The heads of the haredi factions, Ministers Aryeh Deri, Yaakov Litzman, and MK Moshe Gafni, met today with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and his office Director Prof. Itamar Grotto's deputy.
In the days leading up to the Tisha B'Av fast, it was agreed with the heads of the haredi factions at their request that the number of worshipers in the synagogues increase. The Health Ministry will later publish the number of worshipers and procedures.
Shas Chairman Minister Aryeh Deri said at the end of the meeting, "The Torah community is going through a major crisis at the moment, and unfortunately, the dropout rate is great. We must all work to achieve order and especially towards the month of Elul, the days of mercy and forgiveness - the most important days for the Torah world. At my request, Maj. Gen. Roni Noma took upon himself to assist in the current project, to regulate and generalize the entire issue of opening studies with the yeshiva and kollel heads."
Construction and Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman added: "Along with the need for extreme caution to prevent coronavirus infection, everything must be done to continue the Torah world, yeshivot and kollels, expand the possibility of prayer in synagogues on a daily basis towards the 9th of Av. We have to adjust according to the size of the place. We held a special meeting with Health Minister Edelstein on the subject and we hope that the right way will be found for the required solution."
Degel HaTorah and Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni concluded, "We must continue to observe the Health Ministry directives. At the same time things that are possible to do within the framework of caution should be done, especially in the holy yeshivas and in the kollels that are our very life's breath and we have nothing besides the Torah. Therefore, I demanded that the number of students in the capsules be increased, since there's no doubt that the capsule project was more successful than expected, so that the Torah world can continue to flourish even more towards the time of the coming Elul."