#171: Behind the Bima - Rabbi Chaim Wolfson, Rosh Yeshiva of Yerucham

‏from florida this is the be on this ep and r brody are join [מוזיקה] w r wf jour over the year focus on students on frend is discusses the shift trad to provided cheng times ‏also comp of glob jewish commun [מוזיקה] and w thank for usk for ‏students fry price think more than any others very very heavy price l extraordinary outstanding thank you for what you done lead them ‏than you for invitation and for opportunity and i agre we had very complicated year we been through things that i may say nothing in your life prepares you to to such events such tragic but both heroic events we been we ‏jy jewish people in this this this year and being part of this journey sometimes you have to pay very very hard prices for being part of it and maybe i may say toad it some of our students [מוזיקה] ‏some of the events unfortunately they paid their life but paid their life for very very very heroic and use purpose important purpose i may [מוזיקה] that word ‏are searing the word we are in שלמים שלזה and we know that doing theis students can even howes thea had we had ‏ten students and alum died in the battles we also have i think si six students were sever injured during battles of them in one battle s injured only month ag in leban we ‏students in [מוזיקה] with easy ines so so we paid huge price but of course the price is harder when you when you speak about those pr [מוזיקה] ‏became ‏you the time everything begins is in we were in i think more than 300 students here in the we celebrate in the and ‏it was the the large largest number of students we had in i think since the yeshiva was established more than 300 students i may say i think that also soldiers who served in the army they still served in the army but they came to the for to celebrate in the so now you can understand that what happened here שורה תילת שחרית ofarm to all theas of isra even even years we hear the ‏we heard the alarm we had go to to the safe rooms and i think that 10 minutes later part of the stud started getting calls from the army to come back to the army to go back to the army after two hours we were left ‏students hours students hour a group left to join to join unit and we were left here with 100 students still not in the in the age to go to the army it was a very complicated situation ‏take care of those stayed in the the how to celeb what we should do now that was the first question we had to deal with in we הקפ [מוזיקה] buts איך למר גד בעברי שמתייחסים למצב שהם עסוקים לשירים שיש בהם יותר ר י [מוזיקה] ‏in end and the after we had to to ask what is our duty right now we we are that of students are in units ‏preparing to preparing to battle and and we we understood that one of our main missions is to be to give our students to strengthen to strengthen our students to give them the power the physical power but ‏strengthen spirit so can can go their mission knowing that bait midrash and the is behind them is behind them the t is the source of power for the for them and we decided that whenever we can get them ‏cch in unit go for them and weed started traveling all over the country trying to meet them even for 10 minutes we understood that even a short short time with them give them a of power do mission ‏long hours in the roads driving to all kinds of units in purpose to meet our students telling you sometimes it was just to come give them ‏mee us them a lot of power for example i can tell you two months after the war began after the began inside gaz the israel the idf invaded to gaza months we had no connection with them no celles ‏no commun months later we that going out say to to for rest they are going out for a rest and we understood that we have to be there with them two weeks earlier i think it was two weeks maybe 10 days earlier we lost one of our students was with those guys those ‏sold the unit of and they lost one of their friends they they took care of him they when he was severe injured and i must say some of them he died in their end it was a traumatic event for them and we understood that we have to go and visit them ‏so we started so we made we found commanders and and they had they had other pl commanders officers they other pl for them that this for this they them they not religious יבות we know that that what the that you strength is when you meet your we know that are giving you the strength to keep going on so want to the we for to ‏and meet your i may say that very appreciate officers that they they understood it and we we met them it was a very exciting those very exciting moments when we met them i שח הי the most most ever ever blessed the meaning of ‏and that we are this in this this situation so so that's one thing one thing was to to take care and strengthen our soldiers but the other mission we had is to i may say ‏stud all the older students w here and we knew that one of our mission what we ר יש to go מוה ‏to to keep the flame of the the word to keep the flame of the here and those stays here have to be those keeps burning the flame the flame of the the flame of the li the flame of עבודת השם it was simple the days ‏to sit and learn it was very hard because to conc it was very hard to concentrate on those days of the of the beginning of the war and we we had to to to make our students even to make us believe that this mission we gives the power to am israel and we when we started bring ‏the students back to the we spoke a l about about values and about the fact that we believe that now when we we are learning on one side we are learning we are we are keeping the b open i must say we give we give the we power to the ofra [מוזיקה] ‏the the worried fores ed הדואג לשנים מנך נפש ‏ed next generation it means you believe in a dream you have a dream you have a vision the one who deals with education if you are now learning it means you are looking forward for the days after the war and you know you know that now you are planting those pl grow up after the war ‏keep me that you believe that we will g future after the world the war to prep right now like those remember that the the ‏arle of one of it was a woman from kib gaz they wen there they had to to to leave the k and they left to for mons to hotel near