In the wake of the recent arrest of several yeshiva bochurim by Israeli military authorities for the “offense” of learning Torah, the senior posek, Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, penned a special letter of chizuk addressed to the bochurim who were taken into custody.

The letter was written to strengthen the detained bochurim, as well as their parents and families, many of whom are anxious and uncertain about what lies ahead. Rav Zilberstein framed the painful events within the timeless perspective of Chazal, emphasizing that everything unfolds with precise hashgachah from Shamayim.

At the beginning of the letter, Rav Zilberstein wrote:

“To the dear bochurim who were taken to prison because of Torah learning, and to all the bochurim and their parents who are worried and do not know what tomorrow will bring: In Maseches Berachos (61b) it is stated that once the wicked government decreed that Klal Yisroel should not engage in Torah study. Pappus ben Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva publicly assembling gatherings and learning Torah. He said to him: Akiva, are you not afraid of the government?”

The letter continues with the well-known mashal brought in the Gemara:

“He said to him: I will tell you a parable. To what is this comparable? To a fox walking along the riverbank who saw fish… He said to them: Why are you fleeing? They said to him: Because of the nets that men bring against us. He said to them: Would you like to come up onto dry land and dwell together, you and I, just as my ancestors dwelled with your ancestors? They said to him: Are you the one they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, but foolish. If in the place of our life we are afraid, in the place of our death all the more so. So too, we—now that we sit and engage in Torah, about which it is written ‘For it is your life and the length of your days’—if we go and neglect it, how much more so. It was not many days before they seized Rabbi Akiva and imprisoned him, and they also seized Pappus ben Yehuda and imprisoned him with him. Pappus said to him: Who brought you here? He replied: Fortunate are you, Rabbi Akiva, that you were seized for matters of Torah; woe to Pappus who was seized for idle matters.”

Rav Zilberstein then elaborated on the identity of Pappus and the deeper lomdus underlying the exchange.

“Who was Pappus?” Rav Zilberstein wrote. “The Vilna Gaon explains that he was among the gedolei hador, for he addressed Rabbi Akiva simply as ‘Akiva,’ implying that he was his colleague. If so, there was a genuine halachic discussion here—whether one is permitted to be moser nefesh for the sake of publicly gathering kehillah gatherings for limud haTorah. At first glance, Pappus seems correct, for we are commanded to give up our lives only for the three cardinal aveiros, and not for limud haTorah b’rabim.”

In concluding, Rav Zilberstein cited the explanation of the Birchas Shmuel:

“The Baal Birchas Shmuel explained that Pappus, too, understood that one must be moser nefesh for limud haTorah. Even though nothing is more beloved before the Ribbono Shel Olam than Rabbi Akiva and his chaveirim when they are alive in this world and learning Torah, nevertheless the continuity of Torah learning is the kiyum of the entire Torah. For if the young goats are not taught, there will be no mature rams—meaning that without transmitting Torah to the next generation, there is a bitul of the entire Torah. For that, one must be moser nefesh. This is a simple and clear matter.”

{Matzav.com}