[UPDATE BELOW] HaRav Mordechai Ze’ev Wosner, rosh yeshiva of Chernobyl Boro Park, who is in the Catskills in update NY, was brutally attacked in an apparent hate crime.
Rav Wosner, a grandson of Maran HaGaon Shmuel Halevy Wosner Shlita is in Camp Kavanas HaLev with his talmidim. According to the information available, he went out at night for a walk in the country and an unknown person assaulted him, beating him without mercy until he was felled.
His talmidim found the rav on the ground moaning from his injuries. He was transported to a hospital by Hatzolah.
Non-detailed reports indicate the rosh yeshiva may have sustained significant head trauma in the attack, which occurred on Sunday night NY time.
UPDATE 10:45AM EST: Rabbi Bernard Freilich, Special Assistant to the NYSP Superintendent tells YWN that police are taking this incident very seriously, and are doing their utmost to make an arrest. NYSP Captain Wane Olson of Troop F is personally involved in the case, and many investigators have already been assigned.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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27 Responses
Can we have his hebrew name so we can daven for him?
May he have a refuah shelaimo Bimheiro!
Ribono Shel Olam, Ad Mosai????
refuah shelaima. what is his name for tehillim
What is his name for tehillim?
Which town is this camp in?
May he have a refuah shelaima.
Please supply his name for tehillim.
such tzorros for klal yisroel. the rosh yeshiva should have a refua shlaima.
This is terrible. Rav Wosner is a talmid chochom and a tzadik. We should all be mispalel for his quick and easy recovery.
Unfortunately we are being reminded very often lately that we,re still in galus. We still have time to davin that tisha biav should become a yom tov.
We should be mispalell that the Rosh Yeshiva Shli”ta has a refua sheleima and whoever is responsible pays for this act
In which township did this take place?
By the way, is this Rav Wosner a nephew of the Rav Wosner who lives in Monsey?
I don’t know if this is statistically true, but this years “three weeks” certainly seem to be some of the worst in recent history.
In this regard, we know that whenever Jews became overly comfortable in any medina of golus, the Ribbono Shel Olam reminded us very quickly of the error of our ways. Our tzuras would increase until our very existence in that particular medina became problematic. This was true in Spain of 1492 (the Spanish Expulsion) and in Germany of 1938 (Kristallnacht).
One cannot help but wonder if history isn’t repeating itself in America today. After all, because we live in such a malchus shel chessd, we have perhaps fallen TOO much in love with it. Woe to us how we have forgotten that we are merely sojourners here and NOT permanent residents.
But unlike the Jews of Spain and Germany, Hashem has shown an overwhelming chesed to us today. In 1492 is was difficult, and in 1938 virtually impossible, to seek refuge in Eretz Yisrael. I pray that the yissurim being visited upon us this year represent the beginning of the end to our sojourn in America, as Hashem begins to make it abundantly clear that it is time to leave and go home.
May Rav Wosner, shlit”a, have a refuah shlaimah and become one of our generation to lead us back to recognizing the imperative of ‘yishuv ha’aretz’ in order to welcome Moshiach and the final redemption.
BH Rav Vosner is back in camp and in good spirits may he have a Refuah Shleimah and lets continue to be Mechazik
Refuah Shelaimo to the Rosh Yeshiva.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves here, we dont even know if this was racially motivated. Lets wait till the facts emerge.
This could have been a mugging!
#11 yes hes his nephew
Borach Hashem he was discharged from the hospital He was badly beaten up but is fine
B’yad Yishmael v’lo B’yad Eisav.
CHasdei Hashem that he is fine…Is this the Rav Vosner who lives on Foster Ave near Parkville ave?
the shul is on foster and citon
Every Jew must know how to defend himself. That is the Torah law. We dare disobay it.
He is a real Tzaddik. I used to daven in his Shul..Hashem should give him a complete Refuah Shelaimah.
#13, a quest to fulfill mitzvas Yishuv HaAretz cannot cause other mitzvos to be negated (which would be the case in, at least, some circumstances), so to say these tzaros have been brought to remind everyone of mitzvas yishuv haaretz seems to not be correct. One can ask his LOR regarding one’s own personal situation, but let us not be so foolish as to think we know Hashem’s thoughts and ways.
In other words, not only is it NOT an aveira to live in chutz laAretz, it is even Halachicly preferable, in many cases, to live in chutz laAretz rather than living in Eretz Yisrael. Ask you LOR, if you are unsure. As well, Hashem does what he does regardless of what our finite minds can comprehend.
That doesn’t mean what happened should pass unnoticed. But it’s also not a reason to make an emotional decision (to move to Eretz Yisrael).
May we all merit redemption in the geula shileimah bimheira biyameinu, Amein.
Response to HaKatan (no. 23) who wrote: “so to say these tzaros have been brought to remind everyone of mitzvas yishuv haaretz seems to not be correct. One can ask his LOR regarding one’s own personal situation, but let us not be so foolish as to think we know Hashem’s thoughts and ways.”
I have previously quoted the following words from Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, zt”l. I do so again with reference to your comment (words CAPITALIZED for emphasis):
“Now I understand the words of Musaf for Yom Tov: ‘because of our sins were we exiled from our country and distanced from our Land.’ This we have done VOLUNTARILY. Many times have I directed that the religious Jews in the diaspora be instructed that anyone who has the ability to come to Eretz Yisroel and doesn’t, will have to account for his FAILURE in Ha’Olam HaBa.” (Ha’ish Al Hachoma, vol. II, p. 149)
Rav Yosef Chaim’s words are very clear. In the present generation we “VOLUNTARILY” stay in golus, and the refusal to make aliyah is nothing less than a “FAILURE.” So what happens when Klal Yisrael deliberately fails to do that which is expected of them? We experience Hashem’s messages, through yissurim (r”l), to correct ourselves! Thus, the attack on Rav Wosner (and all of the other terrible things happening to us lately) should really shake people up.
