HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein published words of chizzuk after several bnei yeshivos were arrested by military police and thrown into prison.

HaRav Zilberstein wrote, “We are living in very complex times, as what is stated in Masechtas Kesuvos (112b) has been fulfilled in us. Amar Rebbi Zeira said in the name of Rebbi Yirmiyah bar Abba, ‘In the generation when the son of Dovid comes, there will be accusations against talmidei chachamim.’ When this was told before Shmuel, he said, ‘One affliction after another.’ Rav Yosef taught, ‘Confiscations upon confiscations.'”

“And behold, here in Eretz Yisrael—to our great sorrow—it is the only place in the world where lomdei Torah are persecuted, and they seek to imprison them for the ‘crime’ of learning Torah and for wanting to guard their Yahadus and not be corrupted in questionable places, from which no one emerges with the same Yiras Shamayim with which he entered.”

“This situation shouldn’t frighten the avreichim and bochurim at all because until now, we learned Torah because we could—but now, we must prove that we don’t learn Torah because it is easy, but because it is the will of the Borei and we are prepared to be mekadeish Shem Shamayim…and to continue learning Torah above all.

“I have received as a kabbalah that truth ultimately prevails. We have been in galus for 1,956 years, and many have risen against the Torah and those who uphold it—and none have succeeded. Am Yisrael chai v’kayam and clings to the Torah, and so it shall remain until the coming of Moshiach, speedily in our days.

“Now that we must learn Torah with mesirus nefesh, we must cling to it all the more. Let us accept upon ourselves the yoke of Torah in the fullest sense, and it will be fulfilled in us as it says in Pirkei Avos: ‘Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah, the yoke of government and worldly concerns will be removed from him.’ I am confident that whoever takes upon himself the yoke of Torah will not be harmed by the financial decrees!

“In earlier generations, in the galus, great Talmidei Chachamim emerged from the yeshivos—because they learned with mesirus nefesh. They had almost no physical comforts. They learned with little food, eating meals at the homes of kind ba’alei batim, often without even a bed to sleep in. They learned with tremendous mesiras nefesh and ahavas Torah.

“Today, baruch Hashem, the generation is fortunate—there are vast numbers of lomdei Torah in yeshivos who uphold the world. But what has been lacking is mesirus nefesh for Torah. To truly flourish, there must also be mesirus nefesh and a demonstration of love for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

“In our time, bnei yeshivos—the elite of Am Yisrael—are being persecuted, the ones who sustain the world, in whose zechus we continue to exist here in Eretz Yisrael, surrounded by cruel, bloodthirsty enemies. Everyone understands that we live here only via nissim. There is no natural explanation for our survival other than that Hakadosh Baruch Hu protects us through the zechus of lomdei Torah.

“There are now terrible accusations against those who learn Torah, but the lomdim continue with mesirus nefesh, and they are mekadeish shem Shamayim. And in the zechus of this limud with such devotion, Am Yisrael is granted greater protection—something we so desperately need at this time. And the lomdim, in the zechus of their Kiddush Hashem, will be zochech to grow into the Gedolei Torah of the next generation.

“Let us therefore seize this time to increase our diligence in Torah. Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah and learns with mesirus nefesh, regardless of circumstances, has the opportunity to become one of the Gedolim of the next generation.”

“However, we must also fear the great kitrug this arouses in Shamayim—that they’re waging war against the finest of the Jewish people. Hakadosh Baruch Hu created an entire world, and of all that vast world, He has nothing so precious as the daled amos of halachah. It is like a great king who has countless palaces and servants, yet treasures one quiet corner where he withdraws alone, and all his kingdom is worthwhile to him only for that corner. One who dares to wage war against that corner is the worst ‘moreid b’malchus.'”

“There’s a story of a group of Jews who had abandoned Yiddishkeit who waged war against the yeshiva bochurim of the Chofetz Chaim z’tl. After much conflict, they came to vent their anger in the home of the Chofetz Chaim himself.”

“A group entered, and one brazen man began to speak insolently against the Chofetz Chaim. But in that very moment, while uttering his curses, he was suddenly struck with madness before everyone’s eyes. Stricken by insanity, he ran out of the house, traveled far away until he reached the seashore, boarded a ship, and drowned himself. The entire town was in shock.

“The story became the talk of the day—this one said this, and another person said that. But in the Zionist newspaper published in Warsaw, they wrote an accusation against the Chofetz Chaim, asking, ‘Did not the Chofetz Chaim himself author a sefer on hilchos lashon hara? Is he not known as one who speaks about the need to love one another? How, then, could he have cursed that man to madness and death?’

“When the Chofetz Chaim heard about their question, he replied with a written statement. Since he was already elderly, he dictated it word for word to a young avreich and signed it himself. It was published widely throughout the Jewish world, in Eretz Yisrael and abroad.

“The statement said: ‘What they say—that I cursed him—is false. I have never cursed a Jew. But the end of the story was that he went mad and perished—that is true and certain. Let it be known and heard that one must never start up with yeshiva bochurim.'”

HaRav Zilberstein continued, “We must daven and arouse Rachamei Shamayim—that not a single yeshiva bochur be harmed, and that they have the strength to be mekadeish Shem Shamayim. And we must also daven that the heavenly accusations stirred up by these acts will not harm Am Yisrael and that no Jew will suffer because of this terrible kitrug.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)