Hundreds of bnei Torah gathered outside the gates of Prison 10 on Sunday evening for a large atzeres chizuk and protest following the arrest and imprisonment of yeshiva bochur Yisrael Guchafi of Bnei Brak.

The gathering, attended by rabbonim, roshei yeshiva and hundreds of members of the Olam HaTorah, was held following an unusual joint call issued by Rav Moshe Maya, senior member of the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, and Rav Shlomo Machpud, a member of the Moetzet, who urged the public to attend and protest the arrests of bnei yeshiva.

Rav Machpud addressed the gathering with an impassioned speech, sharply condemning the latest arrests.

“This is nothing new. For 78 years, the state has fought against everything holy in the Jewish people. But the latest decrees have surpassed them all.”

“They built the state only to destroy Judaism. They do not really want soldiers. They do not want them in the army. They are not interested in the yeshiva students who are in the yeshivos.”

“What interests them? To uproot Judaism from the Jewish people!”

“They know that the Jewish people are not a nation except through their Torah. The Torah is our life, and they cannot move us even a hairsbreadth.”

The joint letter issued by Rav Maya and Rav Machpud was headlined “Lech Kenos Es Kol HaYehudim” and expressed a forceful protest over what the rabbonim described as “the degradation of the honor of Torah and the persecution of those who learn it.”

The letter declared that “it is incumbent upon every individual to participate and protest the arrest of Torah scholars at a gathering honoring the Torah,” following the imprisonment of the yeshiva bochur, who, the letter said, had been jailed “for the sin of toiling in Torah.”

The rally comes amid a growing wave of arrests of bnei yeshiva in recent days. Among the cases that have drawn particular attention is that of Guchafi, a talmid at Yeshivas Kfar Chassidim, who was arrested in Haifa after becoming involved in an incident with an inspector over a malfunction with his Rav-Kav transit card. He was subsequently turned over to the military police.

Another recent arrest involved Motti Mishkovsky, a grandson of Rav Nosson Zochovsky, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Gaon Yaakov. Mishkovsky was arrested near the Ben Shemen Forest and transferred to military police custody. He was subsequently tried and sentenced to 20 days in Prison 10.

Avraham Angel, a talmid at Yeshivas Nezer Yisrael, was also transferred to Prison 10. Angel was initially arrested on Route 443 on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. According to the report, police officials had explicitly indicated that he would not be transferred to the military police, but he was ultimately handed over and imprisoned.

Officials with the Tzeva Shachor system reacted angrily to the developments, warning that the manner in which the arrests are being handled could have serious consequences.

“The lack of trust in the police and law enforcement system will lead directly to anarchy and a complete loss of control during future attempts to arrest yeshiva students in the field.”

Rav Yitzchok Yosef also addressed the arrests during his weekly shiur, recounting an incident involving a yeshiva bochur who had previously been imprisoned in a military facility and endured severe spiritual challenges while incarcerated.

“The prisoners, the poor yeshiva boys who were arrested. One of the prisoners told me that they took him to a detention facility, and the television was on the entire time. He was there for several days. He begged the guards — I am a yeshiva student, I am a ben Torah, why are you showing television, all kinds of immodesty, all kinds of things. They did not listen to him, as though they were forcing him.”

{Matzav.com}