It is with great sadness that an hour from now we must bury our dear friend and family member Rabbi Gershon Zeffren zt"l. He was a pillar of the St. Louis community as well as the Jewish education and kiruv community worldwide. A founding member of
Chinuch.org, he was able to make an impact and touch the lives of those near and far. As my Mothers first cousin I was honored to know him and will always be honored to say that he was a member of my family. He and his wife Donna are two of the strongest, special, influential, outgoing, brave and well rounded personalities that I have ever known. Professionally, I have a debt of gratitude toward them for asking me to shoot their daughters wedding four years ago, where the above picture was taken. It was only the second large scale wedding that I had ever shot and by entrusting me and my team to manage it they took a risk. Within the weeks following the wedding he was diagnose with a brain tumor that he successfully fought for the last three and a half years. At my Grandmothers funeral a year ago he officiated and spoke very poignantly, as he always did. He was also in the unfortunate position of burying his mother, my grandmothers sister, a few months prior. He leaves behind a legacy of stellar Torah observance that is punctuated by his eleven children. Jonathan, as he is know to family members and old friends, will be very sorely missed.
A live feed of his levaya can be found
here.
