In the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, worshippers gather for prayer but maintain a required distance so as not to facilitate the spread of coronavirus. Image by Getty Images

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Senior rabbinic leaders of the haredi Orthodox community in Israel announced that schools and yeshivas will remain open, but they have limited class sizes to ten students to adhere to Ministry of Health directives.

The announcement was made in a letter published Monday morning that was signed by Rabbis Chaim Kanievsky and Gershon Edelstein, heads of the Ponovitz yeshiva in Bnei Brak, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The rabbis instructed any student who feels ill or who has an ill family member to stay home. They also cited a teaching from the Talmud that states that the world exists “for the sound of children studying Torah,” adding that Torah study “is the greatest protection so that the destroyer not come to Israel’s rooms.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

On Sunday, students at Ponovitz and other haredi yeshivas crowded into their main study halls, in contravention of Health Ministry directives, after Kanievsky last week ordered his followers to keep schools open. Several other prominent haredi rabbis also had ordered that schools and yeshivas remain open.

Religious Zionist yeshivas closed in compliance with official directives.

<

section class=”post-embed”>

The post Haredi Orthodox yeshivas remain open in Israel, gathering in classes of 10 students appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount