"Capsules" in a Zionist yeshiva
"Capsules" in a Zionist yeshivaYehonatan Gottlieb

The Association of Hesder Yeshivot has sent out a letter containing its guidelines for yeshiva heads across the country in advance of the opening of the resumption of Torah studies in the winter semester.

It is expected that the new semester will commence without undue delay, even though the government has yet to reach a final decision on the precise date when studies will resume.

“We are preparing for all possible scenarios,” explains Uri Pinski, head of the Association. “When we ended the previous semester, we had just 400 confirmed coronavirus carriers in the Zionist yeshivas, which is a very low figure compared with the general population. So we’re really hoping that the government will now permit us to reopen the yeshivas for the winter semester.”

Pinski added that preparations are already underway for resumption of studies: “We want things to be as close as possible to normal, while stepping up testing and using other technological means to protect the health of our students and enable them to learn with all their might. And we wish for a healthy, productive winter for all the Jewish People,” he added.

Yeshiva heads have ordered the partitions between capsules of students learning in yeshiva study halls to be made higher, up to 2.5 meters instead of the 2 meters they were until now. They have also ordered the capsules to be better ventilated, as they believe that a number of infections were caused by insufficient ventilation.