As elsewhere in England and throughout the Torah world, there
were many hespedim for Maran HaRav Shach zt"l in
Gateshead.
In yeshivas Tiferes Yaakov there was a hesped at the
time of the levaya in Eretz Yisroel by the rosh yeshiva
HaRav Ezriel Yaffe, who is a devoted talmid of HaRav
Shach zt"l. HaRav Yaffe described the terrible calamity
and loss by the am Hatorah and the yeshivos in the
passing of HaRav Shach, especially in Tiferes Yaakov which
was established with the guidance of Maran zt"l. HaRav
Ezriel is a very close talmid of the Rosh Yeshiva and he was
very moved. Tears ran down his face as he spoke.
On the past Tuesday, in the middle of the shiva, there
were also hespedim in Tiferes Yaakov. In his divrei
pesicha HaRav Ezriel Yaffe started by quoting: Torah
Torah chigri sak. In Kinos it says that Torah is
like a ship that can get lost and broken. We cannot assume
always that all is well with Torah. With the passing of the
Rosh Hayeshiva zt"l, we lost the guidance that led us
with Torah, yiras Shomayim and hashkofo.
Oze vehodor levusho vatitzchak. Torah is oze but
it is also chozok. Hodor is yofi which is
maasim tovim and middos tovos. Maran was not only
oze with Torah but was also the hodor. He used
his oze, his power in Torah, to give over the
hodor. Everyone felt he was a ben yochid but with
his deep warmth and his efforts at kiruv the Rosh
Yeshiva gave over the emes and the right
hashkofo along with everything else.
Also speaking at that hesped were the rabbonei
hayeshiva: Rav Shlomo Steinhaus, Rav Yosef Bresslauer, Rav
Avrohom Osher Cohen, Rav Yaakov Yehuda Salamon.
Major hespedim were also held at the beis medrash
of the Yeshiva and in the Gateshead Kollel.
In Yeshivas Beis Yosef of Gateshead the maspidim were
the Gateshead Rov, HaRav Betzalel Rakow, HaRav Avrohom
Gurwicz, the rosh yeshiva, the menahel R' Zeev Cohen, the
mashgiach HaRav Mordechai Yosef Karnowsky.
In the Gateshead Kollel the speakers were: HaRav Avrohom
Ehrentrau, HaRav Ezriel Yaffe and HaRav Dovid Zahn.
