The Versailles Wedding Hall Collapse

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Joy filled a crowded Jerusalem wedding until the third-floor dance hall collapsed, triggering a deadly progressive failure that exposed years of shortcuts and ignored warnings. We trace the engineering decisions, the human stories, and the slow path to accountability and reform.

• PAL-KAL method and rapid-build culture
• design change from roof to occupied floor
• added then removed supports and load paths
• visible sagging, cracks, and floor bounce
• collapse sequence and progressive failure
• rescue operations and medical impact
• legal classification and compensation terms
• Versailles Law and Zieler Committee findings
• owner convictions and engineer sentences
• memory, ethics, and safer event spaces

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Who doesn't love a good wedding?
Well, besides whoever's gottapay for it.
You got the ritual and theceremony, depending on who's
giving it, anyways.
You know some people be draggingthat shit out way too long.
You get dressed up to supportyour loved ones on their special
day, and the best part, thereception, the food, the booze,

(00:21):
and the celebrating.
Just about everyone getting outon the dance floor, doing their
best to enjoy themselves andshake the ground.
Which is great, until the floorcollapses and you're thrown 30
feet to the ground below.
Which is what happened on May24th, 2001, at the Versailles
Wedding Hall in Jerusalem.

(00:43):
So, what happened?
I'm Andrew, and this isHistory's A Disaster.
Tonight we are looking into theVersailles Wedding Hall
disaster, one of the deadliestcivil disasters in Israeli

(01:04):
history.
I started doing the initialresearch and writing into this
disaster about a week after myyoungest son's wedding, and two
weeks after my own weddinganniversary.
So it'd be fair to say, weddingshave been on my mind lately.
And speaking of weddings,tonight's episode is brought to
you by Heavenly Phoenix weddingplanners.

(01:26):
Think Heavenly Phoenix when youwant to smash down those stuffy
wedding traditions and make yourspecial day something truly
unique and befitting your ownpersonal style.
The Versailles Wedding Hall wasbuilt in 1986 in the Talpiot

(01:47):
neighborhood of southeasternJerusalem.
At the time, Jerusalem wasexperiencing significant growth,
and there was a growing need forthings like housing and large
event spaces.
So, the name of the game at thetime was Build It Quick and as
Cheaply as Possible.

(02:07):
So, to cut down cost and speedup construction, they hired Eli
Ron as the building's engineer.
Eli Ron was the inventor of thePALCal construction method.
This method used precastconcrete slabs inside ribbed
steel boxes instead of thenormal steel rods used for

(02:30):
reinforcement.
They just installed these boxesonto low-bearing walls or
support columns into a grid-likeframework and then pour concrete
into the gaps.
It was quicker and cheaper thanmore traditional methods of
building.
Originally, one side of thebuilding was designed to be two
stories, while the other sidewas three stories.

(02:53):
During construction, theydecided to add a third story to
the shorter side to make bothsides equal in height.
However, the design load for aroof, which the original
two-story section was intendedto support, is considerably less
than the design load for a floorthat would be occupied by

(03:14):
people.
This meant the structuresupporting the newly added third
story was subjected to muchgreater loads than it was
originally designed to handle.
Which makes sense, not muchactivity on a roof, so you don't
need to handle a lot of weight,versus a floor that'll have
hundreds of people on it.

(03:34):
And not only hundreds of people,but hundreds of people dancing,
which will just increase theload the floor needs to support.
So to fix this, they addedload-bearing walls and support
columns on the floor below,which helped to spread the
excess load and prevent anyimmediate damage.
However, a few weeks before thecollapse, the owners of the

(03:57):
wedding hall decided to removethese supports.
They were in the way, so youknow, they had to go.
Gotta have more space, and theywere just in the way.
And of course, who needs to paythe money to consult with an
engineer or anything like that?
So as time went by and thebuilding settled and events with
hundreds of people were held,cracks started to appear in the

(04:19):
walls and ceilings.
Guests complained aboutvibrations in the building, and
there were numerous complaintsabout the dance floor bouncing
and shaking excessively.
The owners just assumed thesagging of the floor, which had
dropped several inches, alongwith the cracks in the walls and
ceilings, was just a cosmeticissue.
To fix it, they gave it thebuilding equivalent of a shot of

(04:42):
Botox.
They just threw some more groundon it and spaggled it over.
That'll surely fix it, right?
It did not.
In fact, it made things worse byadding more weight to a ceiling
that was obviously failing.
Who would have thought thatadding weight to a sagging
object wouldn't fix it?

