock the entire year and go to sit at the Mizrach. Choose whichever side you prefer." Rabbenu at first sat next to his rebbe HaRav Dovid Povarsky, but when his father was niftar in 5711 he switched to the other side.

One time his wife went to the Chazon Ish to ask a question about medical examinations. Maran told her, "What you husband paskens is acceptable to me. He is a godol beTorah and one can rely on him." He also said of him, "HaRav Gershon is one of the few who is worthy of ruling according to pure din Torah."

One of the older residents of Pardes Channah said that on the first Shabbos that Rabbenu went to spend with the family of his new kallah, they served ice cream in honor of the chosson. Rabbenu had never seen a food of this kind and he wondered why it was served so cold.

The Rebbetzin said that she would prepare for him for breakfast a slice of bread and a tomato. Once she did not get to it and she saw Rabbenu eating the bread with an apple. When she asked him about it he said, "What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?"

HaRav Don Segal slept in the Edelstein house for several years as a bochur. At a hesped for the Rebbetzin he said, "The Rebbetzin, as we knew her, avoided any sort of specialty. She was simply pashtus, pashtus, pashtus. Without anything else. It was all smooth and faultless. Like the Mesillas Yeshorim said, `Most of the simplicity is hidden.' The real pashtonim like to remain invisible, that no one should sense them. The Rav and the Rebbetzin were amazing in this way."

Spreading Torah

His life was dedicated to harbotzas Torah, which he did for over seventy years. As a bochur in 5706, only two years after he came to the yeshiva, the Ponovezher Rov asked him to say shiurim to help the younger talmidim in Batei Avos get to the level of the yeshiva.

Hundreds of talmidim came to the yeshiva or the younger ones to Batei Ovos. These included Holocaust survivors, talmidim from Montreux, Switzerland, the Teheran children and many others. The Rav asked Rabbenu to give them the help they needed to reach the level of learning in the yeshiva.

The Rav also prepared an apartment for him to live in after marriage.

Rabbenu also began to say chaburos in the yeshiva and in 5711 the Rav appointed him a full ram in the yeshiva and he began to say his daily shiurim that continued until his last day.

The Chazon Ish told him that his derech in learning he received from his father who was one of the greatest talmidim of HaRav Boruch Ber of Kamenitz and he should follow it in giving his shiurim.

The Ponovezher Rav was thinking of making him head of the yeshiva's kollel. His father-in-law HaRav Yehoshua Zelig went to the Chazon Ish to ask if he was not more suited to be a ram in the yeshiva than in the kolel. The Chazon Ish replied, "He is as worthy of the current roshei yeshiva, HaRav Dovid and HaRav Shmuel. He is not less than they."

His brother HaRav Yaakov wrote the same thing in a note to a member of Rabbenu's family who visited him in his last days.

The Ponovezher Rov wanted to appoint new rabbonim in the yeshiva for the many new talmidim. He spoke with HaRav M Berman zt"l and ylct"a HaRav Boruch Dov Povarsky shlita, and they said that they felt that they could not take the positions unless Rabbenu was also appointed a ram at the same time. Since the yeshiva's budget was limited, it was decided that they three would split two salaries. The three new ramim were very successful with their shiurim.

Rabbenu always had his eye on emes and he did not pay attention to giving flashy shiurim. One of his close talmidim once asked him, "I have been listening to the shiurim of the Rosh Yeshiva for many years. And I see that the chidushim in them are not less in level or in iyun or in their comprehensiveness than the shiurim of many other roshei yeshivas. Their content is of a quality and nature that others would present in much more dramatic fashion. If I may be permitted to ask, with all due respect, why the Rosh Yeshiva says over his shiurim with such pashtus, without presenting them as new yesodos and with dramatic questions?"

Rabbenu answered, "What should I do? I think that making everything into a yesod, with a kushya and a teirutz is not always necessarily the full emes. And I do not want to give over to my talmidim anything that is not absolute emes.

For many years Rabbenu did not get involved in running the yeshiva. He used to say that his rabbonim were present and he had no opinion in their presence. However when the founding generation passed on, he began to take a more active role.

He once explained that his reticence came from a deep view of siyata deShmaya. He explained that the Tchebiner Rav used to be involved in psak on many serious halachos, but when he came to Israel, he withdrew. He explained, "In chutz la'aretz I was the only posek involved in those issues, so I had the siyata deShmaya to pasken. Here in Eretz Yisroel there are many poskim, and who is to say that davka I will have the siyata deShmaya to pasken these serious issues correctly? "In the Ponovezh Yeshiva," said Rabbenu, "HaRav Shach and HaRav Povarsky are responsible, so they will have the necessary siyata deShmaya. Since it is not my area of responsibility, I may not have the proper Siyata deShmaya."

When the time came, however, and the responsibility fell upon him, he stepped up to it.

