HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch spoke words of hesped about HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, z’tl at the begining of his shiur on Wednesday in his yeshivah in Beit Shemesh.
HaRav Shternbuch lived for many years near Yeshivas Ponevezh, in the same neighborhood as HaRav Edelstein, z’tl, and sent all his sons to learn in the yeshivah.
“I knew HaGaon Rav Gershon, zt’l when we were neighbors in Bnei Brak. He learned and taught all his life with hasmadah and was marbitz Torah to thousands and was zocheh to leave behind many talmidim and talmidei chachamim.”
“On one hand, he would sit and learn, and on the other hand, he made his time available to advise each person and helped people with his eitzos to be mashkiah in the Olam HaTorah. We can call HaRav Gershon z’tl a ‘tzaddik tov,’ who was ‘tov’ in Shamayim and also to people.”
“He was a living mussar sefer – great in middos and a true anav. It’s not that he only didn’t seek kavod but he also thought that he didn’t deserve kavod and didn’t take pleasure in kavod. He didn’t know what kavod was and that’s a lofty madreigah in anavah.”
HaRav Shternbuch also urged his talmidim to be mechazeik in limmud Torah in the days after Shavuos. “Bnei Hayeshivah should be mechazeik during these days in limmud Torah. Every bochur should know that he can be a Gadol B’Toah and he shouldn’t give in to thoughts that he’s still not great in Torah. But adarabah, he should know that if he learns with hasmadah, at the end he’ll be zocheh to see great light.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
As a bochur in yeshiva in 1975, I went to the Steipler Gaon z’l with the plaint that I wasn’t shteiging in learning, since chidushai Torah were beyond my ability. The Gaon z’l became angry. He got up from his chair and took down a copy of his sefer, Chayay Olom. He opened it to Chalek Sheni, eleventh chapter (beginning with ‘Rabim m’ha’hatalmidim’-the third paragraph), and commanded me to sit and read it right there on the spot. The Gaon z’ls words there told me exactly what I needed to see. HaRav Shternbuch shlit’a, who was my rosh kollel years later in Johannesburg, South Africa, said the same concept here. Post script: I asked the Gaon z’l (in writing, as he was completely deaf) the price of his sefer. He waved me off and said, “Take it. Go back to the beis medrash and shteig.”
You didn’t say if you ever evolved into a talmid chochom, but I assume if that if you’re here on YWN, you did not.
Moderators: What kind of chutzpah and presumptuousness is this? The poster thinks that because I read your website that somehow it’s a p’gam for me.