Harav Gershon Chein left no children, but he did leave behind several handwritten notebooks containing chidushei Torah and encyclopedic lists. The writings published in the new sefer reveal a gaon of rare stature and range, containing chidushim in all fields of Torah: al hashas, halachic teshuvos, and haoros on Midrash, Zohar, and Chassidus.

The sefer was prepared by a team of scholars directed by R. Tzvi Hersh Gutnick, a great-nephew of the author, and published by Kehos.

The sefer opens with a biographical introduction to the author, Harav Gershon Chein. Republished from Avnei Chein, the biography of the broader Chein family, this chapter tells the story of R. Gershon’s life, from his decade learning and teaching in Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch to his subsequent decades of rabbonus in Oleksandriya, Ukraine; Haifa; and Shikun Chabad in Yerushalayim.

Reflecting the many years the author served on the Beis Din of Chaifa, the first part of the sefer, the “Ohel Rishon,” is a lengthy treatise on the topic of the halachos of writing the names of the parties in gittin.

The “Ohel Sheni” contains the author’s chidushim, teshuvos, and haoros, and is arranged by categories: Shas, Halachah, Gittin, Rambam, Agadah, al Hatorah, Moadim, Chassidus, derashos, and encyclopedic lists of references on various themes that interested the author.

As these were notes written for personal use rather than for publication, the style is raw and not uniform. Rather than a polished and carefully curated presentation of a specific topic or field, the reader gets a behind-the-scenes look into the “laboratory” of a chassidishe gaon of the highest caliber: the halachic questions that are keeping him up at night, the insights he’s coming up with on the weekly parshah, the passages in Likutei Torah he’s toiling to figure out, and the derashos he’s preparing for simchos and hespedim. Some pieces are lengthy, thorough essays; others are short and sweet vertlach; and others are brief references to consult—all testament to a gaon with incredible knowledge across all areas of Torah, and a mind that never stops thinking.

For example, readers will find a thorough analysis of the machlokes between the Rambam and Raavad about whether the appointment of a shliach for kidushin requires eidim; points for consideration regarding the question of whether a boxer is liable for the injuries he inflicts in a competitive bout; a kabbalistic perspective on the significance of the gifts Yosef sent his father from Mitzrayim; and a collection of maamarei Chazal about the importance of hiskashrus to tzadikim.   

To take R. Chein’s personal writings and present them to the public in a digestible and accessible manner, the editors arranged the pieces by topics and added hundreds of footnotes quoting sources the author briefly referenced, explicating his points when they aren’t fully spelled out, and providing relevant background information about people and topics.

Accessible to all readers with a solid yeshivah background, this work offers readers a rare window into the mind of a unique chassidishe gaon, and its broad range guarantees that every reader will find something of interest. 

The present sefer was edited from notebooks of R. Gershon Chein held in the archive of the Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad and other notebooks in private hands. Anyone who has information about the whereabouts of further notebooks of R. Geshon’s chidushim is encouraged to contact the editors.

Oholei Gershon is available at Kehos and other Crown Heights seforim stores. In Eretz Yisrael, the sefer is available at Kehos in Kfar Chabad.