(VIDEO AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
After years of arguing, an agreement has been finalized ordering all stores in the Yerushalayim neighborhoods of Beis Yisroel, Meah Shearim and Shmuel HaNavi to close by 11 PM each night.
The neighborhood is home to many yeshivas, including Yeshivas Mir, leaving hundreds if not thousands of bochurim who are finishing Night Seder at around that time with no options to get something to eat.
Signs hanging around the neighborhood indicate the agreement was signed on by the Badatz Yerushalayim, Mir Roshei Yeshiva, area Rabbonim and other Gedolei Yisroel.
Enforcement of the new policy began on Sunday night, 6 Teves, with Police officers called to area stores to disperse shoppers after the curfew. In the attached video, police are heard threatening dozens of bochurim who had gathered at Nechama Bakery with fines for disturbing the peace.
By Monday night the situation seemed to have calmed, (starting at 1:20 of the attached video) with Nechama employees seen preparing the store for closing shortly after 11 PM. Nechama was a popular option for late night shoppers as they were open 24/6, often with fresh baked goods throughout the night.
Perhaps helping the situation was an announcement from Yeshivas Mir that they would be serving baked goods and petel in the Yeshiva dining room between 11 and 11:30 PM.
Photo Credit: Dovid Cohen/Raphael Moller
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
If the students are living in apartments, they can make themselves a snack when they get home. If they are living in the dorms, than the Mir’s late night snacks in the dorm dining room make sense. The late closing may be in response to the noise and disruption that results from these restaurants staying open in residential neighborhoods.
Why????????
i really dont understand the issue….I learned in Luzerne and in Satmar sands street when i was a bucher.
11 pm was bedtime and we had to get up 5:30 to be at 6:am zman.
why are boys in jerusalem up so late? and they need to eat so late?
i dont know but i was born in 1960 and times changed?
You can always go to ‘Dashen’ on Meah Shearim after hours through the back door for some Parve cholent and other delacacies…
What about Motzei Shanbbos? Bein haZemanim? Days right before Purim & Pesach? Motzeit Tzom?
To Trombone:
Any ben torah who willingly consumes chulent (parve or fleishig) around midnight must assume he will be engaged in a protracted period of bitul torah the following day….what ever happened to milk and cookies??
why do the Zionist police have nothing better to do.?
nowecant-
Yes, the police do have much better things to do. However, they were asked to come so they did.
If you’d bothered to actually read the article you would have seen this sentence- “Signs hanging around the neighborhood indicate the agreement was signed on by the Badatz Yerushalayim, Mir Roshei Yeshiva, area Rabbonim and other Gedolei Yisroel.” Closing the stores is not some evil zionist conspiracy as the tone of your post suggests. It was agreed upon by the leading Rabbonim and the police are there to make sure what the rabbis said is enforced.
I don’t see why bochurim have to eat so late at night. Other yeshivos in different parts of the world aren’t necessarily near eateries that are open so late and no one complains. It’s just another sign of the Gashmiusdike Velt we live in today. These boys are well fed by the Yeshiva and if they must eat late at night, they could keep spare food in their diras. They are all spoiled Americans.
For the yeshivas, it’s not about food. They are concerned that bochurim will socialize with young women at any moment they are not engaged in learning. Previously, the religious authorities threatened to revoke the hashgacha of any such eatery that catered to bochurim by staying open very late during the week. The 11pm closing is a compromise that allows the stores to stay open reasonably late while not providing a much-later temptation for the bochurim.
They are all spoiled Americans.???? sorry they are spoiled Fressers
Not sure what the big deal is. The rabbonimm didnt say that food mustn’t be consumed passed 11PM, but rather that the stores should be closed at that time. Just buy what you want during supper and keep it in your room/dira. I’m not understanding the issue. As usual, the Mir is always there to help its bochrim/yungeleit this on-premises snack will allow guys to go back upstairs and learn further… not to mention it will save the bochrim some money for not having to buy a snack.
there is not a problem i learnd the mir if the stores will not be open in beth israel evryone will go to yaffo st.
you are all so negative the yeshiva is doing it because out of 7000 bochurim there are going to be 100 that are hungry so the yeshiva has to do something about it
@Robert- I don’t know what your level of familiarity is with the Bais Yisroel neighborhood, but in none of the establishments around the Mir will you find any females.
I don’t understand. Aren’t these boys training to be Talmidei Chachomim? Don’t Chazal say, “Who is a Chacham, who sees what’s coming”? If they are going to be up late and know that they’ll need a snack to give them strength or quell their stomach pangs, they should either eat a heartier supper, or purchase a snack before Night Seder.
Well done Mirrer Yeshiva!! In my time there were not so many eating places near by the yeshiva. Mir yeshiva gives plenty food and no one has to eat after night seder if they were in yeshiva for supper time.