Syria Collapsed Only Because of those Who Learned in Beit Medrish With a "Bren" ! Grodna Rosh Yeshiva

 

I hardly know where to begin.

An outraged parent of a talmid in Grodno emailed me and told me to get the latest Yated immediately. “Look at the front page,” he said. “It’s the second leading story.”

In Beit Shemesh, the distributors are smart enough not to drop this paper in our neighborhoods, so I had to drive to Ramat Gimmel to pick one up.

Before writing anything, I showed my reaction to a major talmid chacham in my neighborhood. His response: “Kol hakavod — post it.”

The article describes a speech delivered by the Rosh Yeshiva of Grodno, Rav Drabkin shlit”a, to hundreds of talmidim. The parent who wrote to me said the bochurim mocked the speech, openly ridiculed it, and that the fallout created a massive chillul Hashem. Many talmidim, he said, lost respect for their Rosh Yeshiva.

What did he say?

He claimed that although soldiers fight with tanks and planes, the real victory comes only from the “bren” of Torah learning in the beis medrash. His “proof”? That Syria collapsed without tanks or planes.

Let’s start with the obvious: In an article of over 500 words, Hashem is mentioned only twice — and even then, only in passing, as part of a mashal. The entire thrust of the piece is that the victory belongs to the yeshiva bochurim, not to Hashem, and certainly not to the IDF.

Then came the claim that Hashem delivered the Greeks into the hands of “those who learn Torah,” meaning — according to him — Mattisyahu, who supposedly sat in the beis medrash while others fought.

This is simply not found anywhere in Shas, in Midrash, or in Al Hanissim. Not before the war, not during the war, not after the war.

In fact, Al Hanissim lists fighters, not lomdei Torah in the beis medrash:

• the weak

• the few

• the pure

• the righteous

• the עוסקי תורתך

And the simple reading is that all of these were the fighters. The only historical record we have — Sefer Maccabim — states explicitly that Mattisyahu fought with his sons. The Gemara discusses the miracle of the oil, not the military campaign.

The Rosh Yeshiva simply invented a narrative with no textual basis.

And now let’s ask the obvious question:

If victory comes from the “bren” of Torah learning, then why didn’t Gaza collapse on October 8?

There were no tanks, no planes, no soldiers in Gaza for nearly three weeks. The yeshivos were learning with “bren” and “geshmak.” So why didn’t Gaza fall?

Why did Hezbollah continue firing rockets for weeks while the North emptied out? Why didn’t Lebanon collapse from the “bren”? Why did the IDF — not Grodno — have to eliminate Syrian air defenses in September?

Even the U.S. Secretary of State admitted that the turning point in Syria came from the killing of Sinwar, the killing of Nasrallah, and the destruction of Hezbollah’s infrastructure — not from yeshiva learning.

Of course, everything is from Hashem. Anyone who has learned Chovos HaLevavos knows that Hashem uses shluchim — and in this war, the shaliach is the IDF, not Grodno.

And the most important point of all:

We don’t even know how this war will end. This could still, chas v’shalom, become one of the greatest calamities in Jewish history.

To reduce a complex, tragic, ongoing war — with thousands dead, tens of thousands displaced, and an entire nation traumatized — into a simplistic slogan about “bren” is not Torah. It is not emunah. It is not history. And it is not responsible leadership.

It is wishful thinking dressed up as theology.

When leaders rewrite history to fit a slogan, they don’t strengthen Torah — they weaken trust. And once the talmidim stop believing you, no amount of ‘bren’ can put that fire out.

When Torah is used to erase reality instead of illuminate it, the result isn’t emunah — it’s fantasy. And in a war like this, fantasy doesn’t save lives. The IDF is fighting. Hashem is guiding. Pretending otherwise is not faith — it’s failure.

If “bren” alone won wars, Gaza would have fallen on October 8 and Hezbollah on October 9. Reality didn’t get that memo — but the Yated printed it anyway.

I really believe that the Rosh Yeshiva doesn't even believe what he said and as it turns out his talmidim don't believe it either!

 But the stupid Hebrew Yated puts this utter nonsense on the front page!