the dead sea הש field right so the fields wrote an article and you know we are not there but now we started growing those we those seed that grow up ‏after we after we will be back and this is an example for faith and i'm saying you can plant the seeds it's example for for your faith but also when you plant the seeds inside the n for the days after this is this is the example for the faith we have here so we had to to light the flame of here and we ‏bfi are the same heart the blood the vitality flowing one side to the other side ‏wors neg people outs of ex what do with the thats to you i think i could do better in the or the that says you know i'm in the but i feel like strength would be oni ‏first i must say that i think all my students understood that have to be where the k put them on this time of course of course i think think more ‏the question from the side of those who were in the yeshiva and asked themselves maybe i should be maybe i should give myself now for the mission of the the the of the military for for the mission of the war because it was really we all all of the all of the jewish people i think that we are in a ‏so so i heard more this question but i must say i didn't hear hear it many times maybe one or two times i heard it most of the along the time most of the of the students understood and believed that they are in the place they should be those in the army are in the army and those was were in the belongs ‏to the i think it was it happened because we spoke about it we spoke about we we spoke about it with everybody with those the in the army [מוזיקה] ‏in we were all over the bs of israel i solders my students i usually teach the fth grade the fth year in the and they also went to to serve in go so during the time asked me ‏if i teach in zo lessons in zoom send i s them the how for the learning s for the learning and and we checked every two days we checked if are available for weeks ‏i found time to to go and visit them there in the they served and there in the base they i took with me one of the guys that was in the one of the students came with me to the the visit stud [מוזיקה] ‏ah it was on thursday night on thursday night when tomorrow the day after was shabbat that thea is closed so on on this thursday night usually part of the students go home those who doesn't go home on thursday night they leave thea on friday morning so the this guy came with me he took his all his stuff all things ‏he took his b with him and he told me i will leave you there and go go continue to my home after the visit when we came to visit them they started telling me all the time w you don't know how much power gives us the fact that the yeshiva is open how much strengthen us the fact that the yesh is open the that ‏us student enters the car and sits beside me and he doesn't take his he didn't take his back i'm asking him what are you doing driving to you have to go to the other side of israel why are with in the car so told me ok ‏r i heard them saying the of the is open affect them how strengthen them i'm coming back with you to the yeshiva i'm going to study all the night and then go home he did all the way to he was was minutes from his home we had to drive back to almost hours came all the back ‏in the middle of the night learn all the all the night and then at morning he went home so i think that this story tells all the story about parts and about the the the the influence each part for ‏ble all is for you think led ones them them foras war comp ‏all this hostage deal is a very complicated situation ‏he voices specific i hear it my students parents but i'm sure that feel that part of them that's the way they feel but i can also say that we we don't will be i think will be wrong ‏to to make this situation how argument arent bet those who lost theirs and those family rel gaz ‏war alls hes those battles belong to all ofra i think that we should that each ‏we want listen to the other side to the other suffer to the other side pain we won able disc all conflicts ‏unfortunately i think that we are not listening enough here the the heavy prices that each side have to pay and those very very very hard feelings are making it very hard to listen to listen to the other side but i think that listening and being being empathic we ‏what israel should do in this hostage deal was very very complicated i don't know if we had any other choice at the moment at the moment the pressure that was we deal with not simple ‏but also i think that there is large huge population in israel that needed needed to see their rela their family members come back and you are right on the other side there are those who paid the heavy prices i believe that as i said at the beginning we should be ‏as empathic as sensi מים the בשמ we learned so in וגיות that de of war ‏in the chapter reminds the מצוות דן שבעים so we took the advantage and we learned the we learned all the we learn this issue in the for an example we also add two weeks in sched deal with the ‏to deal with with the subjects of war one was one hour at a we on every week we we we had a sheer in in ash kofe about the war for one hour every week for all during the during all the winter and and we had also one hour that we gave sh about the מלחמה all ‏i may say that i think that all my my dres in shabbat were connected to to the matter of the war when you learn and your heart is open for what's going around you listen to the with with your ears discover [מוזיקה] ‏in when iar open ‏all the time find in the the way to to explain to ourselves what we are going through open our hearts to see new things and all all the time was coned for what we going through i than you for taking the time to with us and again thank you for all that doing ‏sign point so her ‏amen thank you for want take advantage opportunity because i think i ‏battlefield a the commun in the usa i heard a lot of stories about food and equipment that came from nowhere we know that those open theirs not take ‏thank all those gave their hearts and gave their money to to strengthen to strengthen my soldiers not only my soldiers the israel soldiers that became became more and more strong and their moral was better i think is real and thank you thank you ‏cch next time