Osher Ad and Chevron

The boys of Chevron Yeshiva made the news yesterday. And so did Osher Ad.

The yeshiva bochurim learning in Chevron Yeshiva have been locked up in yeshiva leaning in "capsules". After an initial period of time, all the boys took Corona tests - anyone positive was separated, and everyone else who tested negative were then allowed to mix and function as a regular yeshiva, with no capsules and no masks. Many yeshivas opened with this process in place, and so far it looks to be fairly successful in keeping the yeshivas open with little to no spread of the virus. Additionally, many of these young men likely already had CoronaVirus.

After being locked up and out of touch with the outside world for a few weeks, the yeshiva administration organized with Osher Ad a special time that Osher Ad would open up one of its branches in Jerusalem just for these young men to do some shopping and stock up on nosh - the other night at 12:30am, when it is normally closed and nobody else is there.

The yeshiva arranged for a bus to take them door to door - straight form the yeshiva to Osher Ad, and back after the allocated time. And the boys went crazy during their night out on the town in Osher Ad, restocking their yoghurts and potato chips and Coca Cola.

The news reported on this seemingly boring and mundane event, because the boys went from the yeshiva to Osher Ad with no masks. Gevalt!

Here is the news report.

הפרות בישיבות החרדיות | מאות בחורי ישיבה יצאו מהקבוצות בישיבה וערכו קניות בסופר - ללא מסכות@AkivaWeisz #חדשותהערב pic.twitter.com/KHQW3pepNI

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) November 10, 2020

Obviously this upset many - Haredim, yeshiva boys, touting the rules, ignoring the need for masking and distancing. Again. Very upsetting. There was a bit of an outcry and the expected anger.

What the report did not explain was that this was arranged for a time when nobody else was there, the trip was arranged to avoid any and all contact with other people, the boys have been together the entire time with negative Corona tests. 

Maybe it could have been done better. Maybe it should have been organized better in coordination with the Health Ministry. Maybe they should have worn masks out in public even though they were alone with just the same boys they've been with for the past month with no masks, even if just for appearances. I hope Osher Ad disinfected after the boys finished their adventure to make sure it would be safe for shoppers the next day (I didn't hear anything about this in the various reports I saw, but it was the first thing I thought of).

but it is not really worthy of getting angry about. This was done taking all necessary precautions to keep everyone safe.

The most disturbing part of the story is that the yeshiva wanted to give the boys a break and let them get out for a bit so they sent them to a supermarket. I think I would prefer going for a night out for pizza and a bowling alley, maybe hamburgers and the batting cages, go karts, a night hike on a trail, maybe a swimming pool and/or a night barbecue... the boys needed to get out so the yeshiva sent them to a supermarket. Kind of sad, if you ask me.

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