HaRav Asher Abramowitz, a Rosh Mesivta in a yeshiva in Jerusalem, spoke to Kol Chai after accompanying a talmid who was arrested, visiting him in military prison, and attending hearings at the military court. He said that although he does not usually give interviews, he chose to reveal the details because “the public simply is not aware of what is happening.”
The Rav said that what shook him most was seeing his talmid sitting behind a glass partition in the courtroom. “Instead of sitting in the Beis Medrash and learning, he was sitting in court like one of the criminals,” he said. He added that the main difficulty is not the physical conditions, but the humiliation the bnei yeshivos are subject to, including restrictions on phone calls with family members and degrading treatment by staff members.
The Rav also described the daily routine in prison: early wake-up, lengthy roll calls, prolonged standing in front of commanders, extended periods in closed rooms, and various restrictions. He said his talmid was even punished after learning for a few extra minutes after davening by being denied use of the phone for three days. He added that the bnei yeshivos also encounter difficulties in religious matters, including kashrus issues and the ability to learn Torah quietly.
At the end of the interview, he said the image that will remain with him is the sight of his broken talmid on the first day of detention. “He told me: ‘HaRav, it is impossible to survive here,'” he recalled.
The Rav concluded by asking the public to identify with the pain of the detainees and understand that “there is a bachur here who, instead of sitting in the Beis Medrash, was taken in handcuffs and humiliated.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
25 Responses
no phone calls, waking up early, extended periods in closed rooms, noisy room, allowed brief time for davening – how is that not an ideal beis midrash!?
Seriously, if books are not allowed some of the time (it does not say so), then bochurim should be learning better so that they remember things b’al peh. When R Akiva was in prison, his students will come up with shailohs, and he would pasken from prison. I doubt that his conditions were better,
i.e. maiara baharav ימח שמה וזכרונה.
no’am sohlberg ימח שמו וזכרונו.
May these 2 low lives burn in גיהינום for all time, for having caused such misery & בזיון התורה הקדושה
What about the pain of the Talmid in a Yeshivat Hesder who has had his service extended because there’s nobody to take his place – is that not worth taking into account? The Torah learning of of that Hesder soldier has been stolen – stolen by those who are refusing to take their turn at the front so that this Talmid Yeshiva can not return to his Gemara when he was supposed to. How much value is there to the learning of one steals his learning from his fellow Jew???
an Israeli Yid
@always defending the Zionist Anti-Religious Apartheid state: extended periods in closed rooms [likely with some secular criminals not allowing him to learn], noisy room [NOT BEING ABLE TO LEARN OR TO DAVEN], allowed brief time for davening [THAT MAY BE ENOUGH FOR YOU BUT NOT FOR A YESHIVA BOCHUR!]
When R Akiva was in prison, his students will come up with shailohs, and he would pasken from prison. – NOT AWARE THAT HIS CHAVRUSES CAN COME TO LEARN WITH HIM!
@90Israeli10%Yid: WE DIDN’T STEAL LEARNING TIME FROM THE HESDER TALMID, AS WE ALWAYS OPPOSED THE CREATION OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS ZIONIST STATE, but the Hesder Rabbanim supported it. NEITHER WAS IT OUR FAULT THAT GAZA BEEN RETURNED BY SHARON TO HAMAS AGAINST THE ADVISE OF ALL THE SECURITY EXPERTS, NOR WAS IT OUR FAULT THAT THE GAZA BORDER WAS NOT PROTECTED DESPITE OBVIOUS SIGNS OF AN IMMINENT ATTACK!
Why is this such a childish and worthy of a news story? Duh, it’s prison, it’s not meant to be club med. This was the choice he and the entire community collectively made. If this is indeed such a horrible situation either A) work with the government and the army for a compromise B) come out and vote in the elections to be represented and change laws. If the conditions were really inhumane you would not have bachurim proudly holding signs “we would rather go to prison than go to the army”. Bottom line is that the status quo is not sustainable and there needs to be compromise on both sides ( the army needs to create a unit in which ALL needs of a chareidi soldier will be respected)
AAQ – So we will be on the side of Rabbi Akiva, the AG/Bagatz will be the Romans, and which side are you on?
anIsraeliYid – There isn’t anything stopping the Hesder Talmid from joining a Chareidi Yeshiva if he wants to except for his ideology. They believe in what they do, we believe in what we do. We don’t tell them to stop doing what they do, they shouldn’t tell us either. The AG/Bagatz don’t believe in either (Hesder-DL or Chareidi) and actually hate the Hesder chevra also. Something the more religiously serious side of the DL world is starting to realize.
