She doesn't have WhatsApp, she wasn't even exposed to what "they wrote about sitting in groups." But good tongues made sure to inform her, and since then she's been walking around feeling very bad.
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This evening I spoke with Tamar Stashevsky, a resident of Petah Tikva, the mother of Daniel Zvi, a third-grade student at the Nachalat Leviim yeshiva in Haifa, and I couldn't help but feel her sorrow and understand why she felt frustrated.
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Evil tongues knew how to say that the yeshiva administration forbade sick young men from saying that they were positive for the coronavirus, and that for long hours the phones in the yeshiva were disconnected, in order to prevent the young men from calling home and telling the truth.
Tamar says that last Chanukah, they sent their son, a student at the Slobodka Yeshiva until then, to the "red" city, and she congratulates herself on this blessed step.
He didn't have long to study there. Because soon the coronavirus hit them, as it did the rest of the world. The boys dispersed to their homes just before Passover, waiting to hear when the closures and closures would end.
""I'm really, really pleased with the way the yeshiva is doing, even in the context of the coronavirus," she says. "I heard the rumors about the yeshiva, and I was just shocked. It's a yeshiva that the guys really like, they have a vibe, they're very happy with the yeshiva, and socially they're also very close-knit - I just don't understand who slandered it.".
It's important to her to clear the yeshiva's name. "They were in the capsules. My son was in one of the apartments, outside the yeshiva. They returned to study at the yeshiva on the eve of Shavuot, and were immediately placed in the capsules. Not all the boys returned right away at first, but according to the order of the capsules, more and more boys came every few weeks - and they behaved with the utmost caution.".
Then it turned out that one of the Ramim was sick with the coronavirus. "He had no symptoms, so he didn't know he was sick and continued to come to the yeshiva. But from the moment it was discovered, he disappeared and never returned to the yeshiva. All the boys who were near him, third-grade students, were immediately sent to isolation on a separate floor! And they are still there, because the period of isolation hasn't ended.".
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""They tried to make a story that the yeshiva deliberately crashed the phone system. This is a false story!", she exclaims. She herself is in constant contact with her son. "The boys are not allowed to have personal phones, and this is enforced unequivocally. My son, 20, does not have a cell phone. So all the boys, in such a difficult time, are on the same phone system. It is natural that it crashes from time to time.
""My son told me: 'The system is collapsing, even without regard to Corona.' So think about what happens in the era of Corona, when parents are stressed and want to stay updated more than usual. There was no tendency to hide information, I didn't even know that the system had collapsed, my son didn't even tell me that he tried to get it and couldn't, in the end he always got hold of me and sometimes even 3 times a day. Because they were in contact with Dr. Meshulam Hart the whole time, and more than once he raised a question - and immediately told me: 'We'll get an answer soon, the team has already asked the doctor.'".
In no way, in no way, was there any instruction not to involve the parents, she clarifies. "On the contrary. My son shared with us the entire way, every detail.".
""When more than three boys from class A were infected, all the boys in the class were ordered to return home. Throughout the entire recent period, there were families who came to take their children home. The yeshiva kept saying: Whoever is unable or who is having a hard time emotionally, should return home. This is a message that was repeated all the time. Only those who are able should stay. But the vast majority of the boys chose the difficult path and stayed to study. They knew that if they returned home, they would not be able to return to the yeshiva, and they did not want to lose their studies. The vast majority of the boys chose the difficult path and stayed for the sake of studying Torah.".
Daniel Zvi returned to the yeshiva on the eve of Shavuot, and he hasn't been home since. "My son is used to coming home once every two weeks. He's a homebody. And despite the longing, he's stayed in the yeshiva for almost two months. Why? Because as far as he's concerned, he and his friends are serving in a selected unit, a defensive unit against the virus that's raging in the world, that's what they explained to them in the yeshiva, they're instilled with it. There's no room for indulgences, so we don't indulge, n-k-o-d-h. That's what he's transmitting to us. As parents, we've already prepared ourselves for the fact that the child won't come home until after the holidays.".
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This is dedication not only from the young man, but also from the parents, I think to myself, and I share it. "Yes, it's not easy for me. Not easy at all. But I'm proud of my son's Torah study.".
The yeshiva, for its part, planned to organize a 'kind of camp' for the boys in between, so that they wouldn't have to return home, "because then they wouldn't be able to return to the yeshiva for the High Holidays." And despite all the difficulty, "my son planned to do it. The yeshiva created an atmosphere that they were an elite unit, that they were fighting fiercely for the sake of Torah study.".
Last Sunday, the yeshiva managed to bring coronavirus tests to its compound for all the boys. "It wasn't easy to get." Everything was done exactly according to the instructions they received from the doctor who was supervising them.
""Those who are found sick have been transferred to isolation apartments, and the parents are making sure to send food behind the door. They stay together with several sick people, because it is important for them to continue studying their Talmud.".
She is simply shocked by the attempt to discredit the yeshiva's name, and calls on people: "Wake up. We are the Rabbi Av, and this is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen ourselves with free love. Such a scapegoat is the complete opposite of all of this. The coronavirus is here to teach us something, I believe in it with all my heart...""
