Rav Ben Zion Kook paid a visit to the home of the revered posek Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein to offer his brachos in honor of the bar mitzvah of Rav Zilberstein’s grandson. During the visit, the conversation turned to a subject weighing heavily on both rabbanim—the troubling state of the olam haTorah in Eretz Yisroel and the unrelenting decrees being issued against it.
Rav Kook, rosh Beis Hora’ah Haklali in Yerushalayim and rav of Kehillas Avi Ezri in Petach Tikvah, was a close talmid of Rav Zilberstein’s father-in-law, the posek hador, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l. During the visit, Rav Zilberstein warmly reminisced about the deep admiration Rav Elyashiv had for Rav Kook.
“Rav Elyashiv loved you so much—oh, how he loved you,” Rav Zilberstein exclaimed. “It wasn’t easy to be loved by him, but he truly loved you. That love should be a zechus for you. You come from one of the noble families of the Jewish people.”
The tone of the visit shifted as Rav Zilberstein voiced his anguish over the repeated efforts to undermine Torah life. “Today is a time when the Torah is cast into the corner. They reject this, and that, and that… They take away our livelihood. The Torah is weeping today. It is truly degraded. Its honor has fallen so low. Anyone who belongs to the Torah world must not take anything from this government—not this and not that.”
He continued, delving into a deeper perspective: “The commentaries ask why we don’t specifically pray in our tefillos that Hashem save us from decrees that crush us and deprive us of sustenance. The answer given is that when we say at the end of Shemoneh Esrei, ‘Venafshi ke’afar lakol tiheyeh‘—‘Let my soul be like dust to all’—it already includes that time will come when we will truly be like dust…”
Rav Kook interjected, “But we ask to be like dust?”
Rav Zilberstein explained, “The intention is not that we seek disgrace, but that when they do degrade us, turning us into dust, we should be able to accept it with love… That we should have the strength to endure the humiliation they inflict upon us.”
Rav Zilberstein then added another painful observation: “Besides all the decrees they are placing on bnei yeshivah, they now even forbid travel abroad. If a bochur travels, he is immediately sent to prison…”
{Matzav.com Israel}
P’shat: I think Rav Kook zawql would teich: One can blow away dust, but not burn it. But one can scorch earth. R”L.
My family closely related to this Khevrah through the 1960s. This sounds a bit negativistic. But it depends on who’s teaching, who’s learning, and who’s reporting.