So בני-ישיבה are sitting in jail/prison in Israel for crime of learning תורה, but a savage who stabbed someone 17 time in Switzerland, only receives 1 year sentence which is being waived so doesn’t even enter prison/jail.
AAQ, I am disturbed by your sadistic lack of sympathy. Since you rejoice in this “arik’s” suffering, I am praying that Hashem sends you an equivalent or greater amount of suffering, since that it what you deserve.
The comment section is really sad about this article (and those on the same topic).
I have family and friends of my family who decided to join the IDF.
But I can rely on the pain of another Yid suffering because he wants to learn, and only learn !!
Not everyone are fit to join the IDF, with or without yeshivat hesder.
And the comment about rabbi akiva… Not everyone is rabbi akiva.
People suffer. Be a Yid : understand their pain even if you decided something else for you and your children ! Respect them.
Achdus is more important, and it begins with respect.
When I pick up a Yeshiva Bochur hitchhiking on the road….I say ויהי בנסוע הארון…. I feel like I opened the door for a Sefer Torah.
Thanks for constantly reminding us with your extra signature that Israeli and Jew is not always the same thing, I would seriously comprehend if you’re from zerah amalek just by the sheer wickedness of watching you rejoice every time someone who fears God is in pain
anIsraelialllGoy: The hesder sheigetz, who worships his Zionist idols, can take a break from his Herzl-worshiping.
No one disputes that Torah learning is one of the greatest protections for the Jewish people. Chazal teach, “תורה מגנא ומצלא”—“Torah protects and saves” (Sotah 21a). Every believing Jew accepts that.
The question is not whether Torah protects. The question is whether Torah ever exempts us from the obligation of hishtadlus when the Torah itself requires action.
Chazal repeatedly teach, “אין סומכין על הנס”—“One may not rely on a miracle” (Shabbos 32a; Pesachim 64b). Trust in Hashem has never meant abandoning the responsibilities that Hashem Himself commands.
Throughout Tanach, Hashem’s salvation came through both Divine protection and human action. Yehoshua led an army to conquer Eretz Yisrael. David HaMelech fought the wars of Israel. Before going to war, the Kohen encouraged the soldiers to place their trust in Hashem—not to stay home because miracles would replace their efforts (Devarim 20).
The Rambam makes this balance explicit. In Hilchos Melachim (7:15), he writes that a soldier must rely completely on Hashem, remove fear from his heart, and understand that he is fighting for the sake of the unity of Hashem’s Name. Yet the Rambam says this while discussing someone who is actually going out to fight. Bitachon does not replace action; it accompanies it.
Yaakov Avinu himself demonstrated this principle. Before meeting Esav, he prayed to Hashem, prepared generous gifts, and divided his camp in case of attack (Bereishis 32). Chazal summarize his approach as preparation through prayer, diplomacy, and military readiness. If the Avos practiced hishtadlus together with absolute faith, why would we assume we are meant to do less?
This raises an honest question.
When a political event occurs that some perceive as negative, there are those who immediately declare, “This happened because of the mistreatment of Torah learners.” Whether or not that interpretation is correct, they present it with confidence.
But when Torah learners themselves are detained or drafted, suddenly we are told that no one can know Hashem’s calculations.
Why is one event immediately labeled a message from Heaven, while the other is dismissed as having no possible message?
Perhaps the more consistent approach is to admit that none of us are prophets. Chazal teach that prophecy ceased with the early generations (Bava Basra 12a). We should therefore be humble before claiming to know exactly why Hashem causes any particular event.
At the same time, if we are going to view current events as opportunities for spiritual reflection, then we should be willing to ask difficult questions even when they challenge our own assumptions.
