Moreinu Horav Nosson Eliyahu Getzulin Zt”L

Moreinu Horav Nosson Eliyahu Gertzulin zt”l 5679/1919 — 5765/2005 At Yeshiva Torah Vodaath from 1931 — 2005 Horav Nosson Eliyahu Gertzulin was born in 1919 in the Belarusian Capitol city of Minsk but his family immigrated to the United States when he was a young child, settling in Philadelphia. Rav Gertzulin’s father would awaken him at 3:00 a.m., so that they could learn together for several hours, and again in the evenings they would learn once again, the only child there at that time. One day, a member of the shul asked Rav Gertzulin’s father: “Why are you wasting your time learning with your son? This is America! The young people don’t learn here!” Rav Gertzulin’s father was so shaken by this that he decided to send him away to yeshiva. So in 1931, before he even reached his bar mitzvah, Rav Gertzulin arrived in New York to attend Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, where he learned under Horav Moshe Dovber Rivkin zt”l and Horav Shlomo Heiman zt”l. Rav Gertzulin was the only talmid to receive both the coveted Yoreh Yoreh and Yadin Yadin semicha from Rav Heiman. Rav Gertzulin would stay up regularly until 3:00 a.m. bent over a Gemara or Shulchan Aruch, both of which he gained an extraordinary mastery over. And he applied his enormous thirst for knowledge which engendered his traveling away from home to the diligence with which he approached his Torah learning. This produced a formidable mix of Torah knowledge and breadth, together with the refinement and nobility of spirit which accompanied Rav Gertzulin. This combination did not pass unnoticed; the hasmadah with which Rav Gertzulin was later praised by Horav Gedaliah Schorr zt”l as “the greatest masmid that America ever produced” was the impetus for Horav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz to ask the 23-year-old bachur to serve as the Yeshiva’s Mashgiach. Another sign of Reb Shraga Feivel’s implicit trust in the young Rav Gertzulin was when he needed a shochet to provide the then-recently opened Camp Mesivta with meat. Reb Shraga Feivel encouraged Rav Gertzulin to learn shechita and serve as the shochet there. As Mashgiach, Rav Gertzulin showed a crystal clear understanding of the needs, circumstances and difficulties of each talmid. He proved to be fair but firm in his dealings with them. In order to impart a special geshmak for Yom Tov upon the bachurim, Rav Gertzulin compiled a collection of divrei Torah and distributed them among the bachurim before every Yom Tov. Many others have since copied this innovation. In 1947, Rav Gertzulin married his Rebbetzin Leah. During the next 58 years, his Rebbetzin stood by him with extraordinary devotion and she did everything to help him further his goals of harbotzas Torah and inculcate it in their children. One of their sons, Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin, is Agudath Israel of America’s Vice President of Finance and Administration. Rav Gertzulin’s nearly thirty-year tenure as Mashgiach ended when he was asked in the late 1960’s to start giving a shiur in the Yeshiva. His failing health and poor eyesight curtailed most of his public activities but the sight of him straining to learn through the limitations of the physical realm spurred the talmidim of Torah Vodaath on to test their own limitations in Torah study. Rav Gertzulin was niftar on 22 Sivan 2005. .

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