As the body which has been greatly privileged and invested with the tremendous responsibility of calling to the legions of the King, tens of thousands of bnei yeshivos and Torah scholars, may they increase, we declare and notify as follows:
1. "Ever since the days of our forefathers, Torah study in yeshivas has never ceased." Throughout all the exile of the Diaspora, the only thing that preserved the Jewish people was the holy yeshivos of pure Torah study with no infiltration of foreign study whatsoever. History has borne out that wherever there existed a yeshiva, Judaism was preserved, and where there was no yeshiva, not a vestige of Judaism survived, and assimilation wiped everything out. The yeshivos are the guarantee of Jewish survival in the form transmitted to us from Sinai, so that the horrifying attempt to strike at the holy yeshivos is tantamount to plunging a sword into the very heart of our people, whose ramifications are unfathomable.
2. We are under total obligation to educate our sons as we have been duly commanded and as has been practiced throughout the generations, to consecrate the years of youth to pure Torah study within the halls of yeshivas, without exception. Similarly, to increase the avreichim who dedicate their lives to Torah study in the halls of the kollelim, which has been the aspiration of all Jewry throughout the generations. The decree to eject even one such student from the beis hamedrash, or an avreich whose life is dedicated to Torah study alone, is a decree tantamount to severing them from their very source of life. It is a question of life-and-death and does not tolerate any compromise or concession, choliloh.
3. This stand has been axiomatically understood throughout the ages, even during our residence among the nations of the world. Most of the time they did not dare to intervene or to disrupt the continuity of the yeshiva world. In times of trouble and strait which beset our people when the governments passed harsh decrees against the continued existence of Torah [study], our forebears stood resolutely and with self sacrifice to preserve the yeshivos and places of Torah in their purity, even under the most difficult and bitter conditions (as we found Rabi Akiva gathering masses of people and teaching them Torah in public - Brochos 61b).
4. We thereby strongly beg and warn those at the helm of the government: "Do not tamper with our children." Don't harm and don't destroy our holy heritage by attempting to change the character of the souls of our children and of our generations. Know that the various programs whose purpose is to force bnei yeshiva and avreichim into the various army frameworks or any other framework outside the walls of the beis medrash are dreadful and frightening decrees which cut into our raw flesh and cause critical damage to the very foundation of our existence and the breath of our very souls. We cannot accept this, even partially, under any circumstances whatsoever. It pains the heart to know that precisely here, in the Holy Land, we must battle against our own Jewish brethren for the right to continue our yeshivas in their present setup.
5. We declare that we will stand like a wall against any attempts or enticements, whether in the form of various benefits or alternately, of punishments and threats of all kinds, whose goal is to detach our sons from the benches of the beis medrash. This will not come to pass. We shall pursue the path of the Torah and continue to establish legions of bnei Torah and talmidei chachomim, for the Torah is our life and the length of our days.
6. We appeal to our dear bnei yeshiva and avreichei kollel and cry out: Stand firm against all attempts, whatever they may be, and reinforce with adamant determination the pillar of our sacred Torah by increasing diligence and application in uninterrupted study within the botei medrash, shunting aside all disturbances and impediments which attempt to waylay you, like the various communications media which distract and remove a person from immersing himself in Torah. Whoever assumes the yoke of Torah will be absolved of the yoke of the government and the yoke of livelihood.
