Rabbi Shapira
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Scene of terror attack at seminary
Photo: Avi Ohayon, GPO
Mercaz Harav rabbi: Torah is our roadmap
Head of yeshiva that lost eight students in Thursday's deadly terror attack says government should be replaced with one that 'expresses the true will of the people'
The head of the Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem, the site of Thursday's terror attack that left eight Israelis dead, told a press conference Sunday that the government should be replaced with one that "expresses the true will of the people."
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"During times like these we should glorify the Torah and put the nation's concealed powers into practice," Rabbi Yaakov Shapira said.
"If there is no Torah, there is no spiritual fortitude, and physical endurance lacks as well. We are constantly defending ourselves in the face of our enemies. The people expect a change in the way of thinking, and this is the time for it. The Torah is our roadmap."
Rabbi Yerachmiel Weiss, another one of the yeshiva's leaders, told his students "the loss of life is a terrible thing, and now we must make up for it in the Beit Midrash (religious study hall).
"The issue of life and death is beyond our comprehension; it is God's decree – and we cannot challenge it," he said. "This (terror attack) puts our lives in a different perspective; from now on we will be more sensitive and more understanding of other people's pain."
Earlier Sunday Education Minister Yuli Tamir was forced to leave the yeshiva after being verbally attacked by dozens of youths who were waiting for her outside the seminary.
Rabbi David Simchon, the yeshiva's director, told Ynet that Tamir was greeted "with respect" at the seminary and that the discussion with her was conducted in a positive atmosphere.
