Passing of a Prince

Last week, America’s yeshivah world lost one of its princes with the passing of Rav Shimon Alster ztz”l. Rav Alster, who fulfilled dual roles both as rosh yeshivah of the Yeshiva Gedolah of Cliffwood, which he founded, and rav of Beis Medrash Torah u’Tefillah in Flatbush, was the quintessential rebbi, guiding, leading and teaching hundreds of talmidim and mispallelim with a blazing clarity and boundless love.

Through heartbreaking loss, talmidim remember

“IN2008, I was standing with my rosh yeshivah at the end of Reb Shmuel Berenbaum’s levayah, and I asked him what he would have said about the great Reb Shmuel,” remembers Rabbi Yaakov Tesser, rabbi at Young Israel of Aberdeen and executive director of Yeshiva Ohavei Torah of Riverdale.

“His answer was telling. ‘Like Reb Chaim [Epstein ztz”l], Reb Shmuel’s ahavas haTorah was something that every ben Torah should aspire to have,’ he said.

“We traveled back to yeshivah in Cliffwood after the levayah and it was completely silent the entire trip back. Nothing needed to be said. When we got back, the Rosh Yeshivah asked me to please gather the bochurim right away. Once everyone was in the beis medrash, he began to speak.

“ ‘We have a tremendous void in the world now, ” he said, “of hasmadas haTorah to the highest level. Reb Shmuel was immersed in Torah in his entire life — his mouth never stopped uttering the words of Torah.’