A delegation of gedolei Yisroel descended on São Paulo for a single, intensive day of chizuk and fundraising on behalf of Keren Olam HaTorah, the unprecedented coalition supporting the yeshivos of Eretz Yisroel through the ongoing financial crisis precipitated by the Israeli Supreme Court's ruling against government funding for bnei yeshiva.

The mission, led by Harav Yaakov Hillel, Harav Malkiel Kotler, Harav Avraham Salim, Harav Shimon Galay, Harav Chaim Peretz Berman, and Harav Yosef Chevroni, visited numerous batei medrash, kollelim, chadarim, and private homes from morning until late into the night.

The day opened at the home of Mr. Jack Stern, where Rav Yaakov Hillel set the tone: "Eis tzarah hi l'Yaakov u'mimena yivasheia!" he declared. Hashem will surely save Klal Yisroel, he said, but the chiyuv of hishtadlus rests on us. Rav Salim followed, echoing Rav Hillel and touching on the yemei hasfira, acknowledging the difficulty of being koneh all 49 kinyonim of Torah during these yemei hasfirah, but reminding the assembled that "rabos banos asu chayil" — together, as a tzibbur, the kinyan haTorah becomes attainable.

A visibly emotional Rav Galay told the crowd that forces in Eretz Yisroel are attempting to be oker the Torah. "It's not me speaking," he said. "It's Hashem asking."

Rav Malkiel Kotler noted that Klal Yisroel became a nation through kabbolas haTorah and we need it again now. Every Shavuos is an opportunity to show Hashem that we want the Torah anew.

Rav Chaim Peretz Berman delivered a particularly powerful drasha drawn from the parsha of the Mishkan and the encounter between Yaakov and Eisav. Hashem commands us to build the Mishkan and chooses to be shochein between the keruvim, he said — Hashem gave us everything and wants only our hearts in return. Eisav sought to bring down Yaakov by any means available. He lost the battle over Torah itself, but he succeeded in wounding the leg, the tomchei d'Oraysa. Rav Shimon Shkop and Rav Elchonon Wasserman, he reminded the crowd, could not succeed in raising funds in America 150 years ago because lo hei'ir hashemesh, the era had not yet come. What Yaakov could not accomplish in tomchei d'Oraisa, he passed on to the nedivei ha'am. "We have to make it happen," he said.

Rav Chevroni told the gathering that every Yid can become a malach through their actions. "Barchu Hashem malachav... osei devaro." You make it happen, he stressed.

Rav Moshe Fried, a local rav, then offered a thought that drew nods from across the room. We may not have another Chofetz Chaim, he said, but we can still have generations of chessed like those who came before us. He gestured toward the host. "The proof is sitting right here — Mr. Jacky Stern."

Mr. Stern, in his own remarks, kept it short. "The only thing that has ever saved us, and the only thing that will save us, is Torah," he said. 

Mr. Ezra Erani then took the floor and, in a deeply emotional address, recounted how Keren Olam HaTorah came to be. When the Israeli Supreme Court moved to deny avreichim and bochurim their place in Eretz Yisroel, he called Jimmy Khezrie. The two reached out to Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsh, who asked them to wait three weeks. After those three weeks, Mr. Erani asked Rav Hirsh to come to America, and to bring Rav Dov Landau with him. Eventually, the figure who emerged as the lay leader of the campaign, was Mr. Reuven Wolf.

The historical parallel, he said, was given to them by Harav Shmuel Birnbaum zt”l. In pre-war Poland, government authorities sought to force secular studies into the yeshivos. The Chofetz Chaim, in fragile health, could not travel to Warsaw. Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l and Rav Shimon Shkop zt”l tried in his place, but could not succeed. When a letter eventually reached the Chofetz Chaim, his family attempted to hide it from him, but when he saw it, he rose immediately and traveled to Warsaw. This is more than pikuach nefesh, he said.

"To us," Mr. Erani told the room, "money is less than pikuach nefesh."

The achdus on display in São Paulo, he said, is itself a fruit of the cause — sefardim and ashkenazim, lomdei Torah and supporters, standing together. "The more you give, the more you make."

Mr. Reuven Wolf followed with the numbers: $250 million has been raised by Keren Olam HaTorah to date. The goal now, he said, is to double last year's commitment. "We're not talking about ma'aser. More than that."

The gedolim then moved on to Hamaor Talmud Torah, where Rav Kotler spoke to the talmidim directly, telling them they looked like bachurim from Bnei Brak or Lakewood. "Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives Torah in every generation," he told the boys. "It depends on your hachana. It depends on our ahavas haTorah." 

