Yeshiva Students Rally Before Elul

The evening opened with a musical production titled "Adira Uzo" (Mighty is His Strength), featuring composer Rabbi Hillel Palai and Rabbi Mordechai Orlansky, focusing on prayer liturgy and melodies used in the yeshiva world for the High Holidays. This was followed by performances from Mordechai Ben David, Yedel Werdyger, Bentzi Stein, and conductor Yoeli Dikman as part of the large-scale production.

Rabbi Dov Lando, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva, and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, were greeted by thousands of students who rose to their feet and broke into song in their honor. The rabbis delivered addresses urging students not to slacken in their Torah study despite current difficulties, and to increase their commitment even amid what they termed harsh decrees regarding military conscription.

Seated on the dais were Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarsky, Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Bergman, Rabbi Yitzchak Haker of Grodno Yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzchak Ezrachi of Mir Yeshiva, Rabbi Shimon Galai, and Rabbi David Cohen of Hebron Yeshiva.

Also in attendance were Beit Shemesh rabbis led by the city's senior rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, along with yeshiva heads, mashgichim (spiritual supervisors), neighborhood rabbis, religious court judges, and halachic authorities. Knesset members Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev attended, as did former MK Eliyahu Bruchi, Mayor Greenberg, city council members, and other public figures.

The messages from the rabbis centered on the importance of perseverance in Torah study specifically during times of crisis. They encouraged yeshiva students to stand firm against external challenges and pressures, and to continue their studies with dedication and diligence. The addresses were received with rapt attention by the tens of thousands in attendance.

As the evening drew to a close, singer Yedel Werdyger took the stage and performed several of his well-known songs, accompanied by thousands of students singing along. The event concluded after hours of Torah study, encouragement, and song, with the massive crowd dispersing across the country in preparation for the opening of the Elul semester and the return to the study halls.

Full Addresses from Leading Rabbis and Knesset Member Moshe Gafni

Rabbi Dov Lando's Address

"With the permission of our rabbis and teachers," Rabbi Lando began. "How the heart is uplifted to see here in the city of Beit Shemesh, a city of tens of thousands who tremble at God's word—may they increase—where thousands of yeshiva students immersed in intensive Torah study gather, producing their finest insights in writing. For this it is fitting to make a celebration for the rabbis."

Rabbi Lando noted that the Chazon Ish encouraged students extensively, both in writing and orally, to write down what they learned, and himself invested great effort in recording his studies. He outlined multiple benefits to writing Torah insights: improvements in learning methods, satisfaction for students, memory retention, and clarity of understanding.

"When studying a topic, writing a summary of the different approaches and calculations of the early commentators clarifies and sharpens the subject matter as if placed in a box," he explained. He encouraged students to write in a way that others could understand, calling this "a true test" of whether insights, questions, and proofs are genuinely comprehensible.

Turning to current events, Rabbi Lando addressed the situation directly: "Thousands of yeshiva students and kollel members find themselves today in a situation unprecedented, with the sword of the draft decree hanging over them. We all feel daily the persecution against us, and it is no secret that the concerns and difficulties weigh heavily. The familiar methods of advocacy are not helping, due to the wickedness of the government authorities."

Yet he emphasized resilience: "On the other hand, thousands of Torah students continue their studies with even greater intensity without pause, accepting the yoke of Torah in a manner that astounds hearts. How much honor of Heaven is increased by this, and what eternal acquisitions in the holy Torah are gained through study in such difficult times."

"Be strong and courageous, strengthen one another, do not fear and do not be dismayed," he urged. "Continue your studies and do not be concerned about anything, for the Torah protects and saves—and first and foremost it protects its students from all the evil schemes to constrict the steps of those who study and contemplate it."

He called for prayer, especially during the approaching Days of Awe: "The obligation to make effort now, particularly in the days of mercy and forgiveness coming upon us for good, is to increase prayer and outcry before the Master of Mercy that He have compassion and mercy upon us. Let us all cry out together: 'Please, God, save us; please, God, grant us success.'"

He concluded: "May it be His will that we merit to study Torah without any interference, and may the Redeemer come to Zion speedily in our days, amen."

Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch's Address

Rabbi Hirsch opened by referencing the decrees and difficulties that have befallen the Torah world over the past year. He said that approaching the Day of Judgment, each person must examine what they can change to merit a better year.

"We are a few days before Elul, entering the yeshivas and approaching Rosh Hashanah," he said. "We remember the Rosh Hashanah that was, and in retrospect understand what was written then. All the decrees against us, all the difficulties and all the hatred against us—all this was decreed by the Holy One, Blessed be He."

