Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva students, from left, Gabriel, Eitan, Tai, and Ami Gerszberg hold the Torah scroll donated to their school by their families in memory of their grandfather, Shep Gerszberg. Photo by Debra Rubin
January 22, 2008
With waving flags, song, and dance, more than 500 students at Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva welcomed a new Torah scroll to their school and honored the man whose short life inspired its creation.
The scroll was dedicated Jan. 11 by the widow, children, and grandchildren — some of whom attend RPRY — of Shep Gerszberg to commemorate his 20th yahrtzeit.
Gerszberg, who died at age 41, was a Lakewood attorney renowned in that community for his ability to bring people together, his devotion to Jewish education, and his charitable endeavors and Judaic values, according to his wife, Rose.
However, Gerszberg didn’t live long enough to fulfill his greatest dream — to achieve the status of tzadik, or righteous man.
“Not long before Shep died, he said something about how he wanted to be remembered; he wanted to be a tzadik,” she told the youngsters gathered in the Edison school’s gym. “I believe through this Torah and the memory of the man who inspired it that goal can be achieved by you. I believe as you study from this Torah you will elevate his neshama [soul].”
The Torah scroll dedication was the idea of Gerszberg’s son, Ephraim of Highland Park. Other family members enthusiastically joined the effort.
The scroll was donated by Rose; Ephraim and his wife, Gila — herself an RPRY graduate — Ephraim’s brothers, Seth of Highland Park and Jonathan of North Miami Beach; and his sister and brother-in-law, Naomi and Benjy White of Manhattan.
Both Seth and Ephraim each have four of their children currently attending RPRY.
“I thought this was a way to continue what he did for the Jewish community, Jewish tradition, and the teaching and learning of Torah,” said Ephraim.
Love of Torah
The son of Holocaust survivors, Shep Gerszberg was born in Germany after the war. Raised on a chicken farm outside Lakewood by parents who were not religious, he was nonetheless sent to a Jewish day school.
Boys at Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva in Edison were so jubilant following a Torah scroll dedication ceremony Jan. 11 that they continued dancing outside the school well after the program’s completion. .
His background in both the observant and non-Orthodox world allowed him to become a “bridge-builder” between communities, according to his wife. People often turned to Gerszberg to settle disputes. She described her husband as both fun-loving and funny, “all infused with a love of Torah.”
Rose Gerszberg said her husband’s greatest contribution was to Jewish education. He would convince families of all religious backgrounds to send their children to day school. For those who could not afford it, Gerszberg “would make sure” the tuition was covered, she said.
“Today these kids that went to day school are themselves raising families that lead Shabbat-observant, kosher lives,” she said. “Shep more than anything was a loving family man who loved not only his own children, but all children.”
Rose, who now lives in New York, said that the Torah scroll was especially meaningful to her because it would be housed in the community she and her husband called home when they first married.
Her own grandchildren — who never knew their grandfather — would learn from it and use the scroll at their own b’nei mitzva services.
After an introduction by principal Rabbi Shraga Gross, the Torah scroll was carried in under a wedding canopy accompanied by Chaim Druk, the sofer, or scribe. Druk inscribed the scroll in Jerusalem and accompanied it from Israel to Edison to complete the last letters after its arrival in its permanent home.
As the entourage made its way through the cheering and singing students, Gross took the scroll and held it aloft as he danced to the music.
“Last night I could not sleep, I felt different, I felt an energy, just like I feel now from you children,” said Gross. “I felt new energy like you have, we all have, because our new Torah written in Yerushalayim was coming to RPRY, to our yeshiva.”
As rabbis from the community were called to add a letter to the text, children were allowed to come on stage to peer over their shoulders. The final letters were inscribed two days later at Congregation Ohr Torah in Edison.
“When all the people got to write, it was exciting,” said kindergarten student Rachel Samuel of Edison.
Fourth-grader Eitan Hornstein of Highland Park termed it “a special day,” adding, “When I’ve been in this school this has never happened.”
Daniella Berlin, a fourth-grader from Edison, added, “It was really nice getting a Torah because we will be able to show it a lot of respect and that makes me happy.”