From an article in the Jerusalem Post:
"...a 20-year-old Ponevezh Yeshiva student was severely beaten and stabbed by a number of assailants. Police said the youth, from Jerusalem, was attacked inside the yeshiva building and evacuated to
Sheba Hospital in moderate condition. The stabbing, police said, appeared to be part of an internal turf war atthe prestigious Lithuanian yeshiva, which has been torn apart
recently byrivaling rabbis fighting for control of the institution. However, Ponevezh yeshiva students denied police claims that the incident was related to the ongoing feud between rabbinic camps vying for control of the yeshiva."
How low! ...this flagship Yeshiva of the Torah world has sunk! It seems that a Torah atmosphere cannot guarantee against hooliganism of the most violent type.
The denial by students that it wasn't related to the ongoing feud between camps rings a bit hollow. One of the sons of the two Roshei Yeshiva in question has left the yeshiva because of it. I met him in a suburb of the city of Bet Shemesh last Sukkos where he now lives. The Machlokes is going strong. He left because he could not take it anymore.
Just to be clear, I am not so concerned that there is a dispute about who will head the Yeshiva. Disputes like this have happened many times in Jewish history. Most recently it happened in Telshe Yeshiva between Rav Binyamin Gifter and Rav Yitzchak Sorotzkin. It was a bitter fight but was ultimately resolved... without anyone getting stabbed!!!
The fact that there is such unbelievable violence in the “tents of Jacob” is a manifestation of something far worse than a simple dispute over power. And it isn't the first time this type of assault happened. If the two camps involved can't put a stop to it then the Yeshiva should have all government funding stopped.
It is a major Chilul HaShem!
