Yeshivat Frisch students and faculty returned to campus this week, with grade orientations on Monday and Tuesday, and classes beginning on Wednesday. This year, Frisch is fortunate to have over 20 outdoor spaces to be used as classrooms, shuls, a cafeteria and relaxation areas, along with an updated air filtration system for indoors, to make the year safe and academically successful, while maintaining the school’s unique culture of creativity, passion, intellectual inquiry and meaningful relationships. Indoors, students will be required to wear masks and maintain social distancing at all times. Outside, students will be allowed to remove their masks providing social distancing is maintained.

At orientation, Frisch principal Rabbi Eli Ciner spoke about how the yeshiva will use the new COVID-19 regulations as a metaphor for the school’s core value of being a community of kindness. “Just as we wear masks and socially distance to protect each other, and our families from this virus,” he said, noting that no one knows who is, or may be living with someone who is, immunocompromised, “we don’t know who may be struggling, or who may need a friend. We will make sure to be kind and welcoming to every single person.”