Parshas Lech Lecha 5787
וישמע אברם כי נשבה אחיו וירק את חניכיו ילידי ביתו שמנה עשר ושלש מאות וירדף עד דן .. (יד-יד)
The Gemara (Nedarim 32a) states: R’ Avahu said in the name of R’ Elazar, “Why was our father Avraham punished that his children were enslaved in Egypt for 210 years? Because he conscripted Torah scholars to aid him in the war against the four kings,” as it says: "וירק את חניכיו" - he mobilized the men he was mechanech in the ways of Hashem and His Torah (Ran ibid), to fight the war. We similarly find in the Gemara (Sotah 10a) that Asa, King of Yehudah, was punished for utilizing Torah scholars to help execute government projects.
My rebbi, R’ Ruven Schmelczer shlita, in his sefer, The Soul of Emunah, quotes his great uncle, R’ Yosef Rosenblum zt”l, who related a scene he witnessed as a bachur learning under R’ Aharon Kotler zt”l in Lakewood, New Jersey. The legendary askan, Mr. Irving Bunim z”l would galvanize support for the yeshivah by bringing potential supporters to visit the yeshivah and meet Rav Aharon. One Sunday afternoon, Rav Yosef was learning in the quiet beis medrash when Mr. Bunim entered together with a group of laymen, who made their way to Rav Aharon. As they greeted the Rosh Yeshivah, one of the guests placed his arm on Rav Aharon’s shoulder (or back), as one would greet a friend.
Enraged by the lack of Kavod HaTorah, Mr. Bunim grabbed the arm of his guest and twisted it around until the startled man found himself on the floor. Mr. Bunim sharply reprimanded him, "אל תגעו במשיחי" - Do not lay a hand on My anointed one!”
All this should impress upon us the severity of the shmad going on in Eretz Yisroel, where the secular government has imposed its draft upon the Torah world, its agents laying more than just a hand on the anointed ones of Hashem, the Bnei Torah who hold up the world with their learning. Undergrads in university studying the history of King Charles II can get student exemptions, but those learning in yeshivah? Chareidim l’dvar Hashem v’Toraso? Never! May the Aibishter soon take us out of what R’ Elchanan Wasserman zt”l hy”d termed the “Galus of Yidden by Yidden” - ויאמר לצרותנו די!