Dozens of American students - achabad-Lubavitch yeshiva students and seminary girls - arrived Sunday in the United States after about a week-long journey through Jordan, following the closure of Israel’s airspace with the outbreak of the Iran war.
The students, who study at Tzfat's "Tze'irei Hashluchim - Metivta" yeshiva and Beit Rivka Seminary, had planned before the war to leave on for a trip to Georgia after participating in an intensive study program.
However, when the war broke out on Saturday and the airport was closed, they were forced to change their plans.
According to a report on the COLlive website, about thirty students contacted an American rescue group that organized their passage to Jordan and from there flights to Europe and eventually to the United States. On Purim, the yeshiva students left for Jordan and stayed at a local hotel, where they were not allowed to leave due to security reasons.
On Wednesday, a group of about 35 seminary students joined them. They had also planned to travel to the US for Passover vacation but were stranded due to the war. The students had meanwhile been staying with a local family in Safed.
The two groups reunited in Jordan while waiting for a flight to Athens, but unexpected complications caused delays. Among other things, Jordan’s airspace was closed due to missile fire and the security situation. The flight also did not depart on Thursday, forcing the group to return to their hotel.
Another challenge was obtaining kosher food. Their food supply was limited, and they tried to manage with small amounts of food along with fruits and vegetables. Rabbi Shalom Duchman of the Colel Chabad organization attempted to arrange food for Shabbat, but Jordanian border authorities confiscated the food and threw it away. In the end, the students prepared Shabbat meals themselves from basic ingredients they were able to obtain locally.
During Shabbat, the group held prayers and meals while maintaining observance of Jewish law despite the situation. According to the report, senior US officials also became involved in the matter, including Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, a close associate of US President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Their involvement and the pressure applied helped facilitate the group’s departure.
On Saturday night, the group boarded a Royal Jordanian flight. On Sunday morning they landed at Washington airport, and from there continued by bus to the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.