The following amazing interview appears in this weeks Sha’ah Tovah Magazine, and was given exclusively to YWN:

When Yossi, the youngest of the three bachurim imprisoned in Japan for the past two years, arrived recently in Eretz Yisrael, he was not allowed any visitors, partly because of the sensitivity of his judicial status, and also due to the fact that even though his verdict had already been pronounced in Japan, he was still considered a prisoner awaiting sentence, who as such is not permitted visitors.

However, Harav Grossman, the renowned rav of Migdal HaEmek, is a frequent visitor to Israeli prisons, to encourage and uplift – and this has earned him a special status in the eyes of prison authorities, who appreciate his valuable work. He was the only person who succeeded in gaining entrance to visit the young man who has just spent two terrible years behind Japanese bars.

It was a difficult encounter. Even Rav Grossman, who has come into contact with a great deal of distress and sorrow in his incredible work for the klal, was deeply shocked at Yossi’s physical state. Although it is known that conditions in Japanese jails are far harsher than those here in Eretz Yisrael, still Rav Grossman was taken aback at the sight of the emaciated bachur facing him, and he realized that the descriptions of incarceration in Japan are not in the slightest exaggerated.

Following is a transcript of the entire meeting between Rav Grossman and the young prisoner.

Yossi – you experienced terrible trials!

Yossi: “The isolation was very difficult. As a yeshivah bachur, I was used to a certain society, a social circle, and suddenly, there I was, without a living soul to talk to, totally alone. It was all the more difficult since I was surrounded by goyim, Japanese, at that, and not the most refined or intelligent either, but the kind that are imprisoned for a reason. And you have to live in their midst. This is far from being the kind of place a yeshivah bachur would want to spend two years of his life!”

The conditions must have been terrible besides.

Yossi: “For sure. It wasn’t only the loneliness but the actual living conditions, which are much harsher than those in Eretz Yisrael. At first, I slept on a mattress on the floor – that was the only thing they gave me. It took over a year for them to give me a table and chair so that I could write a letter. This alone was a tremendous relief.”

What about food?

Yossi: “Good people provided me with some food but never meat, certainly not hot food. I ate canned goods and vegetables, but this was only after a long while. In the beginning, I subsisted on vegetables.”

Rav Grossman later related:

“It was terrible to finally be face to face with Yossi, about whom we had heard so much this past year. It was almost unbearable to look at him, though I didn’t say a word, of course. His face was shrunken; he looked very pale and weak.”

You look as if you suffered there.

Yossi: “Yes, absolutely. I lost forty kilo. Not only didn’t I have decent food but I was terribly anxious – consumed with worry, all the time, and feeling terrible. No wonder I lost all that weight.”

Were you allowed out of the prison cell?

Yossi: “They let me out to get a bit of fresh air, but all I did was walk around in the courtyard among dozens of Japanese prisoners with whom I couldn’t communicate. It was a great help that my brother, Yona, and other good people would visit me from time to time.”

Did you have any idea of what was going on outside the prison?

Yossi: “No. It took a while for me to realize that the outside world was even aware of my situation. That was when people from the embassy came to visit me.”

You really thought that no one knew anything about your whereabouts?

Yossi: “Exactly. I felt as if I had disappeared off the face of the earth, that I was lost in a distant and foreign land whose language I couldn’t begin to comprehend and whose social norms were alien to me. I simply didn’t know what they wanted from me.”

You didn’t know why you had been arrested?

Yossi: “No. I couldn’t imagine what crime I had committed and had no idea with what I was being charged. I couldn’t fathom why they had put me together with all those low criminals.”

The Japanese probably thought you were playing innocent, pretending not to know why you had been arrested.

Yossi: “I guess so. They are extremely strict in these matters. But there was evidence to the contrary as well. For example, it was noted that when we were first [apprehended and] accused, we seemed not to know why, and we weren’t even frightened, which indicated that we didn’t feel guilty of a committing a crime. This was mentioned in our favor in court. In the beginning, they really thought we were guilty of smuggling, but when we acted so innocent, they began doubting that we had done so intentionally.”

Did you have tefillin with you all this time?

Yossi: “No. They made a big issue about bringing them for me. They don’t usually allow such items in a cell. It has nothing to do with them being religious articles. Rather, they were afraid that the leather straps would be used for other purposes by the prisoners. But I assume that pressure was exerted on the Japanese authorities, and so in the end they compromised by letting me put them on each morning and then taking them away.”

What kept you going all the time?

Yossi: “My emunah. In such a situation, when you’re far from home, from the yeshivah and your friends, only emunah can give you strength. A person without faith simply falls apart. What stood by me was the chinuch I received at home – that Hashem is everywhere and watches over us all the time. Whatever Hashem does is for the best. During my difficult moments, I really felt that Hashem was there with me in my Japanese cell, amidst all the goyim. My emunah was put to the test and it came to the fore and was the only thing that kept me going.”

When you learned that Yidden knew about your imprisonment, did it make things easier for you?

Yossi: “Yes, a lot. I learned that the press was writing about me and keeping the Jewish world informed about me and that everyone was davening for me. It reassured me to know that Admorim and other tzaddikim were praying for my release. It gave me hope that someday, I would leave that place, in the merit of all the prayers of klal Yisrael.”

Who did you see during the time of your imprisonment?

Yossi: “Apart from my family, I also saw Harav Mendel Shafran shlit”a, and Dayan Yosef David Weiss shlit”a. The mayor of Bnei Brak, Harav Yaakov Asher, also visited. Each such visit brought me great joy, in and of itself and also because they were a link to the chareidi world, a contact that I so sorely lacked there in Japan, and certainly in jail.”

As I look at you, I can’t help wondering how the other two look. As bad as you?

THE REST OF THIS AMAZING INTERVIEW AND OTHER ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND IN THIS WEEKS SHA’AH TOVA MAGAZING AVAILABLE WHERE EVER JEWISH MEDIA PUBLICATIONS ARE SOLD.