Rabbi Aviezar Pilz, a member of the Council of Torah Sages and head of Tushiya Yeshiva in Tifrach, visited Jerusalem’s Ohel Torah yeshiva to deliver a strengthening talk to students. The main study hall was packed with hundreds of students, along with rabbis, tutors and mashgichim. Rabbi Shmuel Moalem, the yeshiva’s head, welcomed him.
Pilz spoke for about half an hour about growth in Torah study and conduct. He said every student must constantly work to improve his prayer, learning and behavior toward others. “A person can sit in yeshiva and, despite all his Torah study, remain mediocre and not truly advance,” he warned, adding that anyone who keeps striving will, with divine help, reach high spiritual levels.
He also stressed the importance of repeating lessons, saying review helps not only memory but also sharpens the mind. Citing the sages on the verse “not many are wise,” he explained, following the Maharal of Prague, that wisdom comes to one who is “accustomed to his study,” meaning the material already learned and reviewed.
Pilz then turned to what he described as the harsh atmosphere in Israel and the budgetary and spiritual pressure on Torah students. “The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave us an opportunity that did not exist in earlier generations. The only place where one can learn Torah in hardship and pain is in the Land of Israel,” he said. He argued that those opposing Torah study are driven by jealousy, comparing them to a poor man who burns down a rich man’s house because he envies his wealth. “They want to harm and burn the world of Torah, but their wish will not succeed,” he said.
