At the annual gathering of the Teshuvos V’Hanhagos kollel network, Rav Moshe Sternbuch delivered a powerful address, including his first-ever public remarks on the growing threat from Iran.
The event brought together approximately 150 avreichim from the kollel’s four branches—Har Nof, Geula, Beit Shemesh, and Modiin Illit—for a day of inspiration and guidance from the venerated posek.
In an extended shmuess, Rav Sternbuch addressed the responsibilities of talmidei chachomim in these turbulent times. He spoke forcefully about the government’s actions aimed at undermining religious life, referring to them as mafriyei bris—those who violate the covenant—whose goal is to uproot Torah from the Jewish people.
Following a lengthy discussion on the critical obligation to devote every moment to limud haTorah with yiras Shamayim, Rav Sternbuch addressed the looming concern of a nuclear threat from Iran, which has recently returned to headlines.
“Many people are asking and wondering if we should be afraid of an atomic bomb from Iran,” he said. “And I will tell you what the Chazon Ish used to say: ‘I am not afraid of their bombs. I am afraid of chilul Shabbos.’”
He continued: “So too in our times, I am not afraid of a nuclear bomb from Iran. What I fear are the decrees against religion. The government wants to shut down the yeshivos, and the yeshivos are our very foundation.
“They want us to become a ‘free people in our land’—free from Hashem. That is what I fear. But Iran? We do not need to fear them. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to save us, we will be saved. What we need to fear are the efforts to uproot our emunah and tear us away from our religion.”

{Matzav.com}