A tragedy occurred on Sunday night in the Torah B’Tifarta yeshivah in the city of Elad when a yeshiva bochur, Yehoshua Baum, z’l, a 19-year-old American-Israeli resident of the Sanhedria Murchevet neighborhood of Yerushalayim suddenly collapsed in the middle of supper and passed away shortly later, Kikar H’Shabbat reported.

The bochurim called Hatzalah and when the paramedics arrived, they spent about 50 minutes trying to resuscitate the bochur and then evacuated him in critical condition to Beilinson Hospital, where his death was pronounced.

The bochur was apparently feeling unwell for a few days and was taking over the counter medication to lower his fever. Following his death, it was revealed that he had a long-standing heart condition after a conflict ensued with the police when investigators insisted on performing an autopsy to determine the cause of the death of a seemingly healthy young man who suddenly collapsed for no reason.

However, after the family provided medical documents to the police attesting to his chronic heart condition and several officials including Degel HaTorah MK Uri Maklev intervened, the police agreed to forego the requirement for an autopsy.

The news of the bochur’s collapse spread quickly and his two brothers, who learn in the Tifrach yeshivah, learned about their brother’s death in a shocking and sudden way, without any prior preparation.

One of the Tifrach bochurim heard that a bochur collapsed in Elad along with his full name and asked one brother if he was a relative. The brother turned white and ran to inform the second brother, about 16-17, in a more sensitive way. The brothers called their father and the father sadly confirmed that their brother Yehoshua had suddenly passed away.

The Rosh Mesivta of the yeshivah, Harav Baruch Levine, sat with the brothers for an hour and a half following the bitter news. Later he said that the way the news was told to the brother was almost a matter of pikuach nefesh.

The bochur’s family moved to Israel when he was a child and he learned in the yeshivah ketanah Tiferes Yaakov in Yerushalayim and then Torah B’Tifarta in Elad, where he was considered one of the top bochurim, always striving to grow in Yiras Shamayim and Torah learning.

The levaya was held on Monday morning at the yeshivah in Elad and continued to Yerushalayim for kevurah. Yehi zichro baruch.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)