Speech
Eulogy for Gershon Hausman (1985)
Early last year, a dear friend of mine whose rabbi I had been for a number of years at The Jewish Center, Mr. Gershon Hausman, told me that he missed the annual כינוס שיעורים that the Rav, שליט״א, used to give in this season, בין כסה לעשור. Born in Antwerp, and also a member of the Moriah Shul on the West Side, he was a great admirer of the Rav, who had an affiliation with that shul. Because of his esteem for the Rav and the tradition of the כינוסי תשובה inaugurated by the Rav and continued by him for many years, Mr. Hausman created a perpetual endowment at Yeshiva for these תשובה שיעורים to be given every year, between ראש השנה and יום כיפור, both here at our Main Center and at the Gruss Institute in Jerusalem. He endowed these lectures, which begin today both here and by Reb Dovid Lifschitz in ירושלים, in honor of the memory of his late parents, Moshe and Chava Hausman, ע"ה, and of the parents of his beloved wife Judy, may she live and be well, Elias and Mary Stern, ע"ה. He looked forward eagerly to this שיעור, but the השגחה willed it otherwise. This summer, Gershon Hausman returned his soul to his Creator at his home in ירושלים. Indeed, תשב אנוש עד דכא ותאמר שובו בני אדם — before these תשובה שיעורים could begin — שובו בני אדם — he performed the other תשובה, that of תשב אנוש עד דכא, the inevitable "return" from whence we all come. Gershon Hausman dealt in diamonds — and he became identified with them. He was himself a blue-white gem of a human being, possessed of many brilliant hues and intriguing facets, and precious beyond words. He was a ננוע and an ענו, unassuming and understated. He loved Israel, went there as often as he could — and wrote a beautiful אגרת. I was a friend of the family, and knew him especially as a תלמיד of mine in גמרא. He had a good head. What he lacked in formal education, he made up for with an astute intellect and an inquiring mind. Upon his retirement three years ago, he urged me to organize Talmud classes in Midtown for retirees who …
