A famous American writer and editor wrote about the various Shitos, and he described Novardok as Simcha. In Novardok, they had: תְּ קוּפוֹת seasons. For example, in the season before Shavuos, they worked on: נַעֲ שֶ ה וְּנִּ שְּׁ מָּ ע (accepting Hashem’s Torah with Temimus, by trusting before knowing what is involved) like it says: תֻּ מַ ת יְּשָּׁ רִּ ים תַ נְּ חֵּׂ ם משלי יא ג A Yid can jump to do the Ratzon Hashem despite his lack of understanding. (Gemara ). They would work on being a Tamim, like when they build their Yeshivos without money, and without knowing how things were going to work out.
After the war, when R' Gershon was still in his prison clothes in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, he asked the joint distribution committee for a building, so that he can open a Yeshiva. A Jewish American army officer was in the camp to help the refugees. He saw R' Gershon sitting alone in a building, and he asked him about himself. R' Gershon explained that he was building a Yeshiva. “Where is the Rosh Yeshiva?” “I am the Rosh Yeshiva”. “Where are your Talmidim?” “I’m the Talmidim”. The joint agreed to give him funding so he can feed the refugees daily.
They swarmed to him; Bachurim and young men, to get three meals in his building. After 3-4 weeks, he said that if you want to continue eating, then you have to learn Torah here.
So ¾ of his crowd left him. From the few that remained, he started his Yeshiva. When he reached 40 Bachurim, the “joint” warned him that they would discontinue their funding if he accepts more students. He disregarded their threat, and soon he had 80 Bachurim.
He didn’t care about the “joint” leaving him, since he had Hashem. He started raising money. He found out that there were Jews in Morrocco who needed a Yeshiva, so he traveled to Morrocco. To reach the small towns, he had to ride a donkey. He didn’t always do well with money, and during certain periods his Yeshiva was extremely poor. Nothing stopped him. תֻּ מַ ת יְּשָּׁ רִּ ים תַ נְּ חֵּׂ ם משלי יא ג He went with Temimus.
Bitachon and Mesirus Nefesh; we just do our best, and Hashem will help. With time, he had several Chashuva Talmidim. R' Elya Rotnemer Zatzal became deeply attached to him, and because of his previous connections with French high-society, he caused the Yeshiva to become millionaires, with Hashem’s help. I spoke to someone who used to work in their offices, and he told me that they had 100 million dollars, for sure. There is a famous story where the Yeshiva bought a building in a city in France where they wanted to open up a branch. They didn’t have the necessary money, which was a prohibitive amount (hundreds of thousands of Francs). R' Gershon told his Talmid not to be afraid, and just sign the check, which had zero backing. The Talmid was terrified of doing such a brash thing, but the true Bitachon of a Tzadik is worth plenty of money.
Needless to say, big Nissim started happening... money came to them, and the check was covered! There is a similar story with R' Henoch Leibowitz Zatzal of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim, who needed a million dollars to buy a building for his Yeshiva. He had Bitachon, and was Matzliach very quickly. R' Nissan Rozanker Zatzal was a Menahel in Bialystok, and was R' Gershon’s Rebbe. When he saw Bachurim working hard in learning Shaar HaBitachon, he exclaimed that he suspects that someday this very Mussar will produce millionaires... which is exactly what happened to R' Gershon.
The interesting thing is that R' Gershon hated money with a passion. I once read a story about him where he was collecting money for his Yeshiva. When a wealthy person offered him a fat sum, he refused to touch the money, and instead his assistant received the money for him.
Unfortunately, money can sometimes become an Avoda Zara, and a person can almost worship wealthy people. They get nervous around them, and they have a certain awe and reverence for a well-to-do person.
