Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, President of the Vaad Hayeshivos, a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel, and the spiritual leader of the Lithuanian faction of United Torah Judaism and the vast majority of Lithuanian Haredim, passed away on Tuesday after being taken to Ma’aini Hashuah hospital in Bnei Brak on Shavuot, to be admitted in the intensive care unit.
Born near Smolensk in the Soviet Union on Iyar 2, 5683 – April 18, 1923, Rabbi Edelstein’s family made Aliyah to Mandatory Palestine in 1934.
In Iyar 5760 (2000) Rabbi Edelstein ZT’L became the co-Rosh Yeshiva of Ponevezh––where he had served as Ba’al Tokei’ah (blower of the Shofar) since 5706 (1945). In 5763 (2003), he was added to the Council of Great Torah Sages of the Degel HaTorah political party. After Aharon Leib Shteinman ZT’L, the spiritual leader of Degel HaTorah, passed away in 2017, Rabbi Edelstein became the party’s joint spiritual leader alongside Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. After Rabbi Kanievsky’s death in 2022, Rabbi Edelstein became the sole spiritual leader.
His funeral will leave the Ponevezh yeshiva hall at 3:30 PM.