Rav Chevroni cited the Meshech Chochmah's question on the binyan Bais HaMikdash — why don't children participate in building it? Because, he answered, the children supply the koach for the building itself. "You are very, very important here," he told them.

Rav Berman noted how saturated our tefillos are with bakashos for Torah. V'haarev na, shetargileinu b'mitzvosecha, lishmor v'la'asos u'lekayem, the brachos of binah and hashiveinu l'Sorasecha. Chazal taught us what to ask for, he said, because we don’t know on our own. The only true areivim for Torah are our children. 

The delegation continued on to Kollel Halichot Sofia, the kollel founded by Koby Shalev Shasho, where Rav Kotler mentioned a yesod from the Kli Yakar: the Torah is never described in Chumash as being given on a specific “yom matan Toraseinu” because matan Torah is in the present tense — Torah is given anew every day. That is also why it was given in fire, he said, because fire renews. He cited the Gemara at the end of Niddah — "mashal l'melech she'asah seudah, l'ohavei hamelech nasan yoser" — Hashem gives more Torah to those who love it.

At Beit Yaakov, the kehilla of the Safra family, Rav Galay spoke of the shefa that flows into the world only through lomdei haTorah and gave significant kavod to Mr. Alberto Safra for his partnership with Keren Olam HaTorah. Rav Hillel followed, stressing that the Torah is both a yerushah and a chiyuv. Every neshama present at Har Sinai receives the Torah again every year, he said — "v'es asher einenu po imanu hayom." Each Yid carries a unique piece of Torah that only he can reveal.

"They ask us in Shamayim — kavata itim laTorah?" he said. "Did you make it your life? Learning Torah is not reading. Reading is nothing. We learn."

Rav David Weitman of Beit Yaakov then spoke, invoking the famous bakashah of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai: "Ten li Yavneh v'chachameha." Where the Torah lives, the nation lives. We need the yeshivos for our people.

Mr. Wolf addressed the kehilla again, this time with both gratitude and urgency. The Israeli Supreme Court, he reminded the crowd, cut off 40 percent of the funding for yeshiva rent and rabbeim's paychecks. Keren Olam HaTorah carried the yeshivos for two years. "Now we are beginning year three," he said. He invoked a mashal of a princess who fell into dirty water and was rescued through the efforts of many, but the one the king rewarded most was the one who pulled her out. "The bigger the achrayus you take on yourself, the more Hashem thanks you. Take the achrayus,” he said. 

The day culminated at the home of Mr. Alberto Safra, where Keren Olam Hatorah CEO Zvi Belsky opened the evening by noting how difficult it is for gedolei Yisroel to undertake travel of this magnitude, but that they come because the Torah needs it.

Mr. Safra then addressed the crowd, opening with a question: is the Torah a yerusha to all of Klal Yisroel, or a kinyan every individual must acquire for himself? Both, he answered — it is a yerusha for the whole, and a chiyuv for each.

Rav Hillel then rose to thank Mr. Safra, speaking at length on the inseparability of Yissachar and Zevulun. The Ahavat Shalom yeshiva alone, he disclosed, costs $5 million a month to operate — a number, he said, that cannot be reached through ordinary calculation but only through siyata diShmaya. The same, he said, is true of Keren Olam HaTorah as a whole.

Rav Kotler then delivered what may have been the night's most pointed remarks. "My grandfather had a very hard time with the budget in Lakewood," he said. "I get nothing from Keren Olam HaTorah." But "ki miTzion teitzei Torah" does not exclude Lakewood, he said. The din is four amos shel halacha - anywhere it is found, whether in American or Eretz Yisroel.

He then raised a question from the Brisker Rov: at the end of times, the umos ha'olam will claim that everything they built was for the Torah, and Hashem will respond that they built only for themselves. Why doesn't Hashem simply tell them they did it for themselves and not for Torah? Because, the Brisker Rov answered, the truth is that everything in the world really was built for Torah — the very turnpike between New York and Lakewood was built so that bochurim could learn. If you did not learn Torah, there is no need for Hashem to argue with you about your motives. You exempted yourself.

He closed with a mesorah from his father and grandfather. "We don't ask money for BMG. We ask money for Torah. And we don't only ask money for Torah — we ask for connection to Torah."

Mr. Wolf closed the evening invoking Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch's call of "mi laHashem eilai" — ten men stood with him, and the result was a kiddush Hashem that reshaped a generation. He recounted what his own rebbi, Harav Yaakov Hillel, had told him when he first made significant money and asked how to spend it: a rich man should have a VIP life, not exorbitant, and give the rest to Torah.

"The Baron Rothschilds of our generation," he told the room, "are our gedolim."