The Or Chaya seminary in Yerushalayim was shut down on Wednesday following a devastating fire caused by an electrical malfunction that left 48 people injured earlier in the week.
The closure was ordered by the Yerushalayim Fire Department as a result of safety concerns surrounding the building.
In response to the fire, the commander of the Yerushalayim Fire Department strongly criticized the structure, labeling it a “death trap.” He further warned, “next time, the students might not be so fortunate,” emphasizing the severe risks posed by the building’s inadequate safety measures.
{Matzav.com Israel}
They don’t mention the fact that the doors were chained shut, and the windows had security bars blocking any exit (could be that’s the “structure”). Quite possibly the chains were hidden away before the inspectors got there…
Food for Thought:
This is general advice for all dorms that have students sleeping there at night.
Of course the #1 main thing is not locking exits and not putting bars on windows and installing a fire escape and installing fire alarms, smoke detectors.
I wanted to add one more thing.
כל בית שאין נשמעים בו דברי תורה בלילה
The boys dorm, they have night Seder so they end up learning at night.
I know some people say that girls are exempt from learning, but that is a silly argument, because Hashem wants girls to learn Hilchos Shabbos, Hilchos Tefilla and there are other Halachos that a girl is obligated to do, all these Halachos that a girl is obligated to do, if she learns the Halachos that is like Talmud Torah and it will protect a dormitory from a disaster.
הלכות שבת
is a beautiful thing to study for boys and for girls.
Studying Torah at night is a mind boggling protection and the girls also have this option available to them.
I am not discussing this particular seminary, I have no idea whether the girls were learning. I am simply trying to give advice for the future. For a girl to think that she is
פטור
from Talmud Torah, that is a mistake. All the Mitzvos that a girl must keep, she has a Mitzva to learn the Halachos of those Mitzvos and that learning of the Halachos will be a protection for the girls.
Some people think health and safety laws don’t pertain to us lofty beings. They should know better.
Not only buildings. If only the public would take the health and safety laws regarding food they consume, drugs and dangerous vaccines and shots they take.