[Video below.] A deeply emotional scene unfolded after midnight at the Har Nof home of Rav Moshe Shternbuch, as the senior posek broke down in uncontrollable tears following Selichos, crying out over the difficult situation facing Klal Yisroel and pleading with the Ribono Shel Olam for mercy as the Yemei Hadin approach.

The extraordinary scene took place in Rav Shternbuch’s home in Yerushalayim while much of the city was asleep. After completing Selichos after chatzos, Rav Shternbuch remained immersed in intense emotion, tears streaming from his eyes as he began speaking to those gathered around him.

His words, delivered amid repeated sobbing, left those present shaken. Several of Rav Shternbuch’s close attendants themselves began to cry, later remarking that the raw emotion and unusual manner in which he spoke were unlike what they were accustomed to seeing from him.

Rav Shternbuch began with a piercing call to teshuvah.

“Come, let us return to Hashem, because the time is difficult and the troubles of our hearts have multiplied, and we do not know what will be…”

Then his voice broke.

“Father, Father, Father! Come back to us! How much longer will we have to suffer? You told us that we are Your children, and a father does not abandon his children. Please, do not abandon us! It is true that we sinned before You with brazenness and defiance, and we did not listen to the voice of the holy Creator, but You are our Father…”

Rav Shternbuch continued through his tears, pleading that the relationship between Hashem and His children should itself serve as the source of forgiveness.

“HaKadosh Baruch Hu will help us and He will forgive us, because it is the way of a father to forgive his son, and You will forgive us because we are Your children, for that is what You promised us: ‘You are children to Hashem your G-d.’”

He then uttered a brief sentence that encapsulated the anguish evident throughout his remarks:

“The situation is bitter, bitter, bitter!”

Rav Shternbuch went on to speak with profound pain about the gezeiros and spiritual challenges confronting the Torah community. His words were deliberately guarded, and he indicated that there were matters about which he could not speak openly.

“They are killing us and fighting against us. Oy.”

Then, addressing those gathered around him, Rav Shternbuch issued a stark warning.

“Rabbosai! The situation is not good! I am not permitted to speak, and I will not speak, chas v’shalom, but the situation is bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter! Oy, they want to completely uproot us from HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and they want us to become a nation like all the nations, a people like all the other peoples. And about this HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, ‘That which enters your minds shall not be!’ It will not happen!”

With his voice filled with anguish, Rav Shternbuch continued:

“And they disgrace HaKadosh Baruch Hu and do not listen to His voice. And what will be the end? They are killing us and fighting against us… Oy, HaKadosh Baruch Hu should help and have mercy! This is a time of tzaros, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu should help us get through it.”

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{Matzav.com}