STERN, GERSHON

STERN, GERSHON (1861–1936), Transylvanian rabbi and author. Stern was a pupil of Moses Schick and Abraham Judah ha-Kohen Schwartz. He served as rabbi of Marosludas from 1885. In 1881 he published in the Ha-Tor of Abraham Guenzler (fourth year, no. 6) an attractive article on the need to revive the Hebrew language and the joy that filled him on the appearance of Hebrew papers. He visited Ereẓ Israel and then wrote his small work, Masei Benei Yisrael (1910), in German with Hebrew script. In "Ḥatimat ha-Sefer" ("conclusion") of the Yalkut ha-Gershuni, Hilkhot Terefot (1907), he wrote in ornate language of his love and yearnings for Ereẓ Israel.

He also wrote of his ties with Ereẓ Israel in his testament (Yalkut ha-Gershuni, al Aggadot ha-Shas, pt. 1 (1922), 41a). He was very concerned about the yeshivot in his province and wished to raise their standards both economically and spiritually. To this end he published many articles in the Allgemeine Juedische Zeitung, and then issued them in a special pamphlet Marbeh Yeshivah (1902). His Yalkut ha-Gershuni is in 13 parts: three parts contain novellae and expositions of themes in the Talmud and posekim, arranged in alphabetical order (1894–96); two parts are on the Bible (1899–1900); four parts are on the Shulḥan Arukh (1901–08); three parts are on talmudic aggadot (1922–27); and one part is on Avot (1906). He also frequently published talmudic novellae in the Tel Talpiyyot. His Masei Benei Yisrael was translated into Hebrew by N. Ben-Menahem (Mi-Sifrut Yisrael be-Ungaryah (1958), 9–49), which gives a detailed bibliography of his writings (317–26).

[Naphtali Ben-Menahem]