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18 Kislev 5765 - December 1, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
HaRav Eliezer Geldzahler, zt"l

By S. Bruchi

Thousands of New York and New Jersey residents participated in the levaya for HaRav Eliezer Geldzahler zt"l, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Yisroel in New York, who passed away at the age of 46 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident ten months ago in Netanya.

HaRav Eliezer Geldzahler was born to HaRav Eliyohu Yehoshua Geldzahler ylct"a the founder of Ohr Yisroel institutions in the US. Known as a prominent talmid chochom, HaRav Eliyohu authored several noteworthy seforim and is one of the leading talmidim of HaRav Shraga Feivel Mendelovitch zt"l and HaRav Gedaliah Shor zt"l. HaRav Eliezer's mother is the daughter of HaRav Eliyohu Eliezer Dessler zt"l, his namesake.

His wife tlct"a is the daughter of HaRav Michel Twersky, the Admor of Milwaukee. After marriage he continued learning intensely, immersed in the sea of the Talmud. A few years ago he was named to the Kesser Torah award by the Keren Avrohom HaKohen Fund and continued laboring in Torah until he was asked to serve as rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Yisroel.

During a visit to Eretz Hakodesh ten months ago he and his talmidim set out for a Shabbos gathering in the North together with the talmidim learning in Eretz Yisroel. The bus transporting them was involved in a severe accident in which he sustained a head injury. He was treated in Eretz Yisroel and then flown to the US, where he underwent a number of operations, but his condition only deteriorated.

Numerous tefillos for his recovery were organized in Torah halls in Eretz Yisroel and the US and the name Elimelech was added to his name. But the gates of prayer were locked and he returned his soul, refined through suffering, to his Creator.

Thousands were on hand at the levaya in Lakewood, where eulogies were delivered by HaRav Dovid Shustal, one of the roshei yeshiva, and by his father-in-law, the Admor of Milwaukee. The funeral procession continued to his yeshiva in New York and then on to Kahal Chaim Yehoshua Beis Medrash in Boro Park, and from there to the cemetery in Monsey.

HaRav Eliezer Geldzahler zt"l is survived by his wife, their 13 children—two of them married and the youngest just a few months old—and grandchildren.

 

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