The horror surrounding the tragic untimely death of Hadera’s Rabbi Moshe Gefen z”l is still difficult for most to comprehend, unwilling to accept the reality that this unique individual is no longer among us.

The rav, who was 60, was run over by a train as he was returning from mikva. One of his close chavrusas is quoted by Kikar Shabbat as saying “other than learning Torah, nothing interested the niftar. He was shut down in his room the entire day learning, and his food was brought to his room”.

Every motzei Yom Kippur he remained awake the entire night learning, sitting in a shul in the N’vei Chaim neighborhood of Hadera. He davened shachris at neitz, and only then would he return home from Yom Kippur.

“This was the case this year too, continuing his Avodas Hashem after the fast. Towards morning, he went to mikva and he was wearing his talis and tefillin when he tried crossing the tracks when he was struck and killed.

“There simply was not an area of Torah that was foreign to him. His shiurim were special. The loss is great, the loss of a tzaddik and a gadol B’Torah.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)