History's A Disaster

The Versailles Wedding Hall Collapse

• Andrew

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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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You can always reach out to the show at historiesadisaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions
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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/


SPEAKER_00:

Who doesn't love a good wedding? Well, besides whoever's gotta pay for it. You got the ritual and the ceremony, depending on who's giving it, anyways. You know some people be dragging that shit out way too long. You get dressed up to support your loved ones on their special day, and the best part, the reception, the food, the booze, and the celebrating. Just about everyone getting out on the dance floor, doing their best to enjoy themselves and shake the ground. Which is great, until the floor collapses and you're thrown 30 feet to the ground below. Which is what happened on May 24th, 2001, at the Versailles Wedding Hall in Jerusalem. So, what happened? I'm Andrew, and this is History's A Disaster. Tonight we are looking into the Versailles Wedding Hall disaster, one of the deadliest civil disasters in Israeli history. I started doing the initial research and writing into this disaster about a week after my youngest son's wedding, and two weeks after my own wedding anniversary. So it'd be fair to say, weddings have been on my mind lately. And speaking of weddings, tonight's episode is brought to you by Heavenly Phoenix wedding planners. Think Heavenly Phoenix when you want to smash down those stuffy wedding traditions and make your special day something truly unique and befitting your own personal style. The Versailles Wedding Hall was built in 1986 in the Talpiot neighborhood of southeastern Jerusalem. At the time, Jerusalem was experiencing significant growth, and there was a growing need for things like housing and large event spaces. So, the name of the game at the time was Build It Quick and as Cheaply as Possible. So, to cut down cost and speed up construction, they hired Eli Ron as the building's engineer. Eli Ron was the inventor of the PALCal construction method. This method used precast concrete slabs inside ribbed steel boxes instead of the normal steel rods used for reinforcement. They just installed these boxes onto low-bearing walls or support columns into a grid-like framework and then pour concrete into the gaps. It was quicker and cheaper than more traditional methods of building. Originally, one side of the building was designed to be two stories, while the other side was three stories. During construction, they decided to add a third story to the shorter side to make both sides equal in height. However, the design load for a roof, which the original two-story section was intended to support, is considerably less than the design load for a floor that would be occupied by people. This meant the structure supporting the newly added third story was subjected to much greater loads than it was originally designed to handle. Which makes sense, not much activity 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. And not only hundreds of people, but hundreds of people dancing, which will just increase the load the floor needs to support. So to fix this, they added load-bearing walls and support columns on the floor below, which helped to spread the excess load and prevent any immediate damage. However, a few weeks before the collapse, the owners of the wedding hall decided to remove these supports. They were in the way, so you know, they had to go. Gotta have more space, and they were just in the way. And of course, who needs to pay the money to consult with an engineer or anything like that? So as time went by and the building settled and events with hundreds of people were held, cracks started to appear in the walls and ceilings. Guests complained about vibrations in the building, and there were numerous complaints about the dance floor bouncing and shaking excessively. The owners just assumed the sagging of the floor, which had dropped several inches, along with the cracks in the walls and ceilings, was just a cosmetic issue. To fix it, they gave it the building equivalent of a shot of Botox. They just threw some more ground on it and spaggled it over. That'll surely fix it, right? It did not. In fact, it made things worse by adding more weight to a ceiling that was obviously failing. Who would have thought that adding weight to a sagging object wouldn't fix it? So now we're gonna jump back in time just a little bit. Karen 26 and Asef 24 met in 1999 while working at a fiat dealer in Jerusalem. She was in sales and he was a mechanic. A little over a year later, SF proposed to her by hanging up a huge sign across the benign road, and I know I just fucked up that name, a highway that crosses Jerusalem, which read, Karen, will you marry me? And she readily agreed. They planned the wedding for six months from then. They just needed to find the perfect venue. They needed someplace huge with plenty of space for all the guests they were anticipating. After going through venues, they narrowed it down. Their initial choice was the Ramat Rachel, which is a kibbutz just outside of Jerusalem, but they shot that idea down pretty quick. The kibbutz was really close to the Bait Jalla, which was seeing a huge increase in violence and fighting between Israel and Palestine. So they went with the next best thing, the Versailles Hall. Because it wasn't in as dangerous of an area, so it was safer. So with that, they had their venue and their date. May 24th, 2001, was the wedding of Karen and Asaf Droor on the third floor of the Versailles wedding hall. And they knew how to throw a party. As is typical of Jewish weddings, at least at the time, the whole community comes out to celebrate. It's not just family and friends, it's the deli clerk, the grocer, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, everyone. And I'm gonna admit a whole lot of ignorance on this, so if I'm wrong, let me know. History is a disaster at