Thursday 19 July 2018

GERSHON PYESTUN


GERSHON PYESTUN (b. January 27, 1856)
            He was born in Shklov (Szkłów), Byelorussia.  Orphaned at age seven, he was raised in an orphanage.  He was a brilliant Talmudist and preacher in Lithuania.  For a time he was a rabbi in Shavlan (Siaulenai) and Mohilev (Mogilev), later settling in Vilna.  He was a friend of Ben Tsion Alfes and worked with him on a number of Yiddish and Hebrew-Aramaic texts.  He was the author of: Avodat hagershoni (The work of Gershon) (Vilna, 1885); Hamatif, der redner, sheyne raykhzinike droshes fir fersheydene tsaytn in yor mit tsugegebene onmerkungen in a brief fun ben tsien alfes (The preacher, lovely, rich sermons for various times of the year with additional remarks in a letter from Ben Tsion Alfes) (Vilna, 1903), 72 pp., which appeared in a great many editions in Vilna and Warsaw, “sermons which bring the reader great pleasure, educating his character and implanting in him good morals”; Peyre hagefen oder gedankenfrukht (Fruit of the vine or fruit for thought), sermons on the first five orders [of the Mishnah] (Warsaw, 1892), 80 pp.; Mayse alfes ufri hagefen oder tsuker-gebeks un vayn (Alfes’s tale and the fruit of the vine or pastry and wine), part 1 (Vilna, 1906), 110 pp., part 2 (Vilna, 1907), 80 pp.  Pyestun was also the author of a number of pamphlets which he signed “Hagefen” (The vine) and “Gefen” (Vine).

Sources: Ben-Tsien Ayzenshtadt, Dor rabanav vesofrav (A generations of rabbis and authors), vol. 3 (Vilna, 1902), p. 27; Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur (Biographical dictionary of modern Yiddish literature), vol. 1, col. 119, under the biography Ben Tsion Alfes (see: http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2014/07/ben-tsion-benzion-alfes.html).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


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