“Our gedolim came to teach us what the Ahavah rabbah of the avreichim in Eretz Yisrael is all about”

Photos: KOH

The historic mission of six gedolim to England on behalf of Eretz Yisrael’s yeshivos smashed fundraising expectations in a demonstration of Kavod HaTorah that won’t be forgotten

The word “unprecedented” is often overused. But the visit of six gedolim to the UK last week to raise funds for Eretz Yisrael’s beleaguered yeshivos qualified for that description. Rav Dov Landau, Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rav Don Segal, Rav Yaakov Hillel, the Rachmastrivke Rebbe, and Rav Dovid Cohen, made the once-in-a-generation trip. Continuing the pattern established weeks before in America  — where communities responded with overwhelming enthusiasm to the gedolim’s call to action and raised undreamed of sums —results in England, as well, broke all expectations. With total takings expected to be in the region of 11 to 12 million pounds, the results broke literally every forecast. The historic mission itself culminated in an event in London of a magnitude the chareidi community in the UK has not seen in living memory.