Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka in Bnei Brak and a leader of the chareidi Lithuanian community, flew to the United States on Wednesday for a fundraising and chizuk tour, as United Torah Judaism continues political contacts over the formation of Israel’s next government.
The first part of the trip is dedicated to raising funds for the institutions of Yeshivas Slabodka. In the second part, Rav Hirsch will travel to Los Angeles to raise donations for Keren Olam HaTorah, a fund that helps support yeshivas and kollelim in Israel. Keren Olam HaTorah was launched in response to government cuts to funding for Torah institutions.
On Wednesday morning, after davening, Rav Hirsch went to his fellow rosh yeshiva at Slabodka, Rav Dov Landau, to receive his blessing before departing.
Rav Hirsch, 90, and Rav Landau are regarded as the two leading spiritual authorities of the Lithuanian chareidi community, and both sit on Degel HaTorah’s Council of Torah Sages. Born in New York in 1936, Rav Hirsch was a close student of Rav Aharon Kotler in Lakewood before moving to Israel. He has headed Slabodka since 1982, and has traveled to the United States several times in recent years on behalf of Torah institutions.
The trip comes at a sensitive political moment. Following the election, UTJ has been holding exploratory contacts with factions in the new Knesset, as the change bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot reaches out to the chareidi parties over a possible compromise on the draft law. Likud has warned the chareidi parties against such talks. On Tuesday, Energy Minister Eli Cohen called the change bloc a “fraud bloc” that would “throw the chareidim under the bus” once it replaced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. UTJ has said it will not vote to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana before a new government is formed.
