Rabbi Yagel passed away on Saturday night at the age of 91. He was well-loved by his students, hundreds of whom attended the funeral. Among those who studied at the Medrashiah were Raanana's Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Peretz, MK Rabbi Benny Elon, Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, and former Finance Minister Yaakov Ne'eman. Former students Rabbis Amatzia Levy, Eliyahu Ben-Shlomo, Shimon Shreiber and others eulogized him at the funeral.
Rabbi Yagel excelled in bridging the gaps between the hareidi and religious-Zionist worlds. He studied with Torah luminaries such as Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and the Chazon Ish. He agreed to found and head the Midrashiyah in 1945 only after the Chazon Ish gave his blessing. The sage recommended that the new institution be called a Medrashiyah, from the word "study," and not a Yeshiva, to make clear the difference between institutions in which Torah is combined with secular learning and those that teach only Torah.
The deceased's son Rabbi Mordechai Yagel said that even when his father was on his sickbed, "he would talk in his sleep about Talmudic passages; he never gave up on his daily Torah study regimen." Some of his Talmudic lectures and studies are collected in his two-volume work entitled Netivot Yehoshua. Students related the special love and care he showed for all who studied under him.
Rabbi Yagel wrote that he once asked the Chazon Ish whether it was permitted to expel a problematic pupil [based on a translation by Meshullam Klarberg]:
"I put the question to the Chazon Ish as follows. There were a number of problem pupils who were likely to become worse if I were to expel them, but if I allowed their continued study in the Yeshiva they were likely to have a negative influence on others. The Chazon Ish's answer was that it was a difficult problem of 'dinei nefashot' (life and death).
"In the course of the discussion, he asked me: 'How have you dealt with this to date?' I answered that there were very few I had expelled, but experience has shown when a group of difficult pupils left of their own accord, the rest of the class graduated successfully from every point of view. The Chazon Ish interrupted me and said firmly: 'Experience does not overrule the Shulchan Arukh [Code of Jewish Law]. You don't have to pursue [a problematic student] to ensure that he remains; but if he clings to the place, you are not entitled to expel him. You have to devote all your energy to educate him and supervise his behavior.'"
Rabbi Yagel then concluded that his operative understanding was as follows: "It is a moral imperative to expel [only] a 'pupil who is not worthy,' who does not want to improve, and is not prepared to accept guidance which will bring him to proper behavior. However, such a pupil does not exist. The only criterion is whether the pupil is willing to improve, and also whether the educator is prepared to undertake the heavy burden of this important goal."
Rabbi Yagel excelled in bridging the gaps between the hareidi and religious-Zionist worlds. He studied with Torah luminaries such as Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and the Chazon Ish. He agreed to found and head the Midrashiyah in 1945 only after the Chazon Ish gave his blessing. The sage recommended that the new institution be called a Medrashiyah, from the word "study," and not a Yeshiva, to make clear the difference between institutions in which Torah is combined with secular learning and those that teach only Torah.
The deceased's son Rabbi Mordechai Yagel said that even when his father was on his sickbed, "he would talk in his sleep about Talmudic passages; he never gave up on his daily Torah study regimen." Some of his Talmudic lectures and studies are collected in his two-volume work entitled Netivot Yehoshua. Students related the special love and care he showed for all who studied under him.
Rabbi Yagel wrote that he once asked the Chazon Ish whether it was permitted to expel a problematic pupil [based on a translation by Meshullam Klarberg]:
"I put the question to the Chazon Ish as follows. There were a number of problem pupils who were likely to become worse if I were to expel them, but if I allowed their continued study in the Yeshiva they were likely to have a negative influence on others. The Chazon Ish's answer was that it was a difficult problem of 'dinei nefashot' (life and death).
"In the course of the discussion, he asked me: 'How have you dealt with this to date?' I answered that there were very few I had expelled, but experience has shown when a group of difficult pupils left of their own accord, the rest of the class graduated successfully from every point of view. The Chazon Ish interrupted me and said firmly: 'Experience does not overrule the Shulchan Arukh [Code of Jewish Law]. You don't have to pursue [a problematic student] to ensure that he remains; but if he clings to the place, you are not entitled to expel him. You have to devote all your energy to educate him and supervise his behavior.'"
Rabbi Yagel then concluded that his operative understanding was as follows: "It is a moral imperative to expel [only] a 'pupil who is not worthy,' who does not want to improve, and is not prepared to accept guidance which will bring him to proper behavior. However, such a pupil does not exist. The only criterion is whether the pupil is willing to improve, and also whether the educator is prepared to undertake the heavy burden of this important goal."