The meeting at the home of HaRav Edelstein
For a long time, our Torah leaders have stood at the helm of activists involved in drawing Jewish children to a Torah education. In the early years of statehood, when immigrants began coming from Yemen and were settled in transit camps, our gedolim sent yeshiva students there to save the children and provide them with a Torah education.
The manager of Lev L'Achim, HaRav Avraham Zeivald, describes the situation. "I will never forget how we, the heads of Lev L'Achim, were summoned to Rechov Chazon Ish 5, to the home of Maran the Rosh Yeshiva zt"l. The group included HaRav Tzvi Elyach, HaRav Boruch Shapira, HaRav Eliezer Sorotzkin and myself. Maran told us that he heard that it was possible to save thousands of children and provide them with a Torah education.
"In those days, we published a pamphlet which shook up the entire world. It contained the names of two hundred children who had been registered to Torah schools. 'What must be done in order to bring many more to Torah?' Maran asked. We replied, 'Money! Money for cars and fuel so that we can reach every place and do our work.'
"Maran heard this and said: 'Get to work!'
"Once we began working, we discovered that we needed schools to absorb so many children. Maran traveled abroad to establish `Netivot Moshe.' He gave us new vistas as to how important and obligatory it is to save Jewish children.
"At that meeting it was decided to launch a major campaign for registration and it was established how much effort was needed to invest in it. An activist may sometimes make a house visit to register one child, only to discover there are four other children to deal with, which the father does not wish to `relinquish'. He does want to transfer the one who happens to be a bit of a problem child. It is possible to get them all but one must fight for every candidate."
Our gedolim referred to the period of registration as Days of Judgment. Now, before the upcoming registration, the teams of registrars from all over the country, headed by Director General HaRav Eliezer Sorotzkin and administrator HaRav Avraham Zeivald, converged upon the home of HaRav Gershon Edelstein to receive his wise counsel, guidance, and to hear the voice of Hashem striking upon the heads of Jewry living in the peripheries, waiting for their return to their Father in Heaven.
They came to present their questions and receive direction and answers before the registration, as had been customary throughout the years during the lifetime of the Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Shteinman zt"l.
Sometimes when we want to get a boy or girl into a school, is it permissible to change the information a bit to get the principal to agree to take them?
Maran shlita: Once with R' Yeruchom, the mashgiach of Mir Yeshiva in Europe. A bochur came to the Mir and after a while he wanted to leave the yeshiva. R' Yeruchom promised him that if he stays in yeshiva, he will learn with him, but in the end that did not work out. When the bochur asked R' Yeruchom why, R' Yeruchom told him that he would say it a thousand times to get him to stay in yeshiva. It is saving a life.
