After a month and a half in the capsule: The outline of the yeshiva students' return home

September 28, 2020   

On the eve of the holiday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a lengthy telephone consultation with Minister Yuli Edelstein and Maj. Gen. Roni Noma - the coronavirus supervisor in the Haredi sector - on the order of returning yeshiva students to their homes safely, at the end of the 'Elul period'. Roni Noma's representative stated: "In accordance with the agreement with the yeshiva students who operated according to the capsule outline with the Haredi desk, tests were performed and those who were found to be sick or required to isolate will not return to their homes after Yom Kippur, and will stay in yeshiva students who were defined as coronavirus hotels or 'continuation yeshiva students.'" The students who tested negative will be released to their homes on special transport. Noma added: "In yeshiva students operating outside the capsule outline, we intend to conduct tests during Tuesday and Wednesday - and until the results are received, the students should not be released to their homes." It should be noted that the Hebron Yeshiva, which managed to maintain zero infections among the yeshiva's 1,200 students for a month and a half, will become a coronavirus hotel on Motzai Kippur when hundreds of patients from several yeshivahs will be brought to the site - while students will be taken to their homes. This is a fenced-in compound that will allow control over entrances and exits, and will also allow students staying at the yeshiva a reasonable living space. However, it is already clear that the capsule layout in yeshivahs has collapsed and will not be able to be operated throughout the 'winter period', as most yeshivahs did not comply with it and the only yeshivahs that managed to pass the layout were Hebron and 'Yad Aharon', where they maintained zero infections, but the psychological toll on the students, as reported in Haredim 10, was severe.