A Century of Serenity    

Throughout the ten decades of his life, Rav Gershon Edelstein ztz”l was thrust into many roles and responsibilities, ultimately taking on the burden of leadership for the entire yeshivah world. But even as he dealt with Klal Yisrael’s toughest scenarios, he never abandoned his primary post as a rebbi for shiur alef teenage bochurim.

It’s been a year since last Shavuos night, when Rav Gershon — who had turned 100 the month before — was taken to Mayanei Hayeshua Hospital after suffering a heart attack. In Ponevezh, the learning was paused to say Tehillim for the Rosh Yeshivah’s recovery, while in the hospital, the doctors were able to stabilize his condition. When Yom Tov was over, the news spread through the Torah world, but while the eyes of the public were all worriedly focused on the Rosh Yeshivah’s frail health, he continued his regular daily schedule: The next day, from his sickbed, he even delivered his regular chaburah to the meishivim who explain the shiur to the younger talmidim. He spoke for nearly seventeen minutes, and despite wearing an oxygen mask, the Rosh Yeshivah was as clear and lucid as ever.

Three days later, he was taken from This World, and the sense then was — and still is — that an era had ended.

His was the story of quiet force, of influence without fanfare. It’s the story of a gadol hador who spent close to eight decades saying shiur to 17-year-olds — and whose words were so compelling, whose relationships so enduring, that alumni in their forties or fifties would crowd into the room to keep learning. It’s the story of a rebbi who demanded proficiency in Shas, yet showed his charges how to achieve it with serenity; a centenarian who had total mastery of Torah, yet who could connect to the heart of a young bochur.