He emphasized that general encouragement is insufficient given the situation: "We are coming to Rosh Hashanah when there will again be a writing, and we need to think about what we can do to change this. Certainly to change requires something drastic. Mere encouragement is not enough. If there is not something drastic, there will be no change."

Rabbi Hirsch cited the commentary of Sforno on the verse "See, I place before you today blessing and curse," explaining that a person must avoid living in a mediocre manner and choose the path leading to blessing and success.

"We need to learn from this not to be mediocre," he said. "We need to be in a mode of extreme success. This is the demand we have: to exit mediocrity and enter high levels."

Drawing on the teachings of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, he explained that serving God cannot be limited to things a person does naturally from habit. "A person is born to toil, to fight the battle of mitzvot, and the obligation is upon him to exert himself in serving God. Not just to maintain what his nature allows him to do on its own."

He noted that some people, even yeshiva students, continue on their life path out of habit but avoid things requiring effort. "They were in cheder, then in small yeshiva, large yeshiva, and kollel, going according to nature. But what comes with some difficulty they neglect. In this way, says Rabbi Yisrael, he is not serving God, but nature is doing its thing."

The meaning of exiting mediocrity, Rabbi Hirsch stressed, is fulfilling the Creator's will from commitment, even when it doesn't align with natural inclination. "The foundation of man's service to the Creator, blessed be His name, is to observe and do even what his heart does not desire. This is the simple meaning of not being mediocre: to do what God wants from a sense of obligation, from knowledge that we must do it."

He quoted his teacher, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, who explained that fear of accepting the yoke of Torah stems from a mistake. A person fears burdening himself, but in reality accepting the yoke brings "true wealth and happiness."

Rabbi Hirsch illustrated this with the Yom Kippur fast. A hungry and thirsty person doesn't negotiate with himself about whether to eat, because it's clear the matter is forbidden. "It's difficult, but it's simple that you do it. There's no argument," he said.

He explained that this is how a person should approach the obligation to study Torah. "A person who accepts the yoke of Torah and feels there is no other option but to study, that he cannot be idle and cannot do only the things that are easy for him—this is like eating on Yom Kippur. Then he has no problem at all. On the contrary, he will feel in practice that 'God's Torah is perfect, restoring the soul; God's precepts are upright, gladdening the heart.'"

Rabbi Hirsch set a practical goal before the students: "Each person must accept upon himself a yoke of a certain number of hours. Ten hours is the minimum, but it's obligatory. Some will say this isn't for them, but for great and excellent students. A student might say: I'm a simple student, I've done various things, what does this have to do with me?"

He cited the Chafetz Chaim, who taught that the evil inclination tries to prevent a person from accepting something great through feelings of inadequacy. "When the evil inclination sees that a person wants to do something great, it casts sadness in his heart and causes him to think that this mitzvah is not suitable for him, but only for the great ones of the land and diligent students. The Chafetz Chaim says this is the evil inclination."

Alongside the call for significant change, Rabbi Hirsch clarified it should be done gradually and practically. "Each person will accept upon himself a certain number of hours per day in which there is no idleness, only study. He sets however many hours, and he knows these hours are a yoke. Afterward he can go further and further."

He concluded with a prayer that practical acceptance would arouse mercy before the Day of Judgment: "Perhaps this will lead to God seeing that we understand something is not right and that we are changing something. And then, with Heaven's help, we will truly merit a Rosh Hashanah of a good inscription and sealing."

Knesset Member Gafni's Address

"I thought to myself that there is great destruction, and great incitement against the Torah world," Gafni began. "We see throughout this entire period that it has been terrible and awful against us, against the Torah world, against yeshiva students.

"And the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: 'Comfort, comfort My people.' There will be someone, some journalist, who will write that nevertheless yeshiva students are good, they study. And there will be some researcher in some distant place in the world who will say: The haredi public, the families, raise children and do it as they should, and we will be happy that there is someone speaking on our behalf.

"'And Zion said, God has forsaken me.' I thought to myself, and I share this with you: We think that if someone speaks favorably about us, then the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not withhold reward for pleasant conversation.

"But we ask from the Holy One, Blessed be He, and this is what we will read in this Shabbos' haftarah: 'I, I am He who comforts you.'

"We don't need those who will praise us! We don't need people to write good things about us! We need 'I, I am He who comforts you'!

"We study the Torah! We are directly with the Holy One, Blessed be He! We innovate insights in the early and later commentators, and no one will do us a favor and write a good word about us!"