The Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel used a major Motzei Shabbos dinner in Boro Park — held in support of the community’s local mosdos — to share strong and pointed reflections from his historic visit to Eretz Yisroel.
According to a video taken at the event, the Rebbe expressed serious concern about the spiritual state of many American bochurim who travel to learn in Israel, saying that instead of growing, “they are only declining.”
The Rebbe described what he personally witnessed during his recent stay in Yerushalayim. “When I was in Yerushalayim, I would go out — sometimes at 9 in the morning, sometimes at 10 or 11, or even later. I saw them “draying around” in the streets of Yerushalayim with hats, without hats, with wet peyos… wandering here and wandering there, not knowing what to do,” the Rebbe told the large crowd.
“I saw the hefkerus of the American bochurim walking around Yerushalayim. They claim they are “shteiging”, but they are not rising — they are falling,” the Rebbe stated emphatically.
Turning directly to parents in the audience, the Rebbe added a warning: “I want to tell the people here who may have boys in Eretz Yisroel, and those who know others who have boys there, This is the Matzav of the Bochrim. I can’t say for all of them, but a large percent of them are walking the streets with hefkeyrus”.
Thousands upon thousands of American bochurim travel yearly to Eretz Yisroel for yeshiva learning programs.
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32 Responses
He didn’t see anything.
He just likes to make headlines
The rebbe just spread motzei shem ra about thousands of yeshiva bochrim learning. Guranteed the rebbe never walked into Brisk, Mir, Pregers, Reb Tzvi or anyone else. What a zilzul to trash thousands of Bochrim like that in public.
OHHHHHH if he was referring to Satmar bochrim, he should have been very clear.
I’ll say it for him:
“raboysai, p[lease stop sending our Satmar Bochrim to Eretz Yisroel because they do not learn a word, are not in yeshivos, go to hafganos and block streets, they never daven with minyanim. keep them in Kiryas Yoel where they can continue to do this without embarrassing our chassidus.”
so true. the satmar bochrim do nothing all day.
he said it, not me.
Wanna know what this is REALLY all about?
There are hundreds of satmar bochrim learning in mir yerushalayim and other yeshivas. In a real yeshiva, with sedorim and chavrusos. And it’s killing him that satmar doesn’t have a single normal yeshiva in eretz yisroel for american bochrim with even one decent one magid shiur. Any satmar bochrum of substance ends up by reb asher in the mir.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Why do people always run to challenge the words of every Rabbi who says anything? You really think he said it without thought? Do you know better for sure?
These Bochurim sound like they would be a good fit for the IDF’s חטיבת החשמונאים
@rebEmes – Of course he gave it thought. Always does this stuff. Trump also thinks about things before he says them.
So confused.
I spent more time on the streets of yershalayim in the past 10 years then this rebbe spent in his entire life. facts matter sometimes.
Let me tell you what he saw. He saw lowlife Israeli drop outs aka “shbabnakim” and yerushalmi chevra walking the streets aimlessly with zero to do all day. And it’s tons of them. Maybe it’s time to draft them into the army and actually allow real yeshiva bochrim to sit and learn!
Actually, on second thought. This is his strategy. Blame all the laydigayers walking the streets as “americans” and then no one should draft them since they are not Israelis.
This has to be one of the funniest things I ever heard in my entire life.
Go to zichrom moshe shteeblach, meah shearim shteeblach, bais yisroel shteebs…. all the chevra doing nothing and smoking and just hanging around all day and night are his chevra.
NONE are Americans.
Again people are painting him as an idiot, he knows what American satmar boys look like. Everyone knows the downside of this luxury year people take abroad including seminaries and non-hasidic boy yeshivas, it’s more or less a year of sufganiyot
Reb Aharon is not incorrect, there is a tremendous hefkeirus and prikas ol problem amongst the American bochrim learning in Eretz Yisroel. He is lamenting a problem that many American Gedolim agree with, if one would only ask them. No one addresses this problem, because no one will listen. Our generation allows the bochurim to dictate how things will be, and if they want to go learn in EY, no Rebbi, Rov or parent can stop them.
I have been there and I have seen what goes on and it is disgraceful. The streets of Yerushalyim bear no resemblance to the streets when I learned in yeshiva in the eighties.
Reb Aharon is not jealous or envious and certainly not a fool, he is saying Divrei Toichecho to his oilam. You can choose to accept what he says or ignore it, because he wasn’t speaking to anyone on this news channel.
