Torah World in Uproar: “Yated Ne'eman Censors the Gadol Hador; It Has Lost Its Right to Exist”

Outrage quickly spread. Dozens of yeshiva heads and thousands of students expressed anger at what they called “a dangerous act of censorship.”

“They’ve crossed a red line,” one senior rabbi told Kikar HaShabbat. “To ignore the words of a Torah giant for political convenience? That’s beyond disgraceful.”

Meanwhile, students loyal to Rabbi Hirsch have launched an organized email campaign against the paper, sending tens of thousands of messages under the slogan “We will not stay silent.”

Behind the scenes, the controversy ties into a wider power struggle over the leadership of the Lithuanian Torah world and the direction of the anti-draft protests. Sources told Kikar HaShabbat that the two rabbinic courts, those of Rabbis Landau and Hirsch, have clashed for months over how to handle demonstrations and the upcoming rally.

Senior insiders revealed that the current rally was delayed for half a year “just to avoid giving credit” to Rabbi Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, another powerful figure involved in organizing it.

As one source put it: “Instead of unity, ego and control have taken over. This isn’t about Torah or values anymore, it’s about who gets the credit.”

A senior Sephardic source connected to Shas added bitterly: “When Sephardi students were arrested, no one cared. Now that an Ashkenazi yeshiva student was detained, suddenly everyone wakes up. Where’s the fairness?”