Truly Free | Rabbi Yechiel Spero

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Many years ago in Russia, there was a melamed. He was a very holy man. His name was Rebbe Eliezer. Rebbe Eliezer was a devoted mechanech and he risked life and limb to be able to teach Torah to children. They loved him, but there was great risk involved. And one day, a terrible thing happened. The authorities came and they whisked him away. The trial was in a kangaroo court. The charges were given and the punishment was given immediately. 18 months solitary confinement. This punishment of 18 months in any prison is a terrible punishment. In a Siberian gulag, it's an unspeakable punishment. But in solitary confinement, that's the place where there's no return. And it was very, very tragic. But 18 months later, like a lion, he emerged. Rebbe Eliezer got his aliyah. He bench gamal and he continued to teach Torah. And they said, "How did you do it? How did you survive? How did you maintain

Jump to a moment

1. 0:07Many years ago in Russia, there was a melamed. He was a very holy man. His…
2. 0:39solitary confinement. This punishment of 18 months in any prison is a terrible punishment. In a…
3. 1:09your sanity in solitary confinement?" And this is what he said. "They gave me a tiny…
4. 1:41won't step on. This tile, I refuse to allow myself to go there because now I'm…
5. 2:13dictate what I should do and where I should move. And that's how I stayed sane…
6. 2:46determine where we look. We will determine what we see. Then and only then are we…

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