by Hillel Fendel
Corona has brought together yeshiva students of different Torah outlooks for a positive experience.
Some of the unpleasant scenes in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak this week may have caused us to forget what happened in similar circles the week before, and so a small reminder is in order.
Yeshiva student Corona carriers were given a choice: "Either put yourselves in home quarantine, or check into a 'Corona hotel' with other students of similar status, where you can set up a makeshift yeshiva and continue to study Torah."
(A third alternative was also provided: a Corona hotel for the public at large. A small number of yeshiva students chose that route and told afterwards of amazing encounters with Jews of all stripes and types, almost all of them searching for some kind of connection with their Judaism.)
Hundreds of Yeshiva students chose the Corona Yeshiva, even though it meant not being allowed to leave for weeks at a time for fear of infecting others.
What was fascinating here was that the temporary hotel yeshiva they established in the Dan Panorama in Jerusalem contained boys of all different outlooks and streams. Not only did they learn and dance together with tremendous diligence and great joy, but they also broadened their horizons by learning about each other's outlooks and beliefs.
Unfortunately, some in the hareidi world did not see this as a positive development. One of the official hareidi mouthpieces, Yated Ne'eman, publicized the following letter in the name of unnamed "leading rabbis:"
"Regarding the hotels set up for students diagnosed with Corona, we have learned that there are many hindrances there, even in the hotels intended exclusively for yeshiva students. The atmosphere there is not suitable for Torah students who aspire to grow in Torah and fear of Heaven, in addition to the spiritual hazards that are liable to be found there… and especially for yeshiva k'tanah [high school age] students, these hotels are a genuine spiritual danger.
"… The yeshiva hotel has become a place for Torah outlook distortion and the loss of spiritual acquisitions. Many spiritual dangers have been formed as a result of the students' stay in these hotels, to where students from other circles have also been relocated.
"As a result of these encounters, discussions have been held on the hareidi Jewish outlook and the Torah stance... in a manner that 'Torah scholars are not pleased with' [a Talmudic idiom - ed.]. Many of these encounters… are not appropriate for young Yeshiva students and their holy ways, and have opened the [hotel] to a 'street atmosphere' that has long been seeking to penetrate our holy places."
To what kind of encounters does this letter refer? Veteran religious-affairs correspondent Menachem Rahat publicized a different letter posted by one hareidi student about the new understanding he has reached regarding the religious-Zionist yeshiva students:
"To my brothers, compatriots, and all those who believe in the Jewish faith wherever they may be in the Land of Israel, may it be rebuilt,
"I am ashamed and mortified. Yeshiva boys, some of them from very well-regarded [hareidi] yeshivot, are here in the hotel and hold prayer services at late hours of the morning, barely come to the Torah study sessions and to the makeshift Beit Medrash [study hall] that has been erected here, and in general behave like kids running away from school… While on the other hand, the 'Mizruchnikim' [a semi-derogatory term for religious-Zionists – ed.] have been occupied with Torah study from morning until midnight, with depth and profundity.
"I have met here boys from religious-Zionist yeshivot, and I've seen how these 'Mizruchnikim' – as we've been taught to mockingly call them – are the first ones to come to the Beit Medrash. They study and argue [in learning] about Reb Shimon [Shkop] and Reb Chaim [of Brisk], they learn K'tzos and Nesivos, build and take apart complex Talmudic interpretations and calculations, just like us! We had great learning together!
"… We found brothers we didn't know existed, good and precious brothers who care only about Torah and magnifying G-d's Name. And the wonder is that they don't have the clothing that we have, and they don't have the 'holy outlook' that we have – and then afterwards they even go to the army for several months, and then return to the Yeshiva and learn in a Kollel.
"All this has left me confused and sad. Is this the terrible sh'mad [spiritual destruction] that we were always taught about? Guys sitting and learning from morning until night, stringent in all the commandments in almost every way - these are the boys our rabbis are afraid of? How can it be that we grew up with one single mold of a 'Torah man,' and suddenly we discover that there are other types of 'Torah men,' not at all of lesser quality than us, of a different but similar model?
'How did they hide all this from us? We were told that the 'Mizruchnikim,' those with the knitted yarmulkes and funny sandals, don't know how to learn. We were told that theirs is not a way in which to grow in Torah, and that they care only about the Land of Israel, and that we're the only ones who care about the Torah in its entirety. We were lied to. That is not the reality.
"I found new brothers, who, it's true, have a slightly different Torah outlook - but all of us are acting for the 'sake of Heaven,' and that's what's important."
The letter is signed, "A.H., one of the yeshiva students temporarily housed in the Corona Hotel here in the Holy City of Jerusalem, may it soon be rebuilt."
An uplifting video of the various Yeshiva students dancing together in the Corona Yeshiva hotel can be seen here: https://www.inn.co.il/news/465104