"You Are the Happiest Person in the World”"

A moving encounter took place in Yerushalayim during a family bris attended by Hagaon Harav Moshe Sternbuch, when the senior posek warmly embraced a yeshiva bochur who had recently served ten days in an Israeli military prison over the draft controversy, showering him with extraordinary words of encouragement and declaring that his dedication to Torah learning had earned him a special place in the eyes of the Ribbono Shel Olam.

The encounter occurred during the bris of a great-grandson of Rav Sternbuch, a son born to his grandson and close confidant, Harav Avrohom Yeshayahu Sternbuch. Rav Sternbuch served as sandek at the bris, which became an occasion for heartfelt tefillos over the continuing efforts to draft yeshiva students into the Israeli military.

During the simcha, Rav Sternbuch instructed those present to recite the Yud-Gimmel Middos HaRachamim, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and to sound the shofar in response to what he described as the difficult situation confronting the Torah community in Eretz Yisroel.

The unusual instructions reflected the gravity with which Rav Sternbuch views the ongoing draft controversy, which has resulted in the arrests and imprisonment of yeshiva students who have refused to comply with military enlistment requirements.

Following the bris, Rav Sternbuch presided over a mesibas lechaim, during which a young yeshiva student who had recently been released from military detention approached him to receive a bracha.

The bochur had spent ten days in Prison 10, an Israeli military detention facility, after refusing to compromise his position regarding military service.

Upon learning of the young man’s experience, Rav Sternbuch became visibly emotional and offered words of chizuk that left a profound impression on those present.

“You are the happiest person in the world,” Rav Sternbuch told the young man.

“Baruch Hashem, you have merited to sit and learn Torah with mesirus nefesh. Even the malachim ask HaKadosh Baruch Hu to allow them to learn with mesirus nefesh as you do, but HaKadosh Baruch Hu tells them, ‘This bochur I love,’ because he sacrifices himself to learn Torah and to continue learning.”

Rav Sternbuch then offered a heartfelt bracha for the young man’s future.

“Fortunate are his father and mother, fortunate is his entire family who brought him into the world,” he said. “May Hashem have mercy, and may he become a great talmid chacham.”

In a separate development earlier this week, on Sunday, Rav Sternbuch delivered additional words of encouragement to the family of a newly married chassan who had been arrested during his sheva brachos celebrations.

The arrest, which occurred during what should have been one of the happiest periods of the young man’s life, generated considerable distress among his family and members of the Torah community.

Before the chassan was released, Rav Sternbuch sought to strengthen the spirits of his family, describing the young man’s ordeal as an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate unwavering commitment to Torah.

“Many people are jealous of you,” Rav Sternbuch said. “You have merited such a mitzvah. Do not be afraid!”

He continued with a message of determination in the face of the difficulties confronting yeshiva students.

“Whatever evil they can do will be repaid to them twofold, and we are faithful to Hashem and will remain faithful to Him, and there is no life except through Torah. Bracha and hatzlacha. Fortunate are you, fortunate is your portion. Who is like you?”