The Olam HaTorah in Eretz Yisrael and throughout the world is in deep aveilus upon the passing of the Gadol HaDor, HaGaon HaRav Yerachmiel Gershon Edelstein, z’tl, shortly before 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning at the age of 100. Shortly beforehand, HaRav Gershon’s situation became critical and the doctors tried to resuscitate him. Meanwhile, the Torah world in Eretz Yisrael stopped everything to plead for Rachamei Shamayim. HaRav HaGaon Gershon Edelstein, zt’l, was the Nasi of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the leader of Chareidi Jewry in Eretz Yisrael and throughout the world and served as the Rosh Yeshivah of Ponevezh Yeshivah for 80 years. After the petirah of HaGaon HaRav Aryeh Leib Shteinman, z’tl, HaRav Edelstein and HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, zt’l became the leader of the Olam HaTorah. HaRav HaGaon Gershon Edelstein, z’tl was born in 1923 in the Russian town of Shumyatch to HaRav Tzvi Yehudah, the Rav of Shumyatch. As a child, Rav Gershon’s mother obtained fake birth certificates for her sons with the wrong dates of birth to delay mandatory school attendance under the Communists. Instead, HaRav Gershon and his brothers learned Torah with a private Rebbe at home. Meanwhile, HaRav Gershon’s mother developed typhus, later passing away from the illness. In 1934, Rav Gershon’s father obtained permits to enter Israel. He and his sons traveled by ship from Odessa, arriving in Israel on Lag B’Omer. The family settled in Ramat Hasharon, where HaRav Gershon and his brother Yaakov slept on the floor. There too, the boys learned Torah at home with their father since there was no religious school in Ramat Hasharon. In 1935, HaRav Tzvi was elected as the Rav of Ramat HaSharon. The same year, after HaRav Gershon begged his father, he and his brother Yaakov were sent to the Lomza Yeshivah in Petach Tikvah. Shortly later, HaRav Shmuel Rozovsky requested that HaRav Gershon and Yaakov join the newly established Yeshivah Ponevezh. HaRav Tzvi agreed and the two brothers lived in the home of HaGaon HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, zt’l. The Rosh Yeshivah, HaGaon HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahneman, z’tl, appointed HaRav Gershon to teach young Holocaust survivors in the Batei Avos orphanage, and in 1945, HaRav Gershon began delivering shiurim to talmidim at Ponevezh. In 1947, HaRav Gershon married Henya Rochel, the daughter of HaGaon HaRav Yehoshua Zelig Diskin, z’tl the Rav of Pardes Chana and the same year, he was appointed as Rosh Mesivta in Ponevezh. HaRav Edelstein became the RoshYeshivah of Ponevzeh together with HaGaon HaRav Baruch Dov Povarsky in the mid-1990s. In 2003, HaRav Edelstein was appointed to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degal HaTorah. In the wake of the petirah of HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, z’tl, HaRav Edelstein was recognized as the Gadol HaDor. וכל בית ישראל יבכו את השריפה אשר שרף ה (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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