Says the man strolling to his private jet paid for by tzedaka funds, control of which he got, after a long bitter battle for the Chief Rabbi position
Ok, so let’s say he is wrong. Is that a way to talk about one of the biggest gedolim klal Yisrael has? Is this the kind of things you say at your shabbos table? When you hide your name the aveira isn’t any better
I am a fan of satmar
That’s like going into a yeshiva coffee room and seeing 25 guys there and saying nobody learns here.
that might be true if the yeshiva has 50 boys but if it has thousands than the statement is foolish
If there are ten thousand American boys learning in Yerushalayim and he saw 50 then his statement is foolish
How many did he see?
You all know, “learning” in EY is NOT for all. Many, maybe most, are learning and shteiging! Sadly, far too many, are there because they need to get out of the house or because “for the shidduch resumè” they have to be recorded as having learned in EY. You all must agree, far too many are there because they’re there. The problem may not be as big as the Rebbe presents it, but it is a problem! And anyone who denies it, is, themselves, in denial.
There’s a real conversation to be had about which bochurim are ready for the independence of learning in EY and which need more structure. But that conversation happens with Roshei Yeshiva, parents, and mechanchim – not through public statements that paint thousands of shteiging bochurim with the same brush. The bochurim in the Mir, Brisk, and dozens of serious yeshivos deserve better than being lumped together with the small percentage who genuinely are struggling.
It’s the same all over, not only E”Y.
At least 50% of boys are just not cut out to sit and learn the Gemorah’s discussions of ideas back and forth when 90% of it, is not Nogeah L’maseh.
As an American living and learning in EY for the last 15 years…
He’s not wrong.
(Also there aint 10K US bachurim in EY – nowhere close)
Full disclosure: I did not go to learn in Israel as a Bochur.
A big part of why I made that choice, is that I made an observation that some solid guys were coming back seriously worse than they were when they went.
I spoke with a number of Roshei Yeshivah and I got back a rough consensus that that a quarter to a third of Bachurim were having a massive Aliyah while there, a similar number were having a massive Yeridah while learning there and the remaining 33-50% were coming back with no noticeable changes.
The kicker was that nobody had any real predictor on what boys would come back better, worse, or the same.
So, while I’m not sure the Rebbe’s observation perfectly matches reality, there is a conversation that must be had without all the emotional name calling that usually comes with such a hot button issue.
This is such a wild thing for the jet-setting multi-millionaire rebbe, to say. The family and friends who have learned in Israel or who are learning there now are to a man serious b’nei Torah who have developed or will develop into bona fide talmidei chachamim. They run the gamut from Religious Zionist to to Chardal to yeshivish to chassidish. This is motzi shem ra, but that is well within this person’s tradition.
Administrator: Please inform your readers that you edited my post without my consent and did not include emboldened editor’s notes as per standard journalistic practice.
קבל את האמת ממי שאמרו
There are neighborhoods in Yerushalayim that have takanos for stores when they need to close at night and for landlords regarding to which bachurim they can rent apartments.
This is a disease of הפקרות!
Oy.
There is a lot of hefkerus among chassidish teenagers in Brooklyn.
Take care of your own kids.
Have an ayin tov on everyone else’s
I have seen a lot of hefkerus among chassidish teenage boys in Brooklyn and Monsey
Take care of your own family.
Have an ayin tov for everyone else.
I have also seen a a lot of aggressive behavior toward parents and authority figures. Improve the chinuch in your own house. It will affect the rest of us.
And we won’t discuss the large amount of the “great chashive bachurim” from his kiryas yoel satmer yeshiva who walk aimlessly on the streets all hours of the day… enough is said
To Poschit Am HaAretz:
Thank you for your clever understanding of the Rebbe.
Also we can add, I see lots of American students at demonstrations.
My Rebbe told me that the best Hafgana is opening up a Gemara in the Bais Medrash.
If anyone who reads these posts and comments still has the ability to parse and analyze, there is so much wrong with this post and even the accompanying feedback — allow me to rant and join that party.
1) The Rebbe, a venerated leader for many Jews, makes a blanket and generalized taina on bochurim in Yerushalayim. Sure there is hefkerus. And there is shteiging. AZ MAH? Is this just stirring the pot? Something to denigrate and weaken the flow of bochurim into EY – for what?? That they shouldn’t have a feeling of kesher? It’s all because of the ideological slant? It’s all a l’shma daaga regarding kedusha?
Either way – based on this limited clip (another emes-killer – abusing short clips taken out of context), the most painful thing is that he says nothing of chiddush or value here – he is just stating the obvious, with zero nuance. Is that a leader in Klal Yisrael today? (I have to assume that this clip is only a piece of a larger conversation. In which case the chisaron is that of the editor.)
