The walls of the Old City in Jerusalem
The walls of the Old City in JerusalemFlash 90

Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, the dean of the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, has instructed his students not to visit the Old City of Jerusalem or other locations where there has been tension and there is a chance of danger.

"'It is a time of trouble for Jacob,'" he wrote in an announcement seen in the yeshiva, quoting Jeremiah 30:7. "When outside there are swords, you should not walk outside or in the streets of the village unnecessarily."

"In addition, during these days no one should go to the Old City and its environs, or to all the places where there is a concern of danger."

He emphasized that he had asked advice from Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leader of the Lithuanian-haredi community, and added that the safest place is in the study hall.

"We have no safer place than the study hall, because the Torah protects and saves, and we have no shelter or protection, other than this Torah," he concluded.