Essay Says Pressure on Yeshiva Students Should Strengthen Torah Study
A Hebrew essay argues that yeshiva students facing public hostility should see their place in the study hall as their greatest privilege, not a burden. It says a “ben Torah” should be the happiest person in the world because he serves in “the house of God,” sits in the beit midrash, and sustains the world through his merit.
The piece cites the Talmudic prayer of Rabbi Nehunia ben HaKanah in Berakhot 28, thanking God for making his lot among those who sit in the study hall rather than in the street. It stresses that this is not only gratitude for academic achievement, but for the very fact of being in the Torah environment. It also quotes Kiddushin 30, “If this wretch confronts you, drag him to the beit midrash,” and says the cure for spiritual struggle is simply being inside the study hall, not any one specific lesson.
The article then cites the Steipler, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky, in his book Brakhat Peretz. He wrote that in earlier generations Jewish homes were built on Torah, and even those who left yeshiva early remained attached to Judaism. In modern times, he said, because “the breach is greater than the standing,” even a boy who knows he will not be among the most diligent or successful scholars still has an obligation to remain in yeshiva during his youth, because that itself protects his Jewish identity.
The author says the current pressure on yeshiva students should be understood in the context of Jewish history, where attempts to weaken Torah study only caused it to expand. Quoting “and as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they spread,” the essay says today’s harassment has not stopped Torah growth. Instead, students who endure mockery and humiliation are portrayed as the standard-bearers of the Torah world, and their steadfastness should give them strength rather than discouragement. The article is attributed to Rabbi Chaim Moshe Katz, rabbi of the Racham community in western Bnei Brak, a major daily Talmud lesson teacher in the city, and a host on Kol Barama radio.
