As the z’man ended, HaGaon HaRav Shalom Ber Sorotzkin delivered a sicha to the talmidim of his yeshivah, Ateres Shlomo in Rishon L’Tzion, during which he spoke divrei chizzuk about the threats looming over the heads of bnei yeshivos.

“We are going to go through a difficult and complex period,” the Rosh Yeshivah began. “It is impossible to ignore this, but if we know how to view it correctly, we can accept it with elevation and in mockery of avoda zara. They call it ‘personal sanctions’ and ‘economic sanctions,’ as if, so to speak, we depend on them. But they can’t do anything to us. The Creator of all worlds has crowned us and determined that we are the princes of His kingdom in the world. We know the truth; Hashem chose us. We’re not afraid of it because we know the truth.”

The Rosh Yeshivah  emphasized that this is a special test for bnei yeshivos in our generation. “About you, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, ‘Behold, behold my beloved children. Hashem has chosen us to be the ones who may have a little ‘bondage of clay and stones.’ One needs to know how much elevation (rommemus) we have. Hashem has chosen us from all generations for this. And He bestows upon us this special love—it is you that I bring closer as princes in mamleches Hashem.”

“We need to know our loftiness and our greatness and to remember that our role now is to remember that everything depends on us; everything depends on the shtender. There is no koach apart from this, and every minute of limmud Torah transforms the world. Billions of people lack the power of a minute of limmud Torah, which we have.”

The Rosh Yeshivah then spoke about a recent meeting in the US, when he was asked to speak about the issue of the recruitment of bnei yeshivos. When he got there, he realized that he had arrived at a public debate on the issue with someone who was frum but not a Ben Torah.

“He started talking to me, using common phrases—’equal burden,’ ‘mutual responsibility,’ ‘accountability’—all sorts of phrases that they repeat without even understanding their meaning. I told him, ‘I’m not going to argue with you about the views of the great Torah mussar authorities of the last generation and the one before, but are you a Tzaduki? Do you believe that the Written Torah is from Shamayim? ‘Yes,’ he replied.”

“‘I have a question,” the Rosh Yeshivah responded to the man. ‘Yaakov our father says about Shechem, ‘Which I took from the hand of the Amori with my sword and with my bow.’ Everyone knows that Yaakov Avinu himself did not fight at all, so how can Yaakov Avinu say that he fought? It was Shimon and Levi.’

“He tells me he doesn’t know. I told him, ‘Rashi explains, ‘בצלותי ובעותי’—’with my tefillah  and Torah.’ It says here one thing: the war that happened in Shechem, Yaakov Avinu did it, even though he didn’t fight there—he took it with his tefillah and Torah. But the question is, why aren’t Shimon and Levi also mentioned? Because it is written here—no, only tefillah and Torah determine the battlefield. It is true that hishtadlus is needed, as with parnassah, but the hishtadlus is just a ‘show’ and a ‘game,’ as the Beit HaLevi calls it, because the clear truth is that what determines the battle is only ratzon Hashem, that one can be victorious via Torah and tefillah.”

“Victory in battle is when Yisrael looks upwards. When is it determined that people will fall on the battlefield, chas v’chalilah, the falls of Jews, of our brothers and our flesh— it is when, chas v’chalilah, there is a lack of ‘Yisrael looking upwards.’ So what causes deaths on the battlefield are those who diminish those who sit in the Beis Medrash, Hashem Yeracheim.”

The Rosh Yeshivah then addressed the issue of sanctions against bnei yeshivos.”They tell us economic sanctions—what will be? A very wealthy man once asked me, ‘Why should I give so much to the Olam HaTorah?’ I told him: the words of the Moreh Nevuchim are well known, asking whether a large bridge built by thousands of goyim over tens or perhaps hundreds of years was built for Torah. The Moreh Nevuchim says that indeed, it is all so that one day a Jew will sit and study Torah for five moments. What is written here? That everything that happens in the world revolves around the shtender of the Ben Torah who was zoche to be so exalted and elevated.”

“I said to that Jew, ‘You believe in the bridge, but you don’t believe that the businesses in Manhattan revolve around Torah? Everything you do, everything that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has chosen you to be a messenger for, is for the sake of Torah.”

“Sometimes the thought crosses one’s mind: they talk about ‘sanctions,’ and we think about what will be. The answer is explained in the Rambam at the end of Shemittah and Yovel, and also in Rashi in the Sugya in Shabbos. It is explained that ‘תורתו אומנותו’ is someone that has no other occupation, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu will grant him his livelihood like the Kohanim. It is written about the Kohanim that their livelihood will be in exchange for their work, in return for their work, and it is written about this, ‘Hashem will grant him what is sufficient for his work.’ Hakadosh Baruch Hu promises life and livelihood from His generous hand to those who toil in Torah. This is a promise from Hakadosh Baruch Hu.”

“A yesod is written here in the Rambam that lomdei Torah will receive parnassah from Hashem, via their limmud. And therefore I say to them, we don’t need you. Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes care of us and has taken care of us and will take care of us throughout all the generations.”

The Rosh Yeshivah then spoke about the encounter he had with the former Governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Stanley Fischer, z’l (who was niftar this past May), in an elevator in Manhattan.

“We sat for four hours—he canceled his meetings. He told me that he couldn’t understand how the Olam HaTorah manages to exist, how the Chareidim buy apartments and the chilonim can only buy at the age of 40. In the middle of our discussion, he asked me, Where did you study economics? I told him—in the Rambam, הלכות טוען ונטען!”

“At the end of the meeting, he repeated, ‘I can’t understand the Chareidi economy.’ I replied, ‘If you don’t understand, then open your eyes and see that everything is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Who feeds and sustains.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)