""We were shocked": What caused Hebron to quickly evacuate coronavirus patients to a hotel?

January 1, 2021   

You won't believe what really happened in the last 24 hours at the Hebron-Giv'at Mordechai Yeshiva. What happened was, and this is how it was: On Wednesday night, I contacted a senior official in the Yeshiva Student Administration, who is in charge of the fight against the coronavirus in the yeshiva world, and asked for his response to what was happening at the yeshiva. “It feels like being in the ghetto”: The sick boys in Hebron open their mouths He referred me to the retired general who was brought in by Roni Noma to manage the model. On Thursday morning, I approached him with a detailed question. I described what was happening in the Hebron yeshiva, explained that the guys who had contracted the coronavirus were promised evacuation to the Hyatt Hotel, but then the transfer was canceled and they were told: You are staying here, on a floor in the yeshiva that will become a 'corona hotel.' All the guys' pleas to change the evil decree were of no use, that's how they saw it anyway. He chose not to respond. At the same time, I contacted the IDF spokesman for the Haredi media. I spoke with him at length, he explained that the operation of the yeshiva is not the responsibility of the Home Front Command, since it is not possible to send a company of soldiers into a yeshiva. The Home Front Command provides the direction and instructions, but the yeshiva committee, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defense, are responsible. I contacted the Ministry of Defense, I recounted the entire story of the incident. They chose not to respond. The same goes for the yeshiva committee. At the same time, I also contacted a source in the management of the 'Hebron' yeshiva. I recounted to him the array of claims I had heard from the young men, including the unproven suspicion that the yeshiva had made financial considerations at their expense. He also chose not to respond. However, a conversation with some of the young men reveals that after my inquiries, these sources contacted the yeshiva management, who realized that they were not coming off well in the story - and this is what suddenly happened: a quick evacuation to the Corona Hotel. "After they insisted that 'there is no evacuation To the 'Hyatt', you stay on the 'ghetto' floor, that's what we call this floor. Suddenly, one of the yeshiva directors came with a computer, opened it, sat down on a chair, and said: We decided that we are directing you to the 'Hyatt', anyone who wants is welcome to come here and register. We were shocked. What happened all of a sudden? Then, some guys whispered in our ears that 'Haredim 10' was digging into the story, and that had an impact." Another guy says: "Just so you know, my investigation revealed that each guy receives 400 shekels from the yeshiva for each day that he stays inside the yeshiva in the compound that has become a 'Corona Hotel.' If we are talking about more than a hundred guys, then we are talking about more than 40,000 shekels per day, which is a lot of money! In an era when it is difficult to obtain donations from generous people, it is possible that this was the yeshiva's consideration. "But when they realized that there were complaints, and that publishing them would cause more damage, since generous people usually see articles on Google, they decided to come to their senses, and we are happy about that and congratulate the site for bringing the issue to the agenda." Is there indeed a connection between the things? Only God knows. Probably, so are the yeshiva administrators.