Tens of thousands gathered Monday night in Bnei Brak for a massive protest against the arrests of bnei yeshivos over military conscription, with senior Sephardic rabbanim declaring that if another ben yeshiva is arrested, rabbanim across the city will travel to Prison 10 in protest.

The gathering, held under the banner “Ma’amad Kavod HaTorah,” filled the streets of Eshel Avraham and Harav Rabinov, which were closed to traffic. The event was attended by members of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah of Shas, prominent rabbanim, roshei yeshiva, and thousands of bnei Torah.

In the keynote address, Rishon L’Tzion Harav Yitzchak Yosef urged bochurim not to fear imprisonment.

“When bnei Torah sit and learn, they are the chosen nation,” Harav Yosef declared. “If they arrest you, go to prison with your heads held high and a sefer in your hand. I have spoken to many of those who were arrested. Ninety-five percent of the detainees are Sephardim. We are living in a racist state. You are the emissaries of Klal Yisroel.”

Earlier speakers sharply criticized the government’s efforts to draft yeshiva students.

Harav Shlomo Machpud said that no threats or economic sanctions would deter lomdei Torah, declaring, “No one has authority over Torah learning or the ruchniyus of bnei Torah.”

Harav Zamir Cohen said that Torah itself provides the nation’s protection, quoting the pasuk, “If you walk in My statutes… five of you shall pursue one hundred.”

At the conclusion of the rally, members of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah signed a formal declaration calling on the government, military, and judiciary to halt the arrests of yeshiva students and all efforts to conscript them.

The declaration stated that “without the holy Torah, those who toil in Torah, and those who observe its mitzvos, you have no right to exist.”

The rabbanim further announced that if, chas v’shalom, another yeshiva bochur or kollel yungerman from Bnei Brak is arrested, they will unite and travel to Prison 10 to daven and protest, while urging rabbanim in cities across Eretz Yisroel to adopt similar resolutions in support of bnei Torah.

Rabbi Moshe Yazdi, speaking at the event said: “The IDF Chief of Staff, ימח שמו וזכרו, sends a soldier to prison because he wore a Mashiach patch. In the army, they educate people to commit the most serious sins.”

The gathering concluded with the recitation of the Yud-Gimmel Middos and Kabbalas Ol Malchus Shamayim led by Harav Yaakov Ades.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)