2) Bochurim – the prime of Klal Yisrael – it’s true they are often adrift – hefker – at home or abroad. And if the dangers they find overseas, are X and Y, so, too, those same and other dangers can lurk in homes and home communities… again, just stating the obvious. What is wrong with the article is again – NO TOCHEIN. What and how do we address what really ails our young people and what to do about it? How are we failing those bochurim – what’s on us and what’s on them, as baalei bechira? (Although since we don’t subscribe to radical freewill – see Rav Dessler – so much of the onus reverts to us as prarents or mechonchim, for not giving them enough to fill their penimiyus to want to shtieg for real, or for not giving valid alternatives to full-time learning that fill them with pride.) But anyway, this conversation of hefkerus, which should be had, just goes nowhere.
3) Bad “Them” vs good “Us” – “Our” bochurim are zisse and ehrlich – it’s those ichkie Israeli bums who sit around eating garinim…?!?! Is that a way to NOT look at the issues herein because we think we’re feiner menschen than our Israeli brothers? Our bochurim are just fine, it’s yennem’s that have a problem? Referring to the comments section here.
In the speech, it’s the opposite problem – by not specifying whose bochurim, he manages to get everyone edge – does he mean the Satmer bochurim also have this problem?? Is it Litvaks? Maybe he is speaking to the heimishe velt who think they can have it all – maybe it’s to them? )
But either way, this trend of slicing and dicing of Yidden to project blame or avoid blame just makes us worse. If there is a problem specific to say, the Syrian community, so we should be able to use a specific label, appropriately contextualize it, obviously only with a constructive purpose, l’maan H’. (Not a slur at Syrians specifically, just wanted to choose a specific subset.)
This slicing and dicing is so toxic, and we do it without even blinking.
4) Some comments just get personal, and become a shtuch for whatever stance you prefer: the army/not army jokes, the pro-Satmer/bash-Satmer cracks. Why?
5) And acharon chaviv – the video itself. Here sits a man, maybe he is Satmer, maybe not, videoing someone he ostensibly respects, then posting it on Yeshiva World. It looks like the whole taping was surreptitious and he had to hide it at the end suddenly. He’s with the oilam? He’s poresh min hatzibur? Where is the sense of integrity?
For what?! To mach a matzav? To undercut the Rebbe? You’re bored, you want to start a tumult?
The inauthenticity of this videographer is so rampant – no sees this as problematic? Is this “Tamim Tihiyu”?
And I find myself mesmerized by the fleshy, gold watch bedecked hand of his neighbor as it taps and taps his pen on the table… He’s enjoying? He’s uncomfortable because his Shloima is over there and he thinks the Rebbe is referring to him and his friends? He’s bored and waiting to go home and hit his smart phone in the dark? He’s frustrated because he is a deep and sensitive person and he was hoping for some more tochein?
Thanks for letting me rant. I am also frustrated by the hefkerus of bochurim (and non bochurim) and want more for all of us, and daven to have an ayin tov. H’ Yirachem.
Before he talks about American bochurim in Israel he should first root out the crookedness and evil among the Developers from his community who have destroyed Monsey and turned it into a deadly demolition derby.
didn’t see a thing or he and his kahilla would be in Isreal
I would like to invite the Rebbe to take a different tour than the one he just took. My tour will not involve huge gatherings which heap kovod upon the participants and will certainly not involve private jets. My tour will be to the batei midrash in which thousands and thousands of American bochurim are learning Layla vayom and don’t appreciate being maligned by someone in an ivory tower. Are there bochurim in the streets wasting time waking up late? Yes. Please correct me if I am wrong, but have you ever looked at the schedule in a satmar yeshiva? The bachurim are not expected to show up until 11:00. First fix your own house, then criticize
I hesitated to write a comment but i feel it needs to be said. As a commenter on this article put it, look in your own backyard first…or as another commenter wrote, fix your own house first…
Going to Bahamas for y”t and vacations, going to beaches, going to casinos, having smartphones despite not working or needing it for work, etc, etc. Why is that better than going to fres in a different restaurant every night in Geulah? It’s not only not better but it’s worse than zich drayan aher in ahin in de Yerushalayimdige gassen.
Not all 18+ bucharim are cut out to learn all day. And the Rebbe knows that.
A third of bucharim sit and learn and shteig all day, a third learn ok and are not doing bad in yeshivah but also not amazing, and a third drey zich in de gassen in Geulah in in Monroe oich…it’s hard because these boys need jobs but they are scared of getting a job because of shiddichum, so let’s not judge, wherever zei drayan zich. These “who drei zich” in Yerushalayim daven in later minyunim just like in Monroe. And they have chavrisos too, just not all day.
The SR is an ish emes and a chut hameshulash who has zechus avos. Even if one bachur goes back to learning it is worth it. His musar is usually based on RYE and his YD. While REMS was matir government money , it may have been like the Netziv in 1891. In the US , the SR is into government funding as is well known. I do not know if by the Litvishe it is lechatchila to take or not. By YU they do not take for the Yeshiva .