Perhaps one possible lesson is that Torah is indeed the spiritual shield of Klal Yisrael—but it was never intended to replace the hishtadlus that the Torah itself requires. Perhaps the detention of sincere bnei Torah is not proof that Torah failed to protect them, chas v’shalom. Rather, it may be a reminder that even those who dedicate themselves to Torah must honestly examine whether relying exclusively on Torah, while refusing obligations that may fall under the principle of pikuach nefesh and the defense of Klal Yisrael, risks violating the very principle Chazal emphasized: “Ein somchin al ha’nes.”
Torah and hishtadlus are not competing ideals. Throughout Tanach, throughout Chazal, and throughout the writings of the Rambam, they work together. We trust only in Hashem—but we fulfill the responsibilities that Hashem places before us.
In case there’s still thick headed stubborn Jews out there let me make it clearer. The geulah has already begun and Hashem is sending His message clear as day that he wants us to fight our enemies together side by side. The Torah has all the proofs.
Be not like the 10 meraglim and the Korach clan who simply got it wrong, great as they may have been !!
We say it like it’s pashut: *ein somchin al hanes* (Pesachim 64b). And the Gemara in Shabbos (32a) spells out the price — one who stands in a makom sakanah expecting a nes: maybe there is no nes, and even if there is, *menakin lo mizechuyosav*. And the Gemara’s source? Yaakov Avinu himself: “Katonti mikol hachasadim.”
Think about who that was. The *ish tam yoshev ohalim*, holding an open havtachah from HaKadosh Baruch Hu — and still, when Esav marched toward him, Rashi says he prepared for doron, tefillah, and *milchamah* (Bereishis 32:9), because *shema yigrom hachet* (Brachos 4a). Yaakov didn’t see swords as a stirah to his Torah. He saw relying on zechusim alone as a stirah to ratzon Hashem.
Shmuel HaNavi, on a shlichus straight from Shamayim, said “Eich elech — v’shama Shaul v’haragani” (Shmuel I 16:2). Hashem’s answer wasn’t “have more bitachon.” It was: take a heifer. A natural cover. From here Chazal learn that even *shluchei mitzvah einan nizokin* collapses *heicha d’shechiach hezeika* (Pesachim 8b). Where the danger is real and standing at the door, we don’t invoke protection. We act.
*Torah magna u’matzla* — of course (Sotah 21a). No one is kofer in that. But look how its greatest bearers understood it: *ilmalei David lo asah Yoav milchamah, v’ilmalei Yoav lo asak David baTorah* (Sanhedrin 49a). A partnership — the beis medrash carrying the machaneh and the machaneh carrying the beis medrash. Not one tzibbur bleeding while another declares itself above the sakanah. When the Rambam defines *ezras Yisrael miyad tzar* as milchemes mitzvah (Melachim 5:1), he paskens: *hakol yotzin, afilu chassan mechedro v’kallah mechupasah* (7:4). Chazal wrote an exemption for the chassan on the night of his chuppah. They wrote none for the masmid. And when shevatim wanted to stay on the safe side of the Yarden, Moshe Rabbeinu thundered: “Ha’acheichem yavo’u lamilchamah v’atem teshvu poh?!” (Bamidbar 32:6).
Now the sign. *Im ro’eh adam she’yisurin ba’in alav, yefashpesh b’ma’asav* (Brachos 5a) — and Hashgachah speaks middah k’neged middah (Sotah 8b). When bochurim sit in detention davka over the sheilah of sharing in the defense of Klal Yisrael, the yissurin arrived wearing a uniform and holding a message. If the Torah they carry did not shield them from a cell, maybe the pshat isn’t that Torah failed — maybe it’s that Torah was never meant to replace the hishtadlus it itself demands.
And here is the tarti d’sasri: the same voices that darshened a political headline — “Trump turned on us because lomdei Torah were prosecuted” (a metzius that is itself far from clear) — suddenly can’t read Hashgachah at all when the message is uncomfortable. You don’t get nevuah for the signs you like and a shrug for the signs you don’t. If headlines are letters from Shamayim, read the whole letter.
