Video Shows Rabbi Hirsch Advising Released Yeshiva Student to Continue Torah Study

A video published Saturday shows Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch advising newly married yeshiva student Yaari Liberman to continue Torah study rather than accept a military service track offered to him. Liberman visited the rabbi after his release from military detention. The report does not specify when their conversation took place. Liberman described a choice between entering a track intended to accommodate Haredi religious observance and continuing his studies in kollel while risking detention again. He told Hirsch that he would follow the rabbi's decision. According to the account accompanying the recording, his release required him to report again for military service. Hirsch advised against enlistment and explained his concerns about the assurances being offered, the effect that Liberman's decision could have on other yeshiva students, and his continued religious observance. Hirsch said, "It will lower the morale of many, many young men." He concluded the conversation by giving Liberman a blessing. The account says Liberman was detained during the week of celebrations following his wedding, after an earlier unsuccessful attempt to detain him. In the conversation, Liberman also described religious difficulties during detention, saying that a female soldier had interrupted him during the Amidah prayer. Those details were his account of his experience; the newly published recording centers on the religious guidance he sought after his release.