A solution was reached for the issue of yeshiva students, who, according to lockdown rules, would be required to remain in their yeshivas until the end of the closure after Sukkot as a condition for continuing their studies at the yeshiva during the Tishrei holidays.
Students at post high school yeshivas (yeshiva gevoha) and hesder students normally spend Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur (and the days between them) in yeshiva, returning home right after the fast for a break until shortly after the Sukkot holiday.
After the professional echelon in the Ministry of Health raised difficulties with the request of Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz to allow yeshiva students to remain in the yeshiva until the end of Yom Kippur, the issue was resolved.
Earlier, Rabbi Peretz had sent an angry letter to the prime minister and health minister, demanding that the government's proposal be implemented. After the letter was sent, talks were held by Minister Peretz with Health Minister Edelstein and Maj. Gen. Roni Numa, a member of the Magen Yisrael coronavirus staff.
Numa sought to know how the capsule model is maintained in the Zionist yeshivas, and Minister Peretz included representatives of the Zionist Yeshivot Association and the Hesder Yeshivot Association in the dialogue to explain how ministry procedures in the yeshivas are maintained.
Now that the outline has been approved at the professional level, students who came back to yeshiva from home this week will be able to stay in yeshiva until Yom Kippur ends and return home after the fast as they do every year, despite the lockdown.
Rabbi Peretz said, "I'm grateful for the efforts of Health Minister Edelstein and Roni Numa to resolve the crisis. In the month of Elul and the High Holidays, we had to make an effort to keep the Zionist Torah world open as long as the Ministry of Health's rules are followed."