Chassidic Communities Protest at Prison 10 Against Arrests of Yeshiva Students

September 11, 2025

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Large crowds from across the chassidic community gathered outside Prison 10 to protest the detention of yeshiva students who had been arrested due to unresolved draft status issues. The demonstration came in response to the imprisonment of Nesanel Maor Yitzchak and Yisroel Meir Taharani — the latter having completed his sheva brachos only the day before — and was framed as a wider objection to what organizers described as the government’s harassment of Torah learners in Eretz Yisroel.

The rally was arranged by the Action Committee established earlier this year at a meeting of prominent chassidic leaders in Ma’ale Hachamisha. At the forefront were representatives of the largest dynasties, including Gur, Vizhnitz, Sanz, Boyan, and Slonim.

The event opened with an address by Rav Moshe Bruner, mashgiach of Yeshivas Sfas Emes in Yerushalayim. Standing beside him was Rav Avraham Mordechai Alter, eldest son of the Gerrer Rebbe, lending the evening heightened significance. In a forceful statement directed at the government, Rav Bruner declared: “We are addressing the Prime Minister and the ministers as clearly as can be: no quotas and no targets! If you want the merit of supporting Torah, then arrange for Torah scholars to be legally registered, and you will gain the zechus haTorah. If not, salvation will come to the Jewish people from another place. We will come out ahead, and you will be the ones who lose — let that be clear!”

The Rebbe of Chug Chasam Sofer also spoke, lamenting what he described as ongoing persecution: “Shamefully, even in 5785, Torah learners in Eretz Yisroel are being targeted. It is not enough that they themselves cast off the yoke [of Torah], now they pursue those who dedicate their lives to it and send young bochurim to military prison. We will not allow it, and they will not succeed in breaking our spirit.”

A broad range of chassidic communities participated in the protest, including Gur–Beit Shemesh, Boyan–Modi’in Illit, Seret Vizhnitz, Sanz, Tchernobyl, and others. Among the prominent figures present were Rav Avraham Mordechai Alter, son of the Gerrer Rebbe; Rav Dovid Twersky, son of the Tchernobyler Rebbe of Beit Shemesh; the Chasam Sofer Rebbe; the Temeshvar Rebbe; Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel Breyer, son of the Boyaner Rebbe; Rav Fishel Hager, son-in-law of the Boyaner Rebbe; Rav Yechezkel Durbarmadiker, Boyaner Rav in Modi’in Illit; and Rav Shraga Feivel Weinberger, Rav of the Yeshuos Moshe Vizhnitz kehillah in Elad and member of the Vizhnitz beis din in Bnei Brak.