Amid growing anxiety in the chareidi community over the draft crisis and what many view as the ongoing persecution of bnei yeshivah, Rav Avraham Yosef is calling on the public to stop searching for culprits and instead strengthen their commitment to tefillah.

Speaking on Kol Chai’s “Shamor V’Zachor” program, Rav Yosef said that while the current situation has left many feeling distressed and powerless, Jews must respond not with accusations and arguments, but with faith and prayer.

“We are all upset and feel helpless in the situation that has developed in the Jewish state,” Rav Yosef said.

He stressed that even those whose own families are not directly affected should feel the pain of those who are. Mutual responsibility, he said, requires every Jew to share in the burden of others.

“Even if you don’t have someone in your home who is suffering, we are responsible for one another. My sons are already older, but I have grandchildren and nephews. I see the suffering of these young men, and it is heartbreaking to watch them endure a situation in which they feel completely trapped.”

Rav Yosef described some of the hardships facing yeshivah students under the current circumstances, including restrictions that have prevented some from visiting family members overseas.

“A young man who wants to travel to see his parents abroad, whose parents live overseas, was forced to spend the Seder here in Israel because he was not allowed to leave the country.”

At moments like these, he said, Jews must remember where their salvation truly comes from.

“The answer is tefillah. We have no other path. We have no power of our own. This is not a matter of ‘my strength and the might of my hand.’”

Rav Yosef also criticized the public conversation surrounding the crisis, arguing that too much attention is being devoted to assigning blame.

“I am not blaming anyone. I know for a fact that the politicians tried very, very hard. You cannot blame them.”

He reserved particular criticism for commentators and public figures who spend their time debating who is responsible for the current situation.

“All the talkers out there—including here on Kol Chai—those who keep blaming this person and that person and asking why, why, why. With all due respect to all the talkers…”

According to Rav Yosef, such discussions miss the most important point.

“We have stopped being Jews. To be a Jew means to daven.”

Concluding his remarks, Rav Yosef praised the dedication of bnei Torah, saying they are making tremendous sacrifices for the sake of Torah learning.

“Fortunate are the bnei Torah. Fortunate are those who learn Torah, who are literally giving of themselves for Torah.”

He emphasized that Torah remains the foundation upon which the world rests and urged listeners to view the crisis through the lens of emunah rather than politics.

“We should not focus on the stick that is striking us, but on the One Who holds the stick. And the One Who holds the stick is the Creator of the world.”

Rav Yosef ended with a heartfelt prayer that Klal Yisroel soon emerge from its present difficulties.

“May the Creator of the world be gracious and merciful to all of us and bring us from darkness into great light. Amen.”

{Matzav.com}