A Cry of Fire: Prominent Chassidic Mashpia: “Boys Cast Into the Streets Are a Greater Tragedy Than Any Draft Decree”
In a fiery and impassioned address delivered at Beis Medrash Beis Yehoshua in Yerushalayim, the renowned Chassidishe mashpia, Rav Menashe Yisroel Reisman, launched a searing critique of roshei yeshiva and mashgichim who expel or refuse to accept talmidim into their yeshivos. He warned that the abandonment of these young men is “worse than any draft decree” and decried the silence surrounding their plight.
Quoting from Gemara Nedarim 32a, Rav Reisman opened his remarks: “Rav Avahu said in the name of Rav Elazar: Why was Avraham Avinu punished, resulting in his descendants’ enslavement in Mitzrayim for 210 years? Because he made use of Torah scholars for his army, as it says, ‘And he armed his disciples, those born in his house.’” Rav Reisman explained that Avraham’s punishment came because he sent talmidei chachamim to fight in battle, a transgression so grave it brought centuries of servitude upon his children.
“On the basis of this very Gemara,” the mashpia continued, “thousands upon thousands have filled the streets, crying out through the night to prevent even one bochur from being drafted into the army.”
But then his tone shifted sharply. “The cry ascends to the heavens!” he thundered. “Yes, you protest for these causes—but what about the precious boys, finer than gold, who are not accepted into yeshivos? What about those who are expelled for trivial reasons, cast out for the smallest missteps? What about those wandering souls who drift through the streets? This is a mirror from Heaven, showing us what we have chosen to ignore. No one reports these crimes—no one tells our gedolim what’s really happening.”
Rav Reisman called for deep cheshbon hanefesh: “We need 600,000 Jews to fill the streets and cry out with a great and bitter wail over this sin—the sin of rejecting bochurim from our yeshivos. These are holy souls we are driving away.”
Alluding to the recent tragedy during the massive Yerushalayim rally, the mashpia offered a chilling interpretation: “Perhaps Hashem orchestrated that at the very gathering meant to defend Torah learning, such a tragedy occurred. A bochur took his own life, and afterward we learned that he suffered persecution in his yeshiva and that no one paid attention to his pain. The message is clear to anyone who understands.”
“This was a remez from Hashem,” Rav Reisman concluded. “At that very asifah, Heaven was telling us: you cry out about drafting talmidei chachamim, but what about the boy who was mocked, tormented, and abandoned? For him, there is no protest, no demonstration, no outcry.”
{Matzav.com}
