In recent days, several laypeople asked Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein how it could be that young men who study Torah are put in military prison for the “offense” of learning Torah. They pointed to the Mishnah in Avot, which says that whoever accepts the yoke of Torah has the yoke of government removed from him, and to Rabbi Yonah’s explanation that one who makes Torah his main occupation is protected from harm and from being pulled away from study.
Zilberstein answered in the journal “Vei HaAmudim VeChashukehem” in the Sivan-Tammuz 5786 issue, page 66, that accepting the yoke of Torah does not merely mean attending a yeshiva. He said it means total commitment, where the only yoke a person bears is Torah itself, and he does not worry about anything else.
He added that being arrested is itself a great merit. Citing the saying, “Fortunate are you that you were seized for Torah words,” he argued that a detainee has merited to suffer for Torah, and that no greater privilege exists. He compared this to the police in Egypt, who were beaten for refusing to strike their fellow Jews and were later rewarded by becoming elders of Israel and prophets.
Zilberstein concluded that “we are in the final moments of exile,” and that there is now a major test of “Who is for the Lord, come to me.” In his view, anyone who suffers because of this has a great merit, because he is showing devotion to Torah, refusing the impurity of those who want to be like all the nations, and insisting on preserving Jewish holiness and continuing to study Torah. He said those who were jailed because they studied Torah will yet see their greatness.