(05:03):
So now we're gonna jump back intime just a little bit.
Karen 26 and Asef 24 met in 1999while working at a fiat dealer
in Jerusalem.
She was in sales and he was amechanic.
A little over a year later, SFproposed to her by hanging up a

(05:24):
huge sign across the benignroad, and I know I just fucked
up that name, a highway thatcrosses Jerusalem, which read,
Karen, will you marry me?
And she readily agreed.
They planned the wedding for sixmonths from then.
They just needed to find theperfect venue.
They needed someplace huge withplenty of space for all the

(05:45):
guests they were anticipating.
After going through venues, theynarrowed it down.
Their initial choice was theRamat Rachel, which is a kibbutz
just outside of Jerusalem, butthey shot that idea down pretty
quick.
The kibbutz was really close tothe Bait Jalla, which was seeing
a huge increase in violence andfighting between Israel and

(06:07):
Palestine.
So they went with the next bestthing, the Versailles Hall.
Because it wasn't in asdangerous of an area, so it was
safer.
So with that, they had theirvenue and their date.
May 24th, 2001, was the weddingof Karen and Asaf Droor on the
third floor of the Versailleswedding hall.

(06:28):
And they knew how to throw aparty.
As is typical of Jewishweddings, at least at the time,
the whole community comes out tocelebrate.
It's not just family andfriends, it's the deli clerk,
the grocer, the butcher, thebaker, the candlestick maker,
everyone.
And I'm gonna admit a whole lotof ignorance on this, so if I'm
wrong, let me know.

(06:49):
History is a disaster atgmail.com or social media.
Anyways, they had nearly 700people at the wedding.
As the ceremony ended and thebreaking of glass, a tradition
symbolizing both joy and sorrow,a reminder of the destruction of
the temples in Jerusalem, aswell as celebrating the next
steps in the couple's lifetogether.

(07:09):
Maziltov shouted and the dancingand celebrating began, starting
with the horror.
And if you've ever seen a moviewith a Jewish wedding, this is
what they typically show.
Guests dance circles around thenewly married couple, and at
some point the couple are seatedin chairs then lifted into the
air where the dance continues.
David Amrolman wandered amongstthe lively crowd, recording the

(07:33):
wedding and the reception on hiscamcorder.
The reception, which was gettingmore energetic as the night
progressed.
People were drinking anddancing.
Kids ran around and screamed anddid the things kids do when
they're bored and stuck at awedding.
Everyone was enjoying the goodtimes and celebrating the newly
married couple.

(07:57):
As the clock passed 10.30, thedance floor started to sag
towards the center.
Then at almost 10.43 p.m., whilehundreds of guests were enjoying
themselves on the dance floor,with a cover of the song Lev
Sahav was playing.
As Hein Joseph, Karen's father,was lifted towards the ceiling
in a chair, the third floor gaveway.

(08:23):
The third floor slammed downinto the second floor.
Within seconds, the second floorcollapsed onto the first.
Hundreds of guests, includingKaren and Asof, were dropped
three floors as the collapsehappened, while hundreds more
were trapped and clinging to theremains of the third floor.
As the guests were plunged intodarkness below, tons of steel

(08:44):
and concrete and other debrisfollowed them into the hole,
burying many of them in therubble.
While some would remain trappedin the rubble, others would be
able to dig themselves out.
SF would manage to free himselfand carry his injured bride from
the wreckage of the weddinghall.
Immediately following thecollapse, extensive rescue
efforts were launched.

(09:04):
The Home Front Command, alongwith the Israel Defense Force
and the Yakza Reserve Unit,carried out the rescue
operation.
First responders workedtirelessly, often digging with
only their bare hands amidstfear that the rest of the
building could collapse.
The rescue operation continuedfor over 36 hours until 4 p.m.

(09:26):
on May 26.
During this time, three peoplewere pulled alive from the
rubble and 23 bodies wererecovered.
The collapse resulted in adevastating loss of life and
numerous injuries.
Most of the injuries were to thelegs and lower body.
23 people died due to thecollapse, making it one of
Israel's deadliest disasters.

(09:48):
Additionally, 356 peoplesustained injuries of varying
degrees, with 130 remaininghospitalized days after the
event.
The bride Karen suffered seriouspelvic injuries that required
multiple surgeries, and that isnot the type of pelvic injuries
you want to get on your weddingnight.
Asf, the groom, escaped seriousinjuries.

