Torah loyal Jewry in Jerusalem has never yet seen so amazing
a spectacle. Whoever did not see the prayer rally yesterday,
has never in his life seen a massive prayer rally.
Hundreds of thousands of men, women, elderly people, youths
and children, gathered together as one man with one heart.
They assembled in order to pray for their souls, to express
the outcry of Yiddishkeit and Jewish tradition, to
loudly protest the repeated attempts of the Supreme Court and
others to undermine that which is dearest and most crucial to
Judaism and tradition.
The gedolei haTorah were seated on the honorary dais in
an awesome display of unity. At the head, sat Maran, the
posek hador, the pillar of Torah and halachic
authority, HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, shlita. He was
flanked by the members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of
Degel HaTorah and of Agudas Yisroel, as well as by the
Chachmei HaTorah (the Sephardic sages); the heads of the Beis
Din Tzeddek of the Eida HaChareidis; the Chief Rabbis of
Israel, the members of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate,
other admorim, rabbonim, dayanim, and the rabbonim of
the Mizrachi. Seated together on one dais, these rabbonim
from all circles constituted an unprecedented mizrach.
"Veyei'osu kulom agudo echos la'asos reztonecho . . . "
The huge throng came from all over the country, from Eilat in
the south and from Metulla and the Golan Heights in the
north. Some even came from abroad, in response to the call of
the gedolei haTorah. They came by organized bus
service, by public transportation, in private cars and by
plane (from abroad). All streamed to Yerushalayim in order to
sanctify sheim Shomayim.
I tried to make my way among the masses, which stood crowded
together, yet felt spacious -- to sense their feelings, to
place my finger on the pulse. What do they say? What does the
throng think -- that throng which had come so that the sound
of prayer and the sacred outcry would be heard in the holy
city, and so that the verse and "and the voice of the shofar
grew verily stronger," would be fulfilled. Some shed tears of
emotion, and some wept as they prepared themselves to plead
for the sake of kevod Shomayim which is trampled.
I met Shimon from Tzfas among the crowd. He had come with
two of his children. On Sunday morning, he got up earlier
than usual in order to daven, to eat, to arrange a few
affairs, and then to go with his children to Yerushalayim for
the massive rally. That was no simple matter. Three hours
each way, and a few hours in Yerushalayim, all in order to
daven and to beseech Hashem. Perhaps He will pity us.
But Shimon wasn't deterred by the effort. "Like the entire
chareidi and religious community in the country, I feel
suffocated. That's it. We've reached a saturation point. We
can't take any more. Recently things have gone so far that we
simply can't remain silent. If we don't say `enough' now, if
we don't draw the line and say : That's it, then who knows
what will happen. We've reached the red line. I came here
because I felt obligated to stop the snowball of the
destruction Yiddishkeit right now, when the ball is very
big, but still not gigantic.
"The Reform destroyed religion and Judaism in the United
States. Most of the Reform and Conservatives abroad have
intermarried. Boruch Hashem, they haven't managed to
penetrate Eretz Yisroel so far. But if they succeed in
penetrating the country due to the High Court rulings,
they'll will wipe out Judaism here as they did in America.
How will we look 50 years from now? A majority of non-Jews,a
majority of assimilated Jews. I came here with my children to
prevent this from happening. I came here for the sake of my
children and my grandchildren, so that their generation,
which I'm not certain I will merit to see, will also be a
Jewish one," Shimon explained, as he stroked his ten year old
son.
"And why did you come? "I asked Yankele, Shimon's son.
"My father explained that all of the gedolei haTorah
from all circles and sects called us to come and daven,
so that we can live as Jews in Eretz Yisroel, and so that the
Jews in the country will be able to live as they have until
now. I want to be a Jew, and want everyone to live like Jews.
The non-Jews don't belong here. They have plenty of other
countries. Let them go there," Yankele replied.
Just as Shimon arrived from the north, many came from the
center and from the south, indeed from all over the country,
and even from abroad.
I met Moshe Menachem W., a Jew from Antwerp who had arrived
in Eretz Yisroel especially for the rally. "When the
gedolei Yisroel called, I couldn't remove myself from
the klal just because I live abroad. True, there were
special rallies there too which identified with the Jews of
Eretz Yisroel. But I felt obligated to come here and to be
will everyone. We're brothers. I came in order to help the
Jews of Eretz Yisroel, to cry out in their protest, and to
join them in their prayer. When the Jews of Eretz Yisroel
feel suffocated, we feel the same way too. I came for a few
hours, so that all of us will be able to breathe clear air.
What I see here has caused me much satisfaction. It's a great
kiddush Hashem."
The prayers begin. Tehillim, shofar blowing -- all
hearts are shaken. A shudder passes over us, and reoccurs. A
sea of black and white. Chassidic hats beside Litvische hats,
people of the old yishuv beside modern ones. A mass of
people is davening with great devotion to the Creator
of the world, to pity His Nation. "Mi'maamakim kerosicho
Hashem." On my left is an avreich of about thirty
years old. He is weeping and crying out: "Choneini Hashem
choneini . . . "
The children of the talmudei Torah are assigned to a
special area -- the area of tzone kedoshim. All of the
students of the talmudei Torah have come, at the
instructions of the rabbonim and gedolei haTorah, in
order to pray with the multitudes. With exemplary decorum,
beside their teachers, they recite the chapters of
Tehillim. Thousands of children, kein yirbu. They
are the future of all of us, and in essence those for whose
sake the rally was called. Yes, it was called so that they
that when they grow up, they will be Jews al taharas
hakodesh, without persecution, without incitement.
Among the thousands of children and their teachers and
principals, was Rav Aryeh Fuchsbrumer, the principal of the
Itri network of three talmudei Torah. He had hundreds
of children with him from the talmudei Torah he heads.
"Last week we informed the children and their parents that
the children of the older grades would go with their teachers
to the rally and pray with everyone, and participate in the
assembly of yirei Hashem." Rabbi Fuchsbrumer stands
beside his students, and they recite the verses of
Tehillim.
"Why have you come?" I ask a seventh grader.
"In order to declare that the most sacred entity for the
Jewish Nation is the Torah," he replies, with an answer which
summarized everything. The prayer continues. "Keil rachum
vechanun!" the tinokos shel beis rabban cry out.
When I try to return to the center of the rally, I encounter
a cripple in a wheelchair. Both of his legs have been
amputated. He also made a special effort to come to the
important rally, despite his condition. "Am I different from
everyone else?" he asks me, as he wonders why I wonder what
he is doing at the rally. "Am I not a Jew? Don't I have to
cry out against what they're doing to Judaism? Am I exempt?
The house is burning, and will consume me too."
I was deeply stirred. Genuine mesiras nefesh. An
avreich who was standing nearby and heard that reply,
whispered to me: "That's true kiddush Hashem. His
reward is great."
The rally ends. Hundreds of thousands disperse, in exemplary
decorum and impressive order each to his own city and home.
Some return by foot to the adjacent neighborhoods, others to
the busses which will take them back to their remote towns.
All take with them the mighty spiritual cargo which they have
amassed at this great event of kiddush Hashem, certain
that the message which they sought to convey has been
absorbed.
All feel sure that from now on, the approach will change and
the rules of the game will return to what they had been prior
to the onset of the judicial revolution. All are confident
and convinced that if the persecutions and the offenses to
kodshei Yisroel, cholila nonetheless continue, and if
there is no awakening, this rally will be the first stage in
a great struggle.
