[Video below.] Rav Avraham Moshe Ziskind, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Kesser Torah, delivered an emotional address at an emergency election gathering in Telz Stone, recounting a personal experience involving Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch that he said transformed his understanding of emunas chachomim. According to Rav Ziskind, guidance he received from Rav Hirsch regarding a difficult decision in his life proved accurate in every detail, despite having initially appeared impossible.

The account was shared during a large gathering in Kiryat Ye’arim, also known as Telz Stone, attended by thousands of residents, avreichim, and yeshiva bochurim ahead of the upcoming Knesset elections.

Among the Gedolei Yisroel seated at the dais were Rav Dov Landau and Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, who have been leading efforts to address the challenges facing the Torah community during the election campaign.

Rav Ziskind was invited to deliver the concluding address. Rather than speaking exclusively about the elections, he chose to relate an experience from his own life that he said demonstrated Rav Hirsch’s extraordinary insight and ability to foresee developments that others considered impossible.

Opening his remarks, Rav Ziskind told the assembled crowd that he wanted to discuss the meaning of emunas chachomim, explaining that an experience several years earlier had brought him to an entirely different level of understanding.

“I need to share with you a subject called emunas chachomim,” he began. “I once stood at the level of emunas chachomim. But the Ribbono Shel Olam, several years ago, showed me something far greater than emunas chachomim!”

He then described a period when he was confronted with an exceptionally difficult personal decision, one that involved numerous complications and considerable uncertainty.

According to Rav Ziskind, every friend he consulted insisted that the step he was considering was simply not feasible.

Nevertheless, he turned to Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch for guidance and continued consulting with him repeatedly over an extended period.

“I had a very difficult step to take in my life, something extremely complicated and complex,” Rav Ziskind related. “All my friends told me that taking such a step was completely out of the question. I went in to Maran Rav Moshe Hillel, and I consulted with him many times over a long period.”

Rav Ziskind explained that the guidance he received was difficult for him to comprehend at the time. Each conversation left him wondering how the course of action Rav Hirsch recommended could possibly succeed.

Yet he was struck by the remarkable clarity and depth of Rav Hirsch’s words.

“Each time, I heard things from him that I could not understand. How could such a step possibly be taken? But every sentence I heard from Maran the rosh yeshiva was filled with such extraordinary insight, such honesty, faithfulness, dedication, and profound understanding.”

Although Rav Ziskind said he generally does not have a particularly strong memory for details, he explained that the precise words Rav Hirsch spoke during those consultations have remained with him throughout the intervening years.

“I am not someone who remembers many things, but the exact words I heard years ago from Rav Moshe Hillel are engraved in my memory. I could not believe or understand how a human being could say such things when all my friends were telling me it was impossible!”

The rosh yeshiva then described what happened in the years following those conversations.

Despite his own doubts and the objections of those around him, he had followed Rav Hirsch’s instructions because of the emunas chachomim with which he had been raised.

Over time, he said, events unfolded exactly as Rav Hirsch had predicted.

“It took several years, and the Ribbono Shel Olam taught me and showed me that every word that emerged from his holy mouth was divrei Elokim chaim! Things I never believed could happen in reality took place with absolute precision, exactly as he said!”

Rav Ziskind emphasized that following the guidance had been extraordinarily difficult, particularly because he could not envision how the situation would develop as Rav Hirsch had described.

“It was only because I had been raised with emunas chachomim that I followed his instructions, even though it was unbearably difficult. But I saw with my own eyes how everything I had thought impossible became a simple reality right before me!”

He explained that the experience fundamentally changed the way he understood the authority and guidance of Gedolei Yisroel.

What had previously been a matter of belief, he said, had become something he regarded as knowledge acquired through personal experience.

“That is why I tell you: For me, this has already gone beyond the category of emunah. It has become clear knowledge! The words of the Gedolei Hador are divrei Elokim chaim. The Ribbono Shel Olam gives them the very words to speak, that same ‘kol gadol velo yasaf’ from Maamad Har Sinai!”

Rav Ziskind’s account formed the centerpiece of his remarks, which concluded with an appeal to the assembled public regarding the upcoming elections.

He connected his experience of following Rav Hirsch’s guidance to the broader principle of accepting the direction of Gedolei Yisroel in communal matters.

Referring to the United Torah Judaism list, whose ballot symbol is Gimmel, Rav Ziskind characterized the vote as an expression of confidence in the rabbinic leadership rather than simply a choice between political parties.

“Therefore, voting Gimmel is not a matter of a political party, but a vote and an expression of confidence in the Gedolei and leaders of Klal Yisroel, who have guided us until today and who will continue to guide us forever!”

{Matzav.com}