Nechemiah’s men rebuilt Yerushalayim’s walls “b’achas yado oseh bamelachah, v’achas machzekes hashalach” (Nechemiah 4:11) — one hand on the holy work, one on the weapon. And the man commanded “lo yamush sefer haTorah hazeh mipicha” (Yehoshua 1:8) was the general of Klal Yisrael’s wars. No one is closing a Gemara, chas v’shalom. But sitting in a nation’s makom sakanah and declaring oneself patur is not bitachon — it is being soimech al hanes. And the Gemara already told us what that costs: *menakin lo mizechuyosav*.
And when the teshuvos come — and they will come — learn them inside, because not one of them holds where it needs to hold.
They’ll open the Rambam at the end of Shemittah v’Yovel (13:13): kol ish va’ish who makes himself like shevet Levi. Read the lashon he chose. It describes a yachid *asher nadvah rucho oso* — one who “porek me’al tzavaro ol hacheshbonos harabim,” who asks nothing of the tzibbur and casts his parnasah on Hashem alone, “v’yizakeh lo… davar hamaspik lo.” A madreigah of self-selecting individuals, not a registration category. And note the Rambam’s own placement: he wrote it in hilchos chelek ba’aretz — not in Hilchos Melachim, where he codified every petur from milchamah and paskened *hakol yotzin* for milchemes mitzvah, confining the Torah’s exemptions to milchemes reshus (7:4). If the Rambam meant a war exemption, he knew which sefer he was writing. And Levi itself — the model! — earned its crown by the sword: “Mi laHashem eilai! Vayei’asfu eilav kol bnei Levi… simu ish charbo al yereicho” (Shemos 32:26–27). Pinchas HaKohen marched at the head of the machaneh against Midyan (Bamidbar 31:6). The mashuach milchamah — the officer the Torah itself created to lead Klal Yisrael into battle — is a kohen (Devarim 20:2; Sotah 42a). The Chashmonaim of Chanukah were kohanim laHashem. Whoever claims Levi’s shulchan inherits Levi’s cherev.
They’ll quote *rabbanan lo tzrichi netiruta* (Bava Basra 8a). A sugya about a wall tax in Bavel — coin for passive protection — and even there the poskim confine the petur to one whose toraso umnaso b’emes (Rema, YD 243:2). But answer this: how does one claim that petur from inside a detention cell? You cannot plead invulnerability as your exemption and vulnerability as your grievance in the same kol korei. The Gemara itself drew the border: *heicha d’shechiach hezeika*, even shluchei mitzvah are nizokin (Pesachim 8b), and once reshus is given to the mashchis, *eino mavchin bein tzaddikim lir’sha’im* (Bava Kamma 60a–b) — where Chazal’s eitzah is not “learn harder in the rechov” but *kanes raglecha*: act b’derech hateva. And no tax petur in Shas ever released a Yid from *lo sa’amod al dam rei’echa* (Vayikra 19:16; Sanhedrin 73a) — by pikuach nefesh the Torah wrote no zaken v’eino lefi kevodo.
They’ll flip Brachos 5a: “pishpesh v’lo matza — yitleh b’vitul Torah.” B’seder — but the Gemara wrote stages, and the stages are the psak. *Yefashpesh b’ma’asav* comes first; bitul Torah is the default only when the search comes up empty. When yissurin arrive middah k’neged middah — detention davka al sheilas hagiyus — “lo matza” is not an honest option; the ma’aseh stares back through the bars. And even on their own cheshbon it collapses: whose Torah is more mevutal than a bochur in tzinok without a Gemara? A shitah that manufactures bitul Torah cannot present itself as its refuah. David’s learning stood because Yoav stood at the front — pull out the Yoav and the David falls with him (Sanhedrin 49a).
