The Association of Higher Yeshivot rejected the data on morbidity in yeshivas published Thursday and said that the religious Zionist yeshivas have a unique and strict model based on strong discipline, community and Torah and Halakhik values.
"The strict demands from the rabbis, staff and students have proven themselves and the numbers of patients are much lower than those published," the Zionist yeshivot said. "We have created a unique system for cutting off chains of infection, thanks to which we have less than 400 patients, about 4.3% of all ten thousand students in the entire world of religious Zionist Torah."
"The situation in the yeshivot is optimistic-cautious," said Moshe Gutman, director general of the Higher Yeshivot Association. "In national terms, the population in the yeshivas is the same size as a medium-small regional council, which, according to the Health Ministry, is considered green if it has less than 15 patients."
''We've had less than 400 patients total since the beginning of Elul - forty days. If you slice it, it's about ten patients a day, it's deep green. Many authorities in the country would be very happy to be in our situation," Gutman claimed.
Earlier today , the head of the haredi desk at the Health Ministry, Maj. Gen. Roni Noma, claimed that the morbidity at religious Zionist yeshivas was similar to the morbidity at haredi yeshivas.
According to him, 18 religious-Zionist yeshivas out of 100 were forced to close due to coronavirus outbreaks. "The disease is there too, there are mistakes there too, we are all human beings, so there are phenomena that happen everywhere."