I agree with you that everyone should consult their LOR concerning their individual situations with respect to aliyah. But Rabbi Zev Leff points out in a published essay entitled “Where is the Religious Aliyah from the West?” that tens of thousands of B’nai Torah in America never dare to pose the question…because they really don’t want to hear the answer. Too many Yidden fear hearing the truth, that they have no legitimate excuse not to fulfill the mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’aretz. If this was true in Rav Yosef Chaim’s time (1930s Palestine), so much more so is it true today. In this regard, Kol HaKavod to the balei emunah who have heeded Rav Yosef Chaim’s call and bravely boarded their Nefesh B’Nefesh flights back home to Eretz Yisrael.
As for the rest of diaspora Jewry, I have grave forebodings that like our brethren in Germany in 1938, we will not act on Hashem’s increasingly urgent messages to leave, until it is too late.
[P.S. I am on Nefesh b’Nefesh’s waiting list].
Lenco49, although you are correct about the Expution from Spain, Kristelnacht was in November.
It’s not that “tens of thousands” of b’nai Torah don’t want to hear the answer, they are listening to their rabonim.
If all gedolim felt that it is a chiyuv to live in EY now when we are still in Galus, they would move there and the people would follow. Please remember that even though we b”H have EY, we are still in galus until Moshiach comes. There is a wall in Yerushalayim, not a Mikdash.
I will have to check on the quote from Rav Yosef Chayim Zonnenfeld, because I find it hard to believe he ever said such a thing.
In any case, Rav Moshe Feinstein z”l paskens quite clearly in Igros Moshe that there is absolutely no chiyuv to move to Eretz Yisrael.
I believe Rav Moshe Feinstein z”l psak refers to the mitzva of moving to Eretz Yisroel as a “Kiyum Mitzva” — like Tzitzis — which is ALSO not obligatory. Would you make a shidduch with someone who did not wear tzitzis?? It seems it is not ONLY the reform and conservative that pick and choose what’s comfortable to them.. HaMaiyvin Yavin…
This thread has now strayed some from the subject matter of the attack on Rabbi Wosner, but I will add a few more details in response to subsequent comment.
dhl (comment 27) says very well. Please note that Rav Yosef Chaim also held that it is a mitzvah kiyumis, but read his words carefully. He said that anyone who has the “ABILITY” to come to Eretz Yisroel and doesn’t will have to account for his FAILURE to make aliyah. It must be decided on an individual-case basis. But as Rabbi Leff pointed out, while we ask all kinds of shailas of our Rabbonim, very few bother to ask the big one: “Do I have any heter to stay in golus and not make aliyah?”
To Motcha (number 26): Rabbi Leff quotes Rav Sonnenfeld [and its source] in his previously mentioned essay: “Where is the Religious Aliya from the West?” which appears as the introduction to “To Dwell in the Palace” by Tzivia Erlich-Klein (1991, Feldheim – a MUST read). If you google the title in quotes, you can read the entire essay on-line.
Rav Leff also brings a quote from the Chazon Ish, who told a talmid leaving Eretz Yirael after a year of learning: “We are trying to devise methods to get Bnei Torah to settle here, and you are involved in finding ways to be able to leave?!” (Peer Hador, vol. II, p. 42)
An elderly chareidi Rav, a talmid of Rav Yitzchak Hutner, zt”l (Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin) echoed the thought of Rav Yosef Chaim when he told me years ago: “The greatest failure of our generation is that we did not make aliyah.”
When I asked my present Marah D’Asra (a talmid muvhak of Rav Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, zt”l) if there is a mitzvah of Yishuv Ha’aretz, he responded that it’s a machlokes rishonim… (paused)…and then added in an undertone…”but really we should go.”
So why aren’t our modern day leaders and Roshei Yeshiva calling for aliyah en masse? I don’t know, but I find it very troubling. Could it be because they fear that hardly anyone would listen?
To dhl, #27, Your reply to me is disrespectful to Rav Moshe FEinstein, z”l. Rav Moshe clearly stated that there is no chiyuv whatsoever. It is not a Mitzvah Chiyuvis. He said that PERHAPS there is an INYAN, but there isn o chiyuv.
As to your comparison to the Mitzvah of Tzitzis, that is entirely not applicable. Wearing a begged of arba kanfos in order to be mikayem the Mitzvah of Tzitzis is indeed no chiyuv, but the Poskim hold that today we must do so because nispashta haminhag. So today tzitzis *IS* a chiyuv, but making aliyah is NOT, according to Rav Moshe zt”l.
Rav Moshe himself did not make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, and I would give my eyeteeth to be mishadech with his family.
However, I do agree that whenever possible one should try and live in Eretz Yisrael. But it is not a chiyuv, according to Rav Moshe.
And yes, it is a machlokess Rishonim. The Rambam, for example holds it is not a Mitzvah Chiyuvis. I.e., you get a mitzvah for living there, but no avairah if you don’t, under most circumstances. The Ramban, however, holds that it is a Mitzvah Chiyuvis, if I am not mistaken.