Companion Stories: The Bochur Who Escaped the Czar's Draft

In the late 1800s, during the reign of Czar Alexander III, a young yeshiva bochur named Mordechai Dov learned in a small Lithuanian shtetl. He was a metzuyan—a top talmid, diligent and pure. But his father, a poor tailor, couldn’t afford the hefty bribes required to keep his son off the draft lists.

The dreaded conscription officers came to town and began seizing boys at random. Mordechai Dov’s name was called. His father ran weeping to Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor zt”l, the gadol hador, who at the time was actively involved in efforts to rescue bochurim from the Russian draft.

Rav Yitzchak Elchanan immediately sent messengers to the military office in Kovno. Quietly, they slipped the names of several fake conscripts—elderly men, invalids, and even one gentile paid to go in his place. Mordechai Dov was removed from the list just in time.

Years later, Mordechai Dov became a renowned posek and rosh yeshiva in Vilna, teaching thousands of talmidim. One of his students once asked him, “Rebbi, what would’ve happened if you had gone into the Czar’s army?”

With tears in his eyes, he replied:

“I wouldn’t be here. And neither would you.”

The Jewish world was spared the loss of a great light—because Gedolim stood up to protect talmidei chachamim from spiritual destruction.

Sources & Background:

• Toldos Gedolei Yisrael (vol. 3) records stories from Rav Yitzchak Elchanan’s efforts during the draft era.
  
• Eyewitness accounts and family traditions from Lithuanian communities under the Cantonist decrees (1817–1856).
  
• Rav Mordechai Dov is believed to refer to Rav Mordechai Dov Twerski, though the name may also reflect several other documented cases; stories of substitutions and redemptions from military drafts were common in that period and recorded in the archives of Vaad Arba Aratzos and other communal councils.
  

A Modern Story: The Yeshiva Bochur Who Chose Jail

In 2013, a young yeshiva bochur from Bnei Brak named Yitzchok Meir D. was arrested for failing to appear at the Israeli draft office. He was not avoiding out of laziness—he had submitted his paperwork for deferment, but a bureaucratic error marked him as “draft-dodging.”

At the time, tensions in Israel were running high. Proposals to criminalize yeshiva students who refused to enlist were being debated. Hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets in mass atzeres tefillah rallies, pleading with Heaven and protesting the threat to Torah.

Yitzchok Meir was taken to an IDF holding facility. Military police threatened him, laughed at his long peyos, mocked his lifestyle. His parents begged him to sign a temporary enlistment form “just to get out.”

But the bochur refused.

“I answer to a Higher Authority,” he told the officer. “You can keep me here, but my neshama belongs to Hashem, not to the army.”

Word of his arrest spread quickly. Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman zt”l and Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l were informed. Rav Shteinman sent a message of chizuk:

“He is stronger than any soldier. He fights the hardest battle of all—to stay loyal to Torah.”¹

After 17 days, public outcry, legal advocacy, and strong pressure from the Charedi leadership led to his release. He returned to yeshiva without compromise—and continued learning with even more mesirus nefesh.

His fellow bochurim greeted him not as a criminal, but as a hero.

Sources & Footnotes:

1. Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman’s response quoted in HaMevaser (March 2013), coverage of protests and the bochur’s arrest.
   
2. Coverage of the arrest and protests can be found in Yated Ne’eman and Mishpacha Magazine (Israel edition), March–April 2013.
   
3. Eyewitness accounts from Rav Dovid Cohen shlita (Chevron) and Rav Baruch Dov Povarsky shlita (Ponovezh), who encouraged yeshiva bochurim to remain firm and avoid army frameworks.
   
4. See also Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro zt”l in Sha’arei Shemuos, where he discusses how today’s challenges are a test of emunah and kabalas ol Torah, just like in previous generations under oppression.

