A large fire broke out on Friday night, just as Shabbos began, in the well-known Kollel Halperin building in Bnei Brak. The blaze started in an apartment located directly beneath the kollel, where a dormitory for bochurim of Yeshivas Ponovezh is situated. Several bochurim were sleeping there at the time.

B’Chadrei Chareidim reported that, in addition to the Ponovezh dorm residents, a group of bochurim from Yeshivas Zichron Michoel of Zichron Yaakov were also present in the apartment for Shabbos Sheva Brachos. According to reports, candles lit before Shabbos accidentally caused the fire to ignite.

As the flames spread rapidly, the Ponovezh bochurim sleeping in the dormitory were urgently evacuated from the building. Baruch Hashem, no injuries were reported.

Fire and rescue teams arrived quickly at the scene and succeeded in bringing the blaze under control. However, the damage to the apartment was extensive. Several pairs of tefillin were burned in the fire, as were multiple notebooks containing chiddushei Torah of Harav Avraham Kalmanowitz shlit”a.

The kollel located on the upper floor miraculously escaped major damage, aside from several windows that shattered from the heat.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)