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15 Av 5766 - August 9, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
To the Bnei Yeshivas Regarding the Demands of this Period

BS"D, Menachem Av 5766

We currently face a collective time of difficulty in which sonei Yisroel seek to put us in dire straits. Many residents of Eretz Hakodesh are in constant danger and clearly this is a time to cry out and sound the alarm that this evil is our doing. Each of us must strengthen himself and rectify his ways so that Our Father in Heaven will remove this suffering from upon us. The heart knows the bitterness of the soul.

Chazal Hakedoshim said that Torah protects and saves, i.e. Torah study has the power to protect and save one from all evil. We must strengthen ourselves in Torah study. Torah has this power when studied according to the conditions of Torah study we find in the words of Chazal: Learning with yir'oh and in kedushoh and taharoh, not getting drawn in by the pleasures and vanities of This World with all the concomitant nisyonos, which demands great chizuk. Clearly there are various dargos, but any chizuk in this area is pleasing to Hashem [and] gives one the merit to be protected from the evil.

. . . At a time like the present it would have been desirable to continue the learning arrangements as usual without any break whatsoever, and even to add more to increase merit for Klal Yisroel, and indeed we greatly admire those yeshivas that decided to continue the zman as usual — happy is their lot.

All of us must take full advantage of these days for their intended purpose — rest and preparation in order to strengthen Torah learning. Be careful not to roam around in the streets and in places unsuitable for bnei Torah. At all times one who guards his soul will steer clear of such places, but this applies all the more so during these times, which require special chizuk because of the evil visited upon us.

All of us must help carry the burden of all those in danger and feel their sorrow and chas vesholom not set off on trips and various leisure activities. The roshei yeshivos shlita must warn their students of the seriousness of this matter and parents must pay heed to this to ensure nobody breaches this, removing himself from the klal and causing chilul Hashem.

In a time like the present, yeshiva students are called upon to join the study programs at the bein hazmanim yeshivas near their home with fixed daily sedorim. These yeshivas should be strengthened everywhere, to set them up and maintain them at least like those held in Nisan and Tishrei. We ask all generous contributors to understand and recognize the urgency of maintaining these yeshivas during this state of emergency and time of sorrow.

It is also incumbent upon us to strengthen our tefilloh. First, each individual should have a fixed place for tefilloh, keeping Krias Shema and tefilloh times properly. One's tefilloh should be an act of beseeching Hashem, asking the Borei Yisborach for rachamim to remove the tzoroh from us and from all of Beis Yisroel.

Yosef Sholom Eliashiv

A.L. Shteinman

Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz

 

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