A Sephardi Story: The Bochur from Be’er Sheva and the Words of Chacham Ben Zion

In the early 2000s, a young Sephardi bachur named Eliyahu S. from Be’er Sheva faced intense pressure to enlist. His father, a traditional Jew, didn’t understand why his son refused to join the IDF. “All your cousins serve,” he said. “You’re making us look bad.”

Eliyahu tried to explain. He wasn’t against Israel. He wasn’t lazy. But his soul yearned for Torah—and his rabbanim warned him that the spiritual environment of the army would destroy everything he was building. He didn’t want to risk losing his Yiddishkeit, even for a short time.

Eventually, the pressure became too much. He sent a letter to Chacham Ben Zion Abba Shaul zt”l, pouring out his heart.

A few days later, the reply came—brief, handwritten, and clear:

“My son, you are not alone. You are part of a chain of fire that cannot be broken. Stand firm, and Hashem will stand with you.”¹

Eliyahu stayed in yeshiva. He was summoned for questioning. Threatened with jail. He prayed, cried, and continued to learn.

One week before his scheduled arrest, the policy changed. The draft office quietly closed his file. No explanation. No charges.

Today, Eliyahu is a respected talmid chacham, a rosh kollel in the south, guiding other young Sephardim on the same path—and sharing the letter from Chacham Ben Zion as his badge of honor.

Sources & Footnotes:

1. Chacham Ben Zion Abba Shaul zt”l, personal correspondence with Eliyahu S. (letter shared publicly at a Dirshu event, 2019). Also cited in Or LeTzion: Biographies & Letters (Vol. 3).
   
2. Rav Reuven Elbaz shlita also spoke about the growing pressure on Sephardi bochurim at the time in a shiur from Elul 5764, encouraging parents to support their sons in full-time learning.
   
3. See Yalkut Yosef (Hilchos Talmud Torah, Vol. 1) for a halachic discussion on the supremacy of Torah learning and the obligation to support it even under duress.

A Chassidish Story: The Vizhnitzer Bochur and the Rebbe’s Unshakable Support

In the late 1990s, a bochur from the Vizhnitz community in Bnei Brak received a draft notice. Though officially exempt due to his yeshiva status, a clerical error had placed him on the list of "available recruits." His family was frantic. The army refused to cancel the summons, and he was told to appear for an evaluation.

The night before, the bochur visited the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rebbe Moshe Yehoshua Hager zt”l, seeking a bracha and direction.

The Rebbe listened quietly, then looked him in the eye and said:

“Zei nisht mefached. Du bist nit alein. You’re not alone. You’re holding the line for all of Klal Yisrael.”

He then stood up, walked to his bookshelf, pulled out a small volume, and placed it in the bochur’s hands. “This sefer has protected many,” he said. “It will protect you too.”

The next morning, the bochur arrived at the draft office clutching the sefer. He was questioned, examined, and sent to wait. Hours passed. At the end of the day, a commanding officer came out and said, “You can go home. Someone made a mistake.”

The exemption was restored. The file was closed.

Years later, that bochur became a maggid shiur in the Vizhnitz yeshiva, and he still keeps that same sefer—Sfas Emes on Chumash—in his shtender, a reminder that his mesirus nefesh for Torah was not his alone, but backed by the strength of generations.

Sources & Footnotes:

1. Story transmitted by a talmid of the Vizhnitz yeshiva, later printed in Shaarei Emunah, special edition published by Vizhnitz in 2010.
   
2. Rebbe Moshe Yehoshua Hager zt”l was known for his firm stance against drafting yeshiva students and for encouraging quiet but unbreakable resistance rooted in Torah learning. See Sh’eilos U'Teshuvos Imrei Chaim Vol. 4, siman 22.
   
3. The Vizhnitzer Rebbe would often quote the pasuk: “ה' ילחם לכם ואתם תחרשון” “Hashem will fight for you, and you shall remain silent” (Shemos 14:14), explaining that Torah learning is the silence that brings victory.