Students at Brisk Yeshiva in Jerusalem were shaken by a sharp deterioration in the condition of Rabbi Abraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik, the yeshiva’s head, who is hospitalized in intensive care at Hadassah Ein Kerem. He was admitted about two weeks ago after a complicated heart operation, which the article says was initially mistaken for a catheterization. During the hospitalization, a serious infection developed, and despite a week of strong intravenous antibiotics, doctors now say the infection is still active and his condition is “very, very dangerous.”
Late at night, about 2,000 students, alumni and supporters filled the yeshiva buildings on Peres Street in Jerusalem for a mass prayer gathering. The crowd overflowed into halls and corridors, and there was such a shortage of prayer books that they were quickly borrowed, with special permission, from nearby synagogues including Zeron Moshe, Ahava Shul and others in the area. Leading the event were senior Brisk students, including disciples of the late Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, alongside students of Rabbi Abraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik, well-known rabbis and yeshiva heads.
For nearly two hours, participants recited Psalms with intense emotion. After midnight they said the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, crying out for his recovery and for the continuation of his regular Torah teaching. The yeshiva, following instructions from his sons, also decided to begin studying the final chapter of the tractate currently being learned, Menachot, and to complete it only when he returns to full health and resumes his daily lectures.
The prayers spread beyond Jerusalem. At Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, thousands of students and married scholars recited Psalms for about 10 minutes before afternoon prayer, following the instructions of the yeshiva leadership. In the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, administrators issued a formal notice calling on students and scholars to say Psalms and pray for the recovery of the Brisk head of yeshiva, Rabbi Abraham Yehoshua ben Lipsa. The public was urged to continue praying, pleading and studying Torah for his complete and speedy recovery.
