A massive prayer gathering is planned for Sunday 30 Adar I (March 2). Joining will be the entire chareidi world, including the yeshiva and chassidic communities, as well as the Eida Chareidis. The Mizrachi yeshivas all also joining, including Mercaz HaRav and Har HaMor, as well as prominent rabbonim. The gathering will declare that Torah is eternal, and it is planned as pure prayer to confront the awful chillul Hashem of the Israeli government with a massive kiddush Hashem.
Earlier this week, Gedolei Yisroel, headed by HaRav Aharon Leib Shteinman, gathered in a fully united and unwavering front to protest the shameful and terrible chillul Hashem inherent in the decree to mobilize Torah students for army service and degrading Torah scholars by labeling them "criminals." They remonstrated against the unprecedented threat of throwing them into prison for nothing more than pursuing Torah studies, with a clear underlying intent to perpetrate wholesale persecution and shmad in Eretz Yisroel, as has been schemed throughout history by our enemies in the dark benighted regimes of the past.
The media here and throughout the world converged upon the site of this historic meeting of Torah leadership, outside the meeting hall of the Vishnitz hotel in Bnei Brak, to mark the entrance of each esteemed figure who [singly and collectively] radiated their stateliness upon the momentous event. It was an unprecedented joint meeting of the three Councils of Torah Sages: The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah, the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Yisroel and the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah of Shas.
Thousands of people gathered outside the hotel to gaze upon these great Torah leaders, galvanized by the decisive and critical gathering which would arrive at major conclusions regarding the manner of protest to be expressed by Torah Jewry to one and all, in face of the threats to Torah. This gathering also aimed to reaffirm that Torah will never be forgotten and that yeshiva students in the Holy Land will continue to pursue their studies without interference, as they have throughout the generations, and that no threat or intimidation would prevent them from continuing to practice their faith in Eretz Yisroel and the world through their ongoing study of Torah by day and night.
