HaGaon HaRav Yisroel Yitzchok Kalmanovitz on the gezeiros against Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisroel
HaGaon HaRav Yisroel Yitzchok Kalmanovitz shlit”aMechaber Sefer Ahalei Yeshua
Bnei Brak
9 Teves 5779
To the Leaders of Klal Yisroel in the Diaspora, Choshuve Rabbanim, and our brothers everywhere:
The calls of Klal Yisroel have reached us due to the gezeiros against Yiddishkeit here in Eretz Yisroel. Every day the evil ones attempt to destroy us by passing new laws against our holy Torah. This is true in terms of schools and mosdos where they are constantly scheming to introduce their ideology and education into our yeshivos, as well as their attempt to break down all barriers between chareidim and the non-religious.
This is especially true when it comes to the gezeira of Giyus; in respect to their gezeira of giyus banim where through coercive methods they have already succeeded in compelling thousands of holy Jews into the army, a place of true shmad and impurity. And certainly now as the Knesset debates a law which will add tens of thousands of chareidim to the ranks of the army.
And in respect to the geziera of Giyus Banos. Literally every day we hear of bnos yisoel who are shomrei Torah u’mitzvos who have become ensnared in the army and can no longer free themselves with exemptions of the past. The army pursues these girls mercilessly, using all attempts to enmesh them and trip them up, whether summoning them to a “rayon dat” where they are presented with extremely difficult questions (which the Gedolei Hador ruled is yeihareig v’al ya’avor to respond to) or mistreating them in other ways and imprisoning them to break their resistance to joining the army.
Therefore, in the name of the Rabbonim shlit”a of Eretz Yisroel, we plead with you, the Rabbonim of chutz l’aretz: Turn over the world to assist us in Eretz Yisroel, create an uproar which will not be ignored. We in Eretz Yisroel cannot reverse the gezeira on our own. It is only with the influence, outcry, and pressure of the Jews in chutz l’aretz that the government will respond as the Gedolim always maintained with the gezeira of Giyus. Then perhaps Hash-m will have mercy on us to annul these decrees.
Hash-m should save us now just as He performed great miracles for our ancestors during this period until we merit the final geulah and coming of Moshiach.
I sign with great pain and sorrow over that which is transpiring,
Yisroel Yitzchok Kalmanovitz
"a "rayon dat" where they are presented with extremely difficult questions"
ReplyDeleteDo you know what kind of questions he refers to?
Questions like on Motzei Shabbos Chanukah, do you light Chanuka candles or the Havdalah candle first? It's a trick question because it's a machloches.
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