Vizhnitz Av Bais Din in Fiery Address: “The Real Goal Behind the Draft is to Alter the Spiritual Identity of Chareidim”

In a forceful speech delivered yesterday, Rav Chaim Meir Hager, Av Beis Din of Vizhnitz and eldest son of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Bnei Brak, strongly denounced the government’s draft decree against yeshiva students. Speaking on behalf of his father, he warned that the true objective behind the push for mandatory enlistment is to change the spiritual character of the chareidi community.

During his Shabbos Shuva drasha at the central Vizhnitz beis medrash in Bnei Brak, Rav Chaim Meir Hager lamented: “How painful it is that in these very days, when we are pleading for the revelation of Hashem’s Kingship upon the entire world, we are forced to endure such harsh persecutions against the Torah world here in Eretz Yisroel, at the hands of people from among our own who have yet to merit the light of Hashem.”

He noted the tragic irony that when reciting the Rosh Hashanah tefillah asking that Hashem turn the hearts of rulers and advisors “for the good upon us,” Jews in Eretz Yisroel must direct these words toward fellow Jews in positions of power.

The Vizhnitzer av bais din recounted a past conversation that former MK Menachem Eliezer Moses told him about with a senior government minister. When asked why he was so insistent on drafting chareidim, the minister bluntly replied: “I want the chareidim to come out of the army different than when they went in.” Rav Hager said this answer revealed the real aim of the decree—an effort to spiritually reshape the Torah community.

He described the fear and anguish of parents worried for their sons, of kollel families living under pressure, and emphasized that the Torah world’s mission is to continue davening for Hashem’s honor to be revealed and for these decrees to be annulled swiftly.

In his remarks, Rav Hager related a story about the Ahavas Yisroel of Vizhnitz. When one of his chassidim, Rav Mordechai Fuchs, accompanied him on a visit, a young man sought a yeshuah from the Rebbe after receiving a draft order. Rav Fuchs entered with him and told the Rebbe: “This bochur already enlisted—he served me faithfully so I would not miss a moment with the Rebbe. It cannot be that he should now be conscripted into another army.” The Rebbe smiled, agreed, and miraculously the draft order was canceled.

“We are all in that same situation,” Rav Hager declared. “From the moment we enter this world, we are already enlisted—in the service of Hashem, in Torah, in a life of holiness and yiras Shomayim. No force on earth can compel us to enter a place that stands for the opposite of kedushah and avodas Hashem.”

Rav Hager continued with stirring words, referencing the piyut of Rosh Hashanah: “Atumim lehachayos b’tallelei sheina.” He explained that the commentaries say that in the future Hashem will revive the dead with dew created by Torah toil. Even those who never studied will be sustained by the moisture that fell from the lips of Torah learners who nodded off from exhaustion while immersed in their learning.

“Understand this,” Rav Hager urged. “The day will come when those who now persecute the Torah world will beg for just one drop of that moisture from a yeshiva bochur or a kollel yungerman who fell asleep on his Gemara after hours of learning. They will crowd together to grasp even a trace of the precious sweat and effort of those who labored in Torah. And then they will realize the immeasurable worth of a single moment of Torah study.”

He concluded with a heartfelt tefillah that the words of the novi be fulfilled: “They shall not harm nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” and that very soon we should merit the continuation of that verse: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.”

{Matzav.com Israel}