The following is the article by the Stamford Advocate about the recent passing of Hagon HaRav Simcha Schustal ZATZAL. It is interesting to note, that this is the third time in the past few weeks that the secular media covered the passing of a Gadol. On March 16, YWN reported that the NY Times covered the Petira of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe ZATZAL, and on March 22nd, YWN reported that the Telegraph UK had an article about the passing of Hagon HaRav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg ZATZAL.
For photos of the Levaya, click HERE.
The article has not been edited in any way:
Rabbi Simcha Schustal, one of the founding fathers of Yeshiva Bais Binyomin, of Stamford, died last week at the age of 89, following a short illness.
Schustal spent the last 36 years in Stamford, promoting the yeshiva, where young men ages 13 to 20 come from Orthodox communities throughout the tri-state region to live and study the Talmud — Judaism’s holiest book. But he was known the world over as one of the premiere scholars of the Torah.
“He spent his whole life teaching the Torah, and teaching was his primary occupation, his primary passion,” said Schustal’s grandson Rabbi Shmuly Bender, director of development at the yeshiva.
“When he moved here, there were originally about 25 to 30 students… Now there are about 100,” Bender said. Students typically stay for about five years, he said.
Schustal served as president of the school until his death on April 23. The school is trying to determine how it will fill the void in terms of personnel, said Rabbi Yehlshua Belsky, its director of community service. But filling the void in terms of Schustal’s impact will be an impossible task, he added.
“Locally, his outreach to the community, I feel, made people want to act in a better way,” Belsky said. “He influenced the whole city by making them aware of the importance of the Torah.”
Since launching the school in 1976, Schustal taught about 1,000 men who now serve as rabbis, cultural leaders and professors, spreading his influence and passion around the globe. His passion flowed in his family too. Schustal had three sons and four daughters; all three sons and four son-in-laws are well known in the Jewish community, teaching at yeshivas, or serving as rabbis in synagogues around the country, Bender said.
More than 20,000 people came together in Lakewood, N.J., Stamford, New York and Israel to pay their respects to Schustal as his body was transported from New Jersey, where he died after staying there with his daughter and son-in-law for the last few months, to Israel, where he was laid to rest next to his mother. Stamford’s Prospect Street had to be temporarily shut last Tuesday as more than 3,000 people flooded the area for the service.
“He didn’t feel he deserved to be honored,” said Bender. He didn’t delight in material things or the praise of others; rather he focused on teaching the word of the Torah so he could spread a love and appreciation of the holy text, Bender said.
“We have this saying, `Whoever runs away from honor, honor runs after him,’ and that’s how it was with him,” said Belsky.
(Source: Stamford Advocate)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
I talked to the father of a learning-handicapped teenager who lives in or near Stamford. He had sent his older children to a Jewish school at great expense but assumed the youngest would not be able to get a Jewish education due to his disability. After meeting some talmidim of the yeshiva in Stamford he started learning one-on-one with a very patient and dedicated yeshiva student, and progressed to learning mishnayos. Although the son could not master reading the mishna he could remember and understand the content, and eventually completed the mesechta. A small siyum was planned in the dining room of the yeshiva. Friends gathered around when suddenly there was a hush and Hagaon Rav Simcha Schustal zatzal and LHBCH Hagaon Rav Meir Hershkowitz shlita entered the room. Rav Simcha took the boy by both hands and began to sing and dance… and soon the whole yeshiva was singing and dancing. With tears in his eyes Rav Simcha thanked the boy for coming to learn at the yeshiva and thanked his parents for bringing him and encouraging him!