Rabbi Gershon Hirsch, a leading Lithuanian Torah figure, departed for the US on Saturday night for yeshiva and kollel fundraising visits, as reported by journalist Eli Hirsman. Before boarding, kollel heads who receive funding from the Torah World Fund came to the airport to bid farewell.
Rabbi Gershon Hirsch, a leading figure in the Lithuanian Haredi community, departed for the United States on Saturday night for a fundraising tour on behalf of yeshivas and kollels. The trip, reported by journalist Eli Hirsman, comes amid a widening public debate over Haredi military service. Heads of kollels who rely on funding from Hirsch's Torah World Fund gathered at the airport before his flight to express their farewell.
As The Zioneer reported earlier Saturday, yeshiva leaders in Jerusalem had already bid farewell to Rabbi Hirsch in a gathering ahead of the trip. The current visit follows a broader US solidarity tour by leading Israeli rabbis in recent weeks, focused on supporting Torah study communities in Israel, and takes place against the backdrop of an IDF draft enforcement campaign that has seen hundreds of Mir Yeshiva students receive legal counsel on how to handle potential military arrest.
The timing of the visit keeps the issue of Haredi conscription in the spotlight, with the rabbi's fundraising mission drawing attention to the institutions whose students are at the center of the military service controversy.
3 developments
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