After Rabbenu became a ram he had to stand in the line on Friday night as the bochurim passed by the say good Shabbos. He was always seen with his lips moving in Torah. Similarly in gatherings and in traveling, he used to carry a small mishnayos and learn steadily as much as he could in the circumstances.

One of the most memorable incidents in the history of the yeshiva was the visit of HaRav Aharon Kotler zt"l. At the request of the Ponovezher Rav, HaRav Aharon gave a shiur klali in the yeshiva on the sugya that was learned at that time. HaRav Aharon gave a shiur of the type he was well-known for: fiery and full of strong charifus. HaRav Gershon listened very intensely, straining to hear and pushing forward. He seemed to anticipate even what HaRav Aharon would say next. Suddenly HaRav Aharon saw him and pointed him out: Ha. Ehr chapt di zach. (Ha. He gets it.)

Throughout the years he never stopped saying his daily shiurim. In recent years he even continued during bein hazmanim, saying that this was zikui horabim and he should do his part to support those who want to continue learning.

A big gvir once approached Rabbenu about going on a chizuk trip to America. The gvir promised that he would show his appreciation by committing to support hundreds of avreichim from a long time and in other generous ways. In response Rabbenu told the gvir that he should ask his son to consult with his doctors to see if he was physically able to make the trip. It took a couple of days but his son said that the doctors said it was ok. The gvir went back to Rabbenu with the news, but Rabbenu responded: "I have thought it over and I have concluded that this is not my zikui horabim. Nothing can balance the loss of a shiur because that is my zikui horabim.

HaRav Y Zucker wrote that he noticed that most of the sichos of Rabbenu have a pshat according to pshat but also a pshat according to sod. He said that after the levaya of HaRav Dovid Povarsky, HaRav Yisroel Elya Weintraub listed avidly to the hesped of Rabbenu and afterwards exclaimed, "I always knew that Rebbi Gershon is big in kabbala but I did not realize that it was to such an extent."

Rabbenu used to have open hours before his afternoon nap, but he stopped it after a while. "How can I fall asleep after hearing about so many problems?" he said.

Rabbenu once said in the name of HaRav Shach that each rosh yeshiva and ram should enter the beis hamedrash each day with a plan for which talmidim he would try to do something good for him that day, and keep trying to help all those who were there.

When people came to him for advice, he used to analyze and break down each issue and clarify all the aspects and only then give his advice.

HaRav Y Mishkovsky said that he once asked HaRav Shteinman a question about travelling to a chasunah in chutz la'aretz. HaRav Shteinman said he should ask Rabbenu, adding, "You should know that it is kedai to get close to Rebbi Gershon. It is a special zchus for those who learn in Ponovezh that they have the opportunity to get close to him."

The talmid went to ask HaRav Gershon, who responded, "I cannot answer because it would be like answering in the presence of my rebbe, HaRav Dovid." But then he added, "Probably what HaRav Aharon Leib meant was that I should figure out how to present the issues to the Rosh Yeshiva. Come back in a few days and I will see how to present the issues."

When the talmid came back, Rabbenu said that he could not find and viable side for allowing the trip to present to the Rosh Yeshiva.

When the talmid told HaRav Shteinman about what happened, he praised the anivus of HaRav Gershon and on the other hand how he managed to present his answer nonetheless.

Some of His Ways

For more than 60 years he never turned on a light at night in his home. The reason was the once he accidentally turned on a light in the bathroom on leil Shabbos, and in response he decided never to turn on any light at night.

One time they spoke with him about doubts people have with additions to the tefillah, like Yaaleh veyovo. Rabbenu said, "I make for myself a siman so that I will not forget." Rabbenu always davened with his hands by his side. After he said one of the new additions, like morid hatal, he would put one hand on the shtender in front of him. That way he would always know if he said what there was to be said or if he forgot. He was asked if it never happened that he moved his hand away he was amazed, "Who moves his arm stam in the middle of the Amidah? If one puts his arm on the shtender will it just move away, without any thought?"

One time a mashgiach said that when he arrives for the second seder every day the beis medrash is empty. He asked Rabbenu if he should go to the rooms to wake up the talmidim. Rabbenu replied that he should not. If the talmidim found the learning attractive, they would make it their business to be there on time. He should see to it that they are attracted by the learning.

He went into the hospital on Shavuos on his own diagnosis, and the day after Shavuos he gave a shiur in the hospital. On the following day he prepared references for the shiur, but they he suddenly passed away and was not able to give the shiur.

He is survived by his brother and sister, and by his sons HaRav Tzvi Yehuda, HaRav Betzalel (lerefuah shleima), and HaRav Yisroel, as well as sons-in-law HaRav Dovid Levi, HaRav Avrohom Yeshayohu Adler, HaRav Isomor Garbuz, as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandhildren, following in the heritage that he left.

T.N.T.B.H.

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