“Rabbi Herschler,” the doctor said in a low, calm voice, “The test results are here from the lab.”

34-year-old Shimon Herschler sat in the hospital waiting room, holding his newborn daughter, happily pinching her chubby cheeks. He looked up, waiting to hear the news. 

Then Dr. Cohen said the sentence he dislikes saying most, despite his years of experience: “The cancer is back.”

R’Herschler continued cuddling his baby, grinning calmly.

“Rabbi Herschler… I think you must not have heard me.”

With a polite smile and a sigh, he looked deep into the doctor’s eyes. “I understood your message Doctor, thank you. What are our next steps?” 

It was a sight that stuck with Dr. Cohen to this very day. Typically patients become hysterical or even angry at hearing that after having gone through cancer treatments once, they will need to again. Clearly Dr. Cohen had not known R’ Herschler.

Shimon Herschler was known by his family and community to be an exceptional person, who “accepted all of his challenges with love.” He was a respected talmid chacham within the Boyaner chassidus and was very close with both the Rebbe himself, and Rav Elimelech Biderman.

In his dying days, when most cancer patients have only the strength to rest, R’Herschler shocked staff by staying up at night to learn Torah. By his side sat a greying old man, small in stature, with a striking intensity. Nurses did not realize that the man by Herschler’s bedside was Rav Biderman himself.

R’Shimon Herschler passed away on shabbos, leaving behind a widow and seven grief-stricken children. The youngest, the baby girl with the chubby cheeks, is only 2 months old. An emergency fund has been opened to help Mrs. Herschler raise her large family without her husband, as they all recover from this devastating loss. 

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