Rav Gershon Edelstein
Rav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l, the Rosh Yeshivah of the Ponovez Yeshivah in Bnei Brak, tells a fascinating story. A young man, who was not very religious, was unfortunately killed in a car accident, leaving behind a wife and a young son, R”L.
His young widow resolved to become more religious, and made Aliyah to Eretz Yisroel. She enrolled her son in a Cheder, where he began learning Gemara for the first time.
One day, this boy came home crying to his mother that he had a Gemara test the next day in Cheder, and he didn’t know the material well enough. His mother was apologetic, but she said she couldn’t help him, and the boy went to sleep very worried about his test.
The next morning, the boy woke up all calm, and in a great mood. He told his mother that his father had come to him in a dream, and learned the entire Gemara with him, and now, he was fully prepared for the test!
Rav Edelstein explained that this was miraculous, as the father had never learned Gemara when he was alive. Nevertheless, the fact that his son now learned Torah, it allowed his father to learn Gemara in the Mesivta D’Rakiya, the Yeshivah in Shamayim.
Additionally, because of this, the father’s Neshamah was granted the opportunity to appear to his son in a dream and to teach his own son the Gemara! Rav Edelstein said that this is all due to the power of learning Torah, as the Gemara in Brachos (8a) says, that in today’s times, when we no longer have the Mishkan or the Bais HaMikdash for Kedushah to emanate from, the only place where Hashem’s Kedushah is derived from, is from those who learn Torah.
Therefore, explains Rav Edelstein, this young boy’s Torah learning caused the Kedushah to flow all the way to his father’s Neshamah in Shamayim. Rav Edelstein would say over this story to give Chizuk and encouragement for everyone to strengthen their Torah learning!
Reprinted from the Parshas Naso 5785 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
