Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva Denounces Israel’s Draft Enforcement
Speaking at the massive Adirei HaTorah gathering in Philadelphia, attended by tens of thousands, Rabbi Kotler devoted his address to the situation facing yeshiva students in Israel amid the draft law crisis.
Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Malkiel Kotler issued a rare and forceful denunciation of Israeli authorities over the arrest of yeshiva students and the economic sanctions being imposed on the Haredi Torah world.
Speaking at the massive Adirei HaTorah gathering in Philadelphia, attended by tens of thousands, Rabbi Kotler devoted his address to the situation facing yeshiva students in Israel amid the draft law crisis.
In unusually sharp language, the rosh yeshiva accused Israeli authorities of treating bnei yeshiva as criminals simply because they are continuing to learn Torah. He said the government was trying to make Torah students feel like offenders, while its true goal was to pressure them away from Torah learning and toward spiritual danger.
Rabbi Kotler described arrests, restrictions and financial sanctions against yeshiva students and institutions, saying these measures were humiliating the honor of Torah. He framed the struggle not as a local Israeli political dispute, but as a battle affecting the entire Torah world.
Addressing the yeshiva students in Israel, Rabbi Kotler said they should know that the broader Torah community stands with them as one front, not only through prayer but through full mutual responsibility.
He praised their willingness to continue learning under pressure and said their determination in the face of government action was itself a major kiddush Hashem.
Speaking to supporters of Torah institutions in the hall, Rabbi Kotler said they were the true honorers of Torah and that gatherings of this scale show the world that the Torah world is united.
He ended by citing his grandfather, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, saying that security in Israel depends on those who learn Torah. Rabbi Malkiel Kotler said he would have been afraid to say such a thing on his own, but that his grandfather had written it explicitly.
He warned that if the pressure on Torah learners continues, there will be no peace and no security in Israel. True peace and safety, he said, will come only when Torah students are allowed to learn undisturbed and every Jew is allowed to live as a genuine God-fearing Jew.