Following a divergence of opinion between the two leading rabbis of the ultra-Orthodox world, the summer semester for yeshivas and schools in the sector has begun from home and not from the educational institutions themselves.
Last week it was revealed that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky had sent a letter to the Yated Neeman daily ultra-Orthodox newspaper with instructions to open schools and yeshivas despite the coronavirus epidemic – and despite the fact that the government has yet to permit the resumption of schools.
The paper’s senior management turned however to Rabbi Gershon Edelstein regarding Kanievsky’s letter and he told them not to publish it.
On Sunday, a letter written by Edelstein and signed by Kanievsky stated that the semester should now begin with pupils remaining at home, conducting study partnerships and listening to lessons via the telephone.
The rabbis in their letter also requested that the teachers, educators and rabbis of the various schools and yeshivas should speak with their pupils at least once a week to ensure that they have a study partner and are able to study.
They also appealed to mothers and called on them to dedicate a room at home so that their sons could study appropriately.
In Kanievsky’s ultimately unpublished letter, he wrote that, “if God forbid Torah institutions do not open [for the new semester] the danger and damage this would cause is impossible to describe or estimate,” adding “there is a holy duty to open all the Torah institutions immediately.”
Kanievsky also refused to countenance closing schools and yeshivas before the end of the winter semester just before Passover, despite government orders to shut down the education system, which was never enforced in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
Edelstein did however close down before Passover the Ponevezh Yeshiva which he heads, and reportedly several other institutions, and has been more strident in his insistence that the ultra-Orthodox community adhere to social-distancing orders in order to stop the epidemic.
The seeming split between Kanievsky and Edelstein is thought to be due to advisers and politicos around Kanievsky who have resisted the social-distancing orders.
Kanievsky himself said he was unaware of the global pandemic as late as March 19.
On Sunday night, Edelstein made a live-streamed address to yeshiva students and the broader ultra-Orthodox public, saying that, “Torah without yeshiva increases life, Torah with yeshiva increases wisdom.”
Continued the rabbi: “But through merits, such as prayer and studying [Torah] over the telephone as far as possible, we can merit that there will be yeshiva.”