Rabbi Alter to the children of his institutions: "You need to thank those who persecute you" • Watch

January 9, 2021   

In a conversation with the children of the Peni Menachem yeshiva who were celebrating a bar mitzvah for one of their friends, the Rosh Yeshiva of Gur, Harosh Alter, told a story about the great Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l and taught how one can reach a level of self-control and not harm another Jew, even when laughter comes naturally. "To whiten a Jew is the very act of shedding blood." The Rosh Yeshiva wondered: How did Harosh Auerbach reach this level, that he is even able to stop the smile that comes naturally? And he told another story about a child who was ostracized by all his classmates at the Etz Chaim yeshiva, when the Harosh was the only one who came to his bar mitzvah to make him happy. "It is worth instilling and getting used to thinking about others at the age of the bar mitzvah, thinking about what a word or deed can do to another. A heart that thinks about others," the Rosh Yeshiva explained with sweetness to the children - and told them that "this is how we become a person." The yeshiva head implicitly referred to the bullying that his community members, including the children, experience, and said: "Every child has opportunities to restrain themselves when they are hurt or bullied. But you are receiving a gift. If the persecuted knew what a favor the persecutors are doing them, they would kiss the hem of their robes." He added: "Every child learns to control himself. To be a man, to govern his spirit to withstand trials. To restrain 'himself' during a quarrel, this is self-control and this is the key to success in Torah, in the mitzvot, and to distinguish himself in the affairs of this world.". Watch the video.