And they’ll invoke the Chazon Ish — with full kavod, and it is precisely his kavod that demands emes about metzius, the yesod of his whole derech in psak. The Chazon Ish stood in the afar of the churban and fought to save a seed: the arrangement with Ben-Gurion covered some four hundred bochurim, the remnant of a burned world. That hora’as sha’ah succeeded beyond anyone’s tefillos — Eretz Yisrael today holds more lomdei Torah than perhaps any dor in history. A hora’ah issued for four hundred saplings is not a gezeirah l’doros for a forest of hundreds of thousands, and stretching a psak over a metzius it never saw is not ne’emanus to the Chazon Ish — it is the opposite of his shitah. And remember which name stands behind the din that today every yishuv in Eretz Yisrael carries the status of *ir hasmuchah lasfar*, that we go out *b’klei zayin* even *al iskei kash v’teven*, even b’Shabbos (Shulchan Aruch OC 329:6) — that extension is brought b’shem the Chazon Ish himself, and on it rests every psak permitting a soldier to fight on Shabbos. The gadol they quote for “Torah is our shield” is the same gadol whose psak straps on a rifle Shabbos morning. Quote the whole Chazon Ish.
Take away all four crutches, and the sign still stands where Hashgachah planted it: at the cell door, waiting for pishpush.
Joseph Goebbels,
“hesder sheigetz”? Your close relative was in the SS so you’re the real sheigetz!
No one cares about what you found in Ai, as we have rabbanim
Always_ask_DUMB_Questions and the Israeli GOY do it yet again!!!
YYA, I brought an example of R Akiva to show that it is not impossible to be learning even under dire circumstances. Whoever cursed me here, I am sad you get so low. I do have rachmonus on the kid, and in no way I want to increase his suffering – he was told to do so by his rebbeim whom he respects, so I am encouraging him to do the best out of his situation and be capable of learning. See, for example, Elie Wiesel who writes about R Akiva saying Shma during torture – whether he is/should be modeling behavior for doros. In another case, R Gamliel rebukes R Akiva for doing a personal chumrah in demai – Akiva, you are establishing halakha. So, yes, we should take that example. Closer to our times, there were people learning under Nazis and there were Soviet political prisoners who were able to learn there. The fact that I thtin the bochur is, unfortunately, misguided by his teachers and shows disregard for the community in general is too much to discuss here. But some of the rude reactions here show that this is not true Torah.
To Reizel:
Thank you for a wonderful comment.
Reb Emes
Thank you
rebemes- ” I would seriously comprehend if you’re from zerah amalek just by the sheer wickedness of watching you rejoice every time someone who fears God is in pain” With all due respect, the same can be said for people like you… who may not rejoice… but are completely apathetic to our soldiers who go back over and over again to the lines to fight against our enemies sacrficing family, parnassah, Talmud Torah, mental health, and physical health to do so.
I personally don’t think Bnei Torah should be thrown in jail… but it’s a serious problem. We need more help from the Charedi community… the burden is far too great on our secular and Dati LeUmi brothers.
I am just reading some comments and crying..people we are all suffering over here…someone’s son is in jail..someone’s son is in rehab after being injured..there is so much pain…your obsession with zionism is so ridiculous..its not the point..and no one is stealing anyone’s learning by not enlisting..there are enough soldiers..how totally ridiculous to say that..and you can’t force someone to fight anyway..just understand ppl there is an element here that wants to erase Hashem and our holy Torah..they want chareidim to disappear period. This is what we are living with in our holy land..instead of commenting and being so “involved”..maybe you should make a spiritual choice and bring your kochos..tefillos, learning to Eretz Yisroel..don’t hide behind your dumb excuses. That would change things and outcomes
Don’t understand how Yeshiva World reviews comments before posting them, and then allow such anti Yeshiva World comments to enter the conversation.
Apart from it being a minority of trouble makers, it gets a lot of people on here rather worked up, and does nothing to promote achdus or respect in this 3 Weeks period, or indeed any other time.
With full sympathy for the desperate situation these Bochurim are in.
There is only one country in the World this is happening in, what a disgrace 😡
Very good RebEmes, instead of actually respond to the content just say ComeOnnnnnn! Excellent counter ! bravo!
AAQ – “Closer to our times, there were people learning under Nazis and there were Soviet political prisoners who were able to learn there.”
That’s a fine equation if you want to equate Israel to those regimes…