HaGaon HaRav Shraga Steinman, Nasi of the Orchos Torah yeshivos network, spoke about the persecution of Lomdei Torah during a question-and-answer session with HaRav Eliav Miller, a renowned mechanech and the head of the Lev Shomea organization, which provides guidance and support hotlines for yeshiva bochurim and Chareidi high-school girls.
HaRav Eliav Miller: “Today there is unprecedented persecution of Torah, with people from within Klal Yisrael persecuting the Torah world. What is the proper perspective? There are bochurim here who are about to reach the age at which they themselves may be persecuted. How should they view this? What should their attitude be? They’re the soldiers of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Are people trying to harm them, or are they really trying to harm Hakadosh Baruch Hu? What should their inner perspective be?”
HaRav Shteinman replied: “The Rambam says at the end of Hilchos Shemittah V’Yovel that because Shevet Levi was set apart to learn Torah and serve Hashem, they are called ‘Hashem’s Army.’ Just as there is an Air Force, Ground Forces, and Navy, there is Hashem’s Army. And it is not only Shevet Levi. Anyone who understands what Torah is, separates himself from this world, and dedicates himself to learning Torah is part of Hashem’s Army.”
“In every generation there has been persecution. There are young people here who think this is something new. I remember that every few years there is another wave of hatred. There was a time when they were searching for a boy named Yossele. A religious child couldn’t walk down the street without being beaten and asked, ‘Tell me where Yossele is!’ Did I hide him? Did I kidnap him? That’s how it was. The harassment resumes every few years. It is the work of the yetzer hara. The same thing happened in Communist Russia—’Your destroyers and those who ruin you will come from among you.'”
“That is the way of the world. We are not frightened by it. ‘A decree is destined to be annulled.’ This too will pass. We have survived many hardships and many troubles, and, with Hashem’s help, we will survive this as well. The Torah—’Hashem will not forsake His people.’ The Torah will always endure. There were periods when it was more difficult and periods when it was easier, but the Torah and those who study it will always remain. They are the pinnacle. They are Hashem’s Army. We have nothing to fear.”
HaRav Miller: “The Rosh Yeshivah compares today’s persecution to the persecution under the Russians and the Bolsheviks…”
HaRav Shteinman: “Under the Bolsheviks, it was Jews who fought against Yiddishkeit! There was a Jewish department called the Yevsektsiya. They informed on people, and because of them Volozhin was closed. They were always the problem. They fought against Yiddishkeit. But we got through it. Every few years these problems arise, and then they pass.”
HaRav Miller: “Thousands of bochurim are sitting here. People call them ‘parasites.’ Are they parasites?”
HaRav Shteinman: “Those who call them that are the real parasites! Upon whom does the world exist? The Gemara says that the entire world was sustained in the merit of Rebbi Chanina ben Dosa, while he himself lived on a measure of carobs. The whole world is sustained by Torah! HaRav Chaim of Volozhin says: ‘Were it not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the laws of heaven and earth.’ If Limmud Torah were to cease for even one moment, the entire world would return to chaos! Everyone lives because of Limmud Torah! And they call them parasites?! But they simply don’t understand that. Not everyone merits that understanding.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
9 Responses
“The Gemara says that the entire world was sustained in the merit of Rebbi Chanina ben Dosa, while he himself lived on a measure of carobs.”
Exactly. He didn’t live off the hard working tax payers. That’s the type of person who the Rambam is describing when he writes ופרק מעל צוארו עול החשבונות הרבים אשר בקשו בני האדם… ויזכה לו בעה”ז דבר המספיק לו
Look at the מפרשים and how others have explained this Rambam. He’s describing a very rare type of person; he’s not talking about the average Torah scholar.
No one required the pro-Medinah Hareidim to accept government money. No one required them to allow the creation of a Zionist state (they could have accepted an offer of an American trust territory with no restrictions on Jewish migration. The anti-Zionist Hareidim warned them, and they didn’t listen.
l don’t understand what he is saying. You could enlist every single charedi yeshiva bochur aged 18-26 (which almost nobody is proposing) and there would still be more limmud Torah in the world that at any point in the last 2000 years.
B”H! What a breath of fresh air to hear such clear daas Torah.
It’s also interesting that he invoked the Chazal of gizeirah raah avida liHiBatla. When that “State” was founded, the Brisker Rav became physically ill. The Chazon Ish tried to make him feel better by bringing up that same Chazal. The Brisker Rav answered that only applies when it is known to be a bad gizeirah. But if people think it’s a good thing then he’s afraid that wouldn’t apply.
So, especially with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps people now realize that this whole shmad (not just the forced drafting) was indeed (obviously) a bad gizeirah, and then Hashem will surely end it, as Rav Steinman noted.
Jewish traitors have always been the worst enemies we’ve ever faced
“If Limmud Torah were to cease for even one moment, the entire world would return to chaos!”
What about bein hazmanim? What about during the World Cup final when the bars and public viewings are PACKED with charedi yeshivah students? Even after Simchas Torah in 2023, the vast majority of yeshivos didn’t return to learning even a moment earlier than scheduled.
The problem isn’t that non-Charedim don’t believe in the Charedi interpretation of the shmirah provided by Limmud Torah; it’s that Charedim themselves show through their actions that they don’t believe in it.
(And if you’re going to say that the protection provided by the small number of lamdanim during Bein Hazmanim suffices to, then they should suffice the rest of the year and the others can go to the army)
It’s
It’s our fault. Had we properly reached out in mass to millions of non religious Jews and bought them a little closer to Torah and Yiddishkeit you would not have this hatred both in Israel and America. Thirty per cent of Jews voted and still support Momdani. In israel had we reached out to every non religious Jew there would never be this problem. What’s most interesting I just found out. They don’t draft boys who are from Satmar,Neturei karta or Aida’s Hacreidus communities. You don’t believe me look it up on AI. They are classified as extreme anti Zionist. Now the army wants 18 year old yeshiva boys to basically use them in front line combat. The army is overloaded with desk job solduers but has a shortage of the front line fighters. If the Chareidi and national religious soldiers would threaten to walk off their posts there would be no frontline army. The real fighters are the religious soldiers. That’s why forty per cent of the soldiers killed in Gaza are the religious. The secular soldiers sit on desk jobs flirting all day with the female soldiers in their offices. The real fighters are the religious shomer shabbos ones. Now by putting religious soldiers on front lines controlled by lefty anti religious generals they can easily cause religious soldiers to be killed or hurt. Instead of blowing up a building from the air with terrorists they make soldiers fight room to room as it looks more democratic in the eyes of the goyisha world. Now listen to this. If a soldier puts on a Chabad or kahanist patch on his uniform then he goes to jail thirty days. If he puts on a gay flag patch he never goes to jail. This is who runs the army. Yes they will make a unit claiming its religious. But in a moment a general can declare all units under one army. It almost happened already. You can’t trust them. Satmar rebbe was smart and right.
People unfortunately look at Torah Learners as some burden on society when in reality they’re the ones giving us the oxygen to breathe at work, most working people don’t get much learning in every day that’s the truth. If they can even remember yesterday’s daf that they managed to squeeze in if anything. So you have a choice do you want to be part of those who have the privilege of supporting the Torah world or do you want to scowl and call them a burden so that when you come to the next World you can be judged as a hostile. The choice is yours