Major Shira Eting, a helicopter pilot in the reserves, will replace Rabbi Yuval Kahan as the head of the Bnei Tzion pre-military academy in Tel Aviv. Kahan stepped down after ten future students died in a flash flood earlier this year.
The hike, which was intended as a way for the incoming students to get to know each other before the beginning of the school year this fall, took place despite warnings by police that the stormy weather in southern Israel created an elevated flood risk in valleys around the Judean Desert.