The Ateres Yisroel dinner was held on motzei Shabbos
Parshas Terumoh, in the presence of gedolei
Torah: HaRav Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, HaRav Moshe Shmuel
Shapira, HaRav Nissim Karelitz, and HaRav Shmuel Auerbach. On
the dais were distinguished roshei yeshivos and rabbonim from
the Torah leadership.
The participants included the alumni and friends of the
yeshiva who had come to hear words of chizuk
concerning the current situation of Klal Yisroel.
The dinner was emceed with great talent by HaRav Eliezer
Sorotzkin, the general director of Lev L'achim, who is a
talmid of the rosh yeshiva, HaRav Boruch M.
Ezrachi.
HaRav Ezrachi told the participants, "It is a difficult time
for Israel economically, and perhaps even more so
spiritually. People have been entrusted with the lives of the
Jewish people who don't even know what Klal Yisroel
is. They simply don't understand the elementary concept
that we have no existence or chance to exist without the
Torah. There is no Torah without yeshivos. There are no
yeshivos without 100 percent purity and holiness. But I am
not worried about these things. The Jewish people and the
yeshivos will remain as they always were, as they were given
at Har Sinai until today, forever."
HaRav Pinchos Goldshmidt, rov and av beis din of
Moscow, praised HaRav Ezrachi, who was among the first Torah
scholars to come to Russia to address Jewish students and
infuse them with knowledge and appreciation of Torah.
Then he spoke about the Russian aliya in Israel: "It's not a
secret that Torah observant Jews in Israel were greatly
disappointed by the Russian aliya. They thought that `the
hearts of the sons would return to their fathers,' but they
see that a large part of the immigrants are very remote from
Torah study and Torah observance." He said that the Torah
community should not despair because the first generation
which came to yeshivos are the ones who will lead the
revolution, and eventually those remote from Judaism will
return.
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Executive Vice President of Agudas Israel
in the U.S., spoke about the present difficult situation to
fund Torah institutions.
"It's not a secret that the economy in Israel and abroad has
been disappointing in recent years. People can't give charity
as they did in the past. It's also not a secret that the
present Israeli government has cut back drastically the funds
for yeshivos and talmud Torahs. Perhaps all this took
place so that each of us will have the merit to support Torah
at this difficult hour."
A new, expanded volume in the series of "Mibei
Midroshoh" -- this time on Yevomos -- was
presented to all those who came. It contained the
chiddushim of the Rosh Yeshiva, maggidei shiurim,
kolel avreichim and bnei yeshivos which they had
innovated in rischa de'Oraysoh and dibbuk chaverim
in the yeshiva.
After this evening of inspiration, basking in the aura of the
rosh yeshiva and staff, the alumni left with batteries
recharged for another year.
