No Food for the Body; Much for the Soul
The three bachurim incarcerated in the Japan have precious little food. They eat mostly rice and some vegetables, and have lost much of their weight. Their few visitors report that they look almost skeletal – like the pictures of Jews during the Holocaust. Yet they refuse to eat anything that is even slightly questionable in kashrus. They do not eat any cooked or baked food that might be considered bishul akum, pas akum, or chalav akum.
One of the bachurim told Rabbi Aron Nezri, a key askan, that although he knows that he is permitted to eat the food, he doesn’t want to – because it will only strengthen his body, and that is not his focus right now.
“I don’t know what will happen to my guf, but I want to make sure that my neshamah stays pure.” There is so much kedushah, so much derhoibenkeit, in those tiny prison cells!
A Hospitalization – and a Psak Halachah
Sixteen months of starvation and deprivation have taken their toll. One bachur was so weak; he fainted several times. Prison authorities transferred him to a hospital, where the fare was slightly better – but he refused to eat much, because there was a ch’shash – a suspicion – that the margarine contained milk, which would make it chalav akum; and he knew for certain that the eggs were bishul akum.
The bachur only agreed to eat eggs after Dayan Weiss issued a psak halachah that he was not only permitted, but required, to eat them. There is so much mesiras nefesh, such purity, in their shattered lives!
It is sixteen months since three innocent bachurim from Eretz Yisroel were first arrested in the Nairobi Airport in Japan for alleged drug trafficking. In those sixteen months, as the Jewish world prayed tirelessly for their release, the bachurim endured unspeakable suffering.
Their stories make every Jewish heart shudder in pain. To hear of young, innocent bnei Torah suffering from hunger, solitude and frightening interrogations! To think of the physical and mental torture they endure as they are denied the most basic human comforts! ! To imagine bachurim forced to sit alone in tiny prison cells, day after day, Shabbos after Shabbos, month after month!
Yet difficult as their situation is today, in the Chiba Detention Center, where two of the bachurim are still being held before trial, it pales in comparison to what they face should they chas veshalom be found guilty and incarcerated in a Japanese prison.
A Tablecloth Likavod Shabbos
Can there be Shabbos in a prison cell? The bachurim have not abandoned even one mitzvah. One bachur, in an attempt to bring honor to Shabbos, spreads tissues over the tiny table in his prison cell. As for candles, there are none. Just a dim light bulb illuminates the cells. It helps the boys to visualize their mothers lighting the candles, and to know that there is a candle being lit for them, too – but it hurts.
The bachurim know that their mothers shed oceans of tears over the Shabbos candles each week. Another bachur asked Dayan Weiss, who works tirelessly for the boys, if he was allowed to say Kiddush Levana on the seventeenth of the month – because that is the earliest day he can see the moon through the tiny window in his cell. Sixteen Kiddush Levanahs have already gone by – sixteen!
There is so much Torah; so many tears, so much hope in their broken hearts!
Our generation’s leading rabbonim have unanimously declared that this is an urgent case of pidyon shvuyim – a mitzvah that obligates every Jew. Many rabbonim have become personally involved.
Throughout history, Jews have performed pidyon shevuyim with tremendous mesiras nefesh – with great personal and communal sacrifice. Communities sold their Sifrei Torah; individuals offered their precious jewels and utensils.
Now it is time for us to fulfill our sacred obligation. The bachurim are in grave danger.
The askanim involved need a tremendous amount of money to secure the best lawyers and give the boys their best chance at an acquittal.
This is our generation’s opportunity! This is our calling! This is your mitzvah!
