A letter written by a yeshiva boy imprisoned in Japan for apparently-unwitting drug-trafficking contains pages of spiritual encouragement. The youth has been imprisoned in Japan since April of this year, together with two friends. The three are yeshiva students from Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, and were arrested after Japanese authorities said they found "an unprecedented amount" of narcotics concealed in artifacts inside their suitcase. An attorney for one of the detainees, Mordechai Tzibin, said they had fallen victim to a hareidi-looking trickster who paid them to take "ancient holy Jewish books" to Japan. Trial to Begin in a Month The trial of the 20-year-old youths is set to begin within a month. They are charged with drug trafficking - the Japanese authorities do not believe their claim that they did not know what was hidden inside the books - and face a possible sentence of several years in prison." While the youths await trial, their jail conditions are described as merely "difficult," especially in terms of being able to fulfill the religious obligations of avoiding non-kosher food and wearing tefillin. If they are ultimately convicted, however, the conditions are expected to worsen significantly. Japanese prison conditions are known to be cruel, including hard labor, beatings, solitary confinement, long periods in which the prisoners are barely permitted to move or are restrained with handcuffs, and the like. A glimmer of hope is that one or two of the youths were under age 20 when arrested, and were therefore still considered minors according to Japanese law. Israeli authorities hope that they will be able to reach an agreement with Japan, as has been done in the past, that in the event of conviction, the sentences will be served in Israeli jail. Arrangements for such can only begin, however, once a conviction is handed down - and then are expected to take a few months. The 8-Page Letter The eight-page letter written by Yaakov Yosef, and published first on the Hebrew-language religious news website Ladaat.net, avoids mention of the physical and spiritual hardships he and his friends are undergoing, "in order to avoid hurting you." The writer notes that he chose not to write a long letter to his friends and family, but rather to 'my brothers, the House of Israel' in general. He quotes extensively from an ethical work named Shomer Emunim [Remaining Faithful, or Guardian of the Faith]. The work was written by Rabbi Aharon Roth, known as Reb Areleh, who headed the Toldos Aharon Hassidic sect in the Meah She'arim section of Jerusalem. The letter includes a short introduction that the author wrote afterwards, in which he explains: "This letter is written by one of the 'eunuchs of the King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He' ... I barely wrote anything from my own head, but only sayings of our Sages and that which is quoted in the name of the Baal Shem Tov and his holy students in the work Shomer Emunim. I wanted to write more of that type, but at the time of writing I did not remember [everything], so I realized that it was not the will of the Creator, blessed be He and His Name... for it is not the time now. "And I also did not want to write about my own matters, both spiritually and physically, because this is not the time, and especially since I didn't want to break you too much, for there are things that above nature, and this happens every single day, without exaggeration. "And because this is the first letter that the Holy One Blessed be He is meriting me to write, it will be very general and not to my family or to my friends, and the reason is because we, too, have received letters from people we don't know, for all Israel is responsible one for another; 'Who is like Your nation Israel'... and just as you [plural] wish to know about our reception of your letters, so too and even more I want to know how you [will accept] this letter, to which I have dedicated more than a week... and also, I saw your letter only a month after you sent it, and who knows how long it will be before you receive this. I will end here, with G-d's help... saying, 'Even if I walk in the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your staff and rod will comfort me.' "Your son, grandson, friend, acquaintance, etc., Yaakov Yosef Greenwald." The letter itself contains references to Talmudic passages referring to trust in G-d, prayer for oneself and for others, love of fellow Jews, and the like. The families of the three have asked that prayers be recited for them. Their names are Yaakov Yosef ben [son of] Raizel, Yoel Zev ben Mirel Risa Chava, and Yosef ben Ita Rivka.
