They came, one by one, from all over the country: Yeruchom and Ofakim in the south and Afula and Tsefat in the north. All of them rallied at the urgent call of the Rosh Yeshiva, and `Who saw them going and did not join?" No one remained home. There must have been a thousand participants, among them Torah disseminators, rabbonim, and the Degel HaTorah public representatives from everywhere who answered the cry that vibrated heartstrings: Fire! Danger! The very survival and vitality of the Jewish people is at stake. Let not Torah be forgotten from the Jewish people!
The auditorium in Ohr Yehuda never saw such an impressive and moving gathering. One could have cut the solemn, laden atmosphere with a knife. Everyone knew that if HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman stopped his study in order to come and participate in this event, it obligated every one. The weighty occasion which had not seen a parallel for a long time, was called in reply to the Rosh Yeshiva's fervent request and official statement representing daas Torah that an obligation was incumbent upon every individual, from those communally active in person and from the entire body of chareidi Jewry as a whole, to toil and activate others with full vigor for the success of the United Torah Jewry party represented by the letter `Gimmel'.
In the presence of Maran Rosh Hayeshiva HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, as well as HaRav Dovid Cohen, rosh yeshivas Chevron and member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, HaRav Nosson Zochovsky, a rosh yeshiva of Gaon Yaakov and Chochmoh Vodo'as and a member of Degel HaTorah's rabbinical committee, HaRav Betzalel Pinchasi, rosh yeshivas Birchas Efraim, HaRav Shlomoh Kanievsky, rosh yeshivas Kiryas Melech, and also rabbonim and representatives of Degel HaTorah from all over Israel, the election campaign was opened on Sunday 17 Teves.
Master of Ceremonies was Rabbi Eliezer Sorotzkin, director of Lev L'Achim. He first called upon HaRav Moshe Mann, rosh yeshiva of Birchas Yitzchok, to say a few chapters of Tehillim.
Opening the evening was HaRav Pinchasi. After him HaRav Nosson Zochovsky spoke, and then HaRav Dovid Cohen. During his speech HaRav Shteinman entered the hall and, after HaRav Cohen finished, HaRav Shteinman gave the keynote address. (Click here for HaRav Shteinman's speech.)
After that HaRav Shlomo Kanievsky spoke. (Unfortunately we do not have sufficient resources to translate all their remarks.)
Rabbi Moshe Gafni opened his address with greetings to the Rosh Yeshiva and the eminent rabbonim present with a quote: "`Lift up your eyes and see; everyone has gathered, come to you.' We have here the founders of the movement dating back to its inception in 5749, together with the young folk who are continuing along the path forged by our rabbis. I was chosen to serve in the Knesset then together with Rabbi Ravitz. I cannot remember a period like the one in which we are now living. Today's situation is altogether different. Every Knesset term, every year had its struggles over all that is sacred — but I cannot remember a time when they fought against Hashem and His Moshiach.
"The draft of yeshiva students which heads the agenda robs me and my colleague, Rabbi Uri Maklev, of sleep. We could have agreed to the Plesner committee recommendations and arrived at some compromise and solution but we did not do so on the orders of the Rosh Yeshiva. Yisrael Beiteinu suggested that every young man of 18 be drafted, and the Prime Minister said to us: `This law will not proceed further; it will go to a Knesset committee and be buried there.' We went to the Rosh Yeshiva and asked him what to do. He said to us: `On the day that this law is passed, whether or not it is implemented, which I am certain will not happen, by virtue of the very fact that the Knesset said that yeshiva students must be drafted, we must quit the coalition.'"
Rabbi Gafni declared that he spoke from the bottom of his heart and had even prepared a letter of resignation from the Knesset Finance Committee. "They said that they don't understand why we are leaving since we were guaranteed that the law would not be passed but we answered that we act on the basis of past experience in the times of HaRav Shach and HaRav Eliashiv, and of the present Rosh Yeshiva, as well as the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, whose directives we follow implicitly.
"We were told not to compromise and declared that the very announcement ratifying the law would cause us [automatically] to quit. They promised us that the Torah world would not suffer but we rejoined that these were the orders we received. In the end, elections were called and they did not propose the draft law."
He also told that, together with his colleague Rabbi Maklev, they presented a firm front against something which is not so well known: the draft for women. Had a proposed bill been passed like some planned, it would have eaten away at the marginal element of girls who come from traditional families. "The Rosh Yeshiva spoke earlier about our mutual responsibility, our arvus, and here too, if G-d forbid such a law were passed, it would affect the girls from traditional homes throughout the country. We worked on this without publicity and the law was not passed. Also, Rabbi Maklev was scheduled to sit on a meeting of the legislative committee when that morning he was asked to pass a law regarding conversion which would have let the Reform in from the back door. We sat in the Prime Minister's office and informed everyone that if this law were passed, we would leave the coalition. The Justice Minister shouted at me and said, `How can you prevent this from becoming law? It will [eventually] go the Supreme Court.' I replied, `I don't work for you and I am not afraid of the Supreme Court.' And the law did not pass. Rabbi Maklev changed the law so that it was clear that the Reform would remain outside the law."