(10:11):
However, his 80-year-oldgrandfather Yosef Shriki, who
was the oldest victim, was amongthose who died in the disaster.
The youngest victim of thedisaster was a three-year-old
cousin of Asaf's.
After the collapse, Asaf andKaren were taken to the Biker
Holim Hospital in Jerusalem.
Instead of the intimate nightthey surely had planned, they

(10:34):
shared a hospital room for theirwedding night.
And these two are such goodpeople.
Asaf, who was only slightlyinjured, wandered from ward to
ward where guests were beingtreated and apologized to them.
Friends and relatives whovisited Karen, who was
recovering from her surgery,made numerous apologies to them
too.
They were apologizing for adisaster that was way beyond

(10:57):
their control.
In the immediate aftermath ofthe collapse, it was believed to
have initially been a terroristattack.
There had been numerous attacksin the previous weeks, including
at least two suicide bombers.
However, it was quickly declaredthat it was not an attack after

(11:19):
several of the guests cameforward and talked about the
floor sagging before thecollapse.
From that, they figured it wasthe PALCAL building method that
was to blame.
There was a reason it had beenbanned several years before, so
an immediate safety check of allbuildings using this method was
ordered.
However, there were reports thechecks were not thoroughly

(11:40):
carried out, and in the firstsix months after the collapse,
only one building, the LevHagiva, was partially closed.
Several weeks after the weddinghall collapse, families of the
victims won their legal battleto have the tragedy declared a
national disaster so they couldbe entitled to compensation from
the state.

(12:00):
Unfortunately, it would takeover 15 years due to bickering
among the victims and legalbullshit before anyone would see
any sort of compensation.
The state stepped in and agreedto pay all 428 plaintiffs and
expected Jerusalem to pay itback.
Unfortunately, during the15-year wait, 15 of the injured

(12:22):
passed away and their sharewould go to their estate.
And according to thecompensation outline, whoever
wasn't physically injured willreceive$15,000 plus interest,
while those more than 20%handicapped will receive$2,000
for every additional percentageof disability.
The estates of those killed inthe incident will be compensated

(12:46):
with$23,000 along with anadditional$3,000 for every year
of expected decrease in lifeexpectancy.
Upon passing of victims,$3,000plus interest will also be
provided for funeral expenses.
And those are rough amounts,that's not exactly what they

(13:06):
got, but that was based onconverting shekels to dollars.
Following the collapse, theVersailles Law was passed by the
parliament.
This law established a specialcommittee responsible for
treating the people injured inthe collapse.
Plus, an official investigationcommittee was established by the
then Prime Minister Ariel Sharonunder the leadership of the

(13:28):
former judge Vardamos Zieeler,who was in charge of the
security of public places andbuildings.
The Zieler Committee on BuildingSafety investigated both the
Versailles Wedding Hall collapseas well as the Maccabiya Bridge
Collapse, which had occurredfour years earlier in 1999 and
released its final report inDecember of 2003.

(13:50):
In October 2004, the threeowners of the wedding hall,
Evrah, Uri Nisim, and EphraimYediv were convicted of causing
death by negligence and causingdamage by negligence.
Edi and Adiv were sentenced to30 months' imprisonment while
Nisim was sentenced to fourmonths of community service.

(14:12):
The wedding hall wouldeventually be torn down, and as
of 2023, the site remainedunoccupied and sealed.
Across the street from the siteis a memorial garden with names
of the victims inscribed on awall.
In May 2007, Eli Ron and threeengineers that were involved in
the building's construction weresentenced to prison by the

(14:36):
Jerusalem District Court.
Eli Ron received a four-yearsentence.
Shimam Kaufman and Dan Sheffergot 22 months, and Uri Pasa got
six months.
In December of 2006, the courthad convicted all three men of
causing death by negligence andsabotage by negligence.

(14:58):
Now, I spent a few hours diggingto see whatever became of Karen
and Asof, but turned up empty.
They're either not on socialmedia or there were a few
accounts that were private, sono idea there.
To the best of my knowledge,they're still alive and kicking
somewhere.
They didn't turn up when I wassearching the Find a Grave

(15:18):
website.
I can only guess they're stillhappily married somewhere.
I figure, if your marriage cansurvive a literal disaster on
your wedding night, there's notmuch you won't be able to make
it through.
Or on the other hand, it becamean inescapable wedge that
eventually drove them apart.
One of the two.
Hopefully, it's the first optionand they'll be celebrating 25

(15:41):
years together next year.
Plus, looking on the brightside, no one is ever gonna
forget their anniversary.
And that was the VersaillesWedding Hall Collapse.
Thanks for listening, and if youlike the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour app of choice.

(16:02):
And you can always reach out tothe show at historiesadisaster
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(16:23):
Share the episode.
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And take care of yourself outthere.
Chase that dream.
Live for today, because tomorrowis never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.