Gershon Edelstein

Rabbi Gershon Edelstein שליט"א
Personal life
Born	(1923-04-18) April 18, 1923 (age 102) Shumyachi, Russia
Nationality	Israeli
Parent	Rabbi Tzvi Yehudah Edelstein (father)
Alma mater	Ponovezh Yeshiva
Religious life
Religion	Judaism
Position	Rosh Yeshiva
Yeshiva	Ponevezh Yeshiva, Bnei Brak

Gershon Edelstein (born April 18, 1923) is rosh yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva and the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party in Israel.^[1]

Biography[edit | edit source]

He was born in the town of Shumyatch (Shumyachi), near Smolensk, in the Soviet Union, to Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Edelstein, the rabbi of the city and the son of Rabbi Yerachmiel Gershon Edelstein, author of the book "Ben Aryeh" on Shas, and Miriam, daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo Mobshovich, rabbi of Malstovka (Krasnopillia).

His mother obtained fake birth certificates with the wrong date of birth for her sons so that they would be registered as three years younger than their real age and would not attend a school under the supervision of the Yevsektzia, the extremely anti-religious Jewish branch of the Communist Party. He learned Torah from Rabbi Zalman Leib Estolin, in exchange for his father Rabbi Zvi Yehuda teaching Torah. Following his mother's illness with typhus, he was sent with his younger brother Yaakov to his aunt, Rebbitzin Rivka Tzvia Paz, in the city of  Klimovich (Klimavichy), where they studied Torah secretly with Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu Shneur, one of Rabbi Edelstein's^[which?] students. There they also received the news of their mother's death.

In the month of Nisan 5694 (March-April 1934), his father succeeded in obtaining a permit to leave for Israel, and asked his sons to return to their home in Shumyatch. At that time, his grandmother Rebbitzin Reizel ran the household and raised the brothers, so that their father could study Torah. In Iyar (April-May) Rabbi Zvi boarded with his family on the ship "Novorossiysk" sailing from Odessa to Palestine, and they arrived on Lag Ba'omer. The family traveled to Jerusalem, where they visited Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, who studied with their grandfather Rabbi Yerachmiel at the Volozhin yeshiva.

On Elul 1334 (1934), after several months of wandering between relatives, their father settled in Ramat Hasharon. The brothers Jacob and Gershon slept on the floor. Since there was no religious school in Ramat Hasharon, the father studied with his sons at home in a yeshiva on Orange crates due to lack of furniture. They studied Gemara with Rash and Rif, and in some of the tractates also Tor and Beit Yosef. On Shabbat, Rambam studied the topics of the tractate. The brothers also learned grammar, arithmetic and English, which was the official language at the time, and for that a special teacher was taken to their home.

In 1935 (1935) the father was elected rabbi of the place. On Elul 1935, the sons were sent to the Lomja yeshiva, following Gershon's pleas. They arrived on foot from their home to the yeshiva in Petach Tikva on Sunday in Elol, and did not know that the time had started the day before. The overseer, Rabbi Avraham Abba Grosbard, said he no longer had room for them. The secretary of the yeshiva, Shlomo Zalman Mozes (father of Menachem Eliezer Mozes ) met them and invited them to sleep in his house, until beds were found for them in the Yeshiva in Bershit Chesvan. At the behest of their father, they joined Rabbi Shmuel Rosovsky's group.

A year later, their father remarried Rachel, and he asked them to return, on the grounds that now the burden of the house falls on the rabbi and they will not have to cancel the Torah, and the brothers returned to the study order with their father. In the winter of 1944 ( 1943 - 1944 ), when the Ponivaz Yeshiva was established, Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky , who was appointed head of the yeshiva, came to ask their father to join the group of founders of the yeshiva. They were among the first six students in the yeshiva, which was then located in the Ligman Synagogue in Bnei Brak , and the boys slept in rooms rented for them in the city. The two young brothers lived in the house of Rabbi Michal Yehuda Lipkowitz , who rented the only bedroom in the house to Rabbi Rozovsky.

The founder of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman , appointed him to teach Holocaust refugee students who came to the orphanage " Beti Avot ", and in 1976 he was appointed to give lessons to the young students at the yeshiva. In 1978 he married Hania Rachel, daughter of Rabbi Yehoshua Zelig Diskin , rabbi of Pardes Hana (died on the 14th of Tishrei 5572 )  , and in the same year he was appointed by Rabbi Kahneman to the rabbi of the yeshiva.

Rabbi Edelstein was close to Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karlitz . After the death of his father, in the 20th year of Hashvan 571 ( 1950 ), he hesitated whether to take over the role of rabbi of Ramat Hasharon, but since he already held a position in the yeshiva and in light of his wife's refusal to uproot from Bnei Brak, the role was assigned to his brother Rabbi Yaakov Edelstein.

In the mid -1990s , succession struggles emerged in the Ponivage yeshiva. According to the court's ruling on the matter, Rabbi Edelstein began in the month of Iyer 2005 by saying a general lesson to the members of the yeshiva, thus effectively becoming the head of the yeshiva together with Rabbi Baruch Dov Pobarsky . After that, Rabbi Shmuel Markowitz joined them .

Due to the dispute, Rabbi Edelstein led the yeshiva to split into two, and today there are actually two yeshivas in the Ponivage Yeshiva complex, one headed by him and Rabbi Fobarsky and the other headed by Rabbi Markovich. His yeshiva's Shabbat and holiday prayers are held in the "Holy Tabernacle" [ 8 ]  not in the yeshiva hall.

In 2003 , he was added to the Council of Torah Elders of the Torah Banner Party .

In the year 2001 (2001), in the middle of a lesson given by Rabbi Edelstein, some of his opponents erupted and caused a riot in the place with the aim of stopping the lesson. Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman sent him a letter with a request that he forgive them  ] . (2008) His opponents threw a white cup at him from a building window. Following this, a rally was held in support of him at his yeshiva, with the participation of rabbis Haim Kanievsky , Michal Yehuda Lipkovitz and Nissim Karlitz . Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman sent a letter to the assembly  .

After the death of his wife, he founded a class in Seder Taharot in his home on Shabbat evenings , for the upliftment of her soul .

Rabbi Edelstein has been serving as Baal Tuka at the Ponibezh yeshiva since 556  .

Edelstein was born in Russia and moved to israel with his parents at 11 years of age.

Gershon Yerachmiel Edelstein studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak under Shmuel Rozovsky. He later became the rosh yeshiva, a post he holds today, alongside Baruch Dov Povarsky.^[2]

After Aharon Leib Shteinman, the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah political party, died in 2017, Edelstein became the joint new leader alongside Chaim Kanievsky.^[3] After Kanievsky's death in 2022, Edelstein became the sole leader. He is also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel.

Yeshivas Ponovezh in Bnei Brak

References[edit | edit source]