gmail.com or social media. Anyways, they had nearly 700 people at the wedding. As the ceremony ended and the breaking of glass, a tradition symbolizing both joy and sorrow, a reminder of the destruction of the temples in Jerusalem, as well as celebrating the next steps in the couple's life together. Maziltov shouted and the dancing and celebrating began, starting with the horror. And if you've ever seen a movie with a Jewish wedding, this is what they typically show. Guests dance circles around the newly married couple, and at some point the couple are seated in chairs then lifted into the air where the dance continues. David Amrolman wandered amongst the lively crowd, recording the wedding and the reception on his camcorder. The reception, which was getting more energetic as the night progressed. People were drinking and dancing. Kids ran around and screamed and did the things kids do when they're bored and stuck at a wedding. Everyone was enjoying the good times and celebrating the newly married couple. As the clock passed 10.30, the dance floor started to sag towards the center. Then at almost 10.43 p.m., while hundreds 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 gave way. The third floor slammed down into the second floor. Within seconds, the second floor collapsed onto the first. Hundreds of guests, including Karen and Asof, were dropped three floors as the collapse happened, while hundreds more were trapped and clinging to the remains of the third floor. As the guests were plunged into darkness below, tons of steel and concrete and other debris followed them into the hole, burying many of them in the rubble. While some would remain trapped in the rubble, others would be able to dig themselves out. SF would manage to free himself and carry his injured bride from the wreckage of the wedding hall. Immediately following the collapse, extensive rescue efforts were launched. The Home Front Command, along with the Israel Defense Force and the Yakza Reserve Unit, carried out the rescue operation. First responders worked tirelessly, often digging with only their bare hands amidst fear that the rest of the building could collapse. The rescue operation continued for over 36 hours until 4 p.m. on May 26. During this time, three people were pulled alive from the rubble and 23 bodies were recovered. The collapse resulted in a devastating loss of life and numerous injuries. Most of the injuries were to the legs and lower body. 23 people died due to the collapse, making it one of Israel's deadliest disasters. Additionally, 356 people sustained injuries of varying degrees, with 130 remaining hospitalized days after the event. The bride Karen suffered serious pelvic injuries that required multiple surgeries, and that is not the type of pelvic injuries you want to get on your wedding night. Asf, the groom, escaped serious injuries. However, his 80-year-old grandfather Yosef Shriki, who was the oldest victim, was among those who died in the disaster. The youngest victim of the disaster was a three-year-old cousin of Asaf's. After the collapse, Asaf and Karen were taken to the Biker Holim Hospital in Jerusalem. Instead of the intimate night they surely had planned, they shared a hospital room for their wedding night. And these two are such good people. Asaf, who was only slightly injured, wandered from ward to ward where guests were being treated and apologized to them. Friends and relatives who visited Karen, who was recovering from her surgery, made numerous apologies to them too. They were apologizing for a disaster that was way beyond their control. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse, it was believed to have initially been a terrorist attack. There had been numerous attacks in the previous weeks, including at least two suicide bombers. However, it was quickly declared that it was not an attack after several of the guests came forward and talked about the floor sagging before the collapse. From that, they figured it was the PALCAL building method that was to blame. There was a reason it had been banned several years before, so an immediate safety check of all buildings using this method was ordered. However, there were reports the checks were not thoroughly carried out, and in the first six months after the collapse, only one building, the Lev Hagiva, was partially closed. Several weeks after the wedding hall collapse, families of the victims won their legal battle to have the tragedy declared a national disaster so they could be entitled to compensation from the state. Unfortunately, it would take over 15 years due to bickering among the victims and legal bullshit before anyone would see any sort of compensation. The state stepped in and agreed to pay all 428 plaintiffs and expected Jerusalem to pay it back. Unfortunately, during the 15-year wait, 15 of the injured passed away and their share would go to their estate. And according to the compensation outline, whoever wasn't physically injured will receive$15,000 plus interest, while those more than 20% handicapped will receive$2,000 for every additional percentage of disability. The estates of those killed in the incident will be compensated with$23,000 along with an additional$3,000 for every year of expected decrease in life expectancy. Upon passing of victims,$3,000 plus interest will also be provided for funeral expenses. And those are rough amounts, that's not exactly what they got, but that was based on converting shekels to dollars. Following the collapse, the Versailles Law was passed by the parliament. This law established a special committee responsible for treating the people injured in the collapse. Plus, an official investigation committee was established by the then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon under the leadership of the former judge Vardamos Zieeler, who was in charge of the security of public places and buildings. The Zieler Committee on Building Safety investigated both the Versailles Wedding Hall collapse as well as the Maccabiya Bridge Collapse, which had occurred four years earlier in 1999 and released its final report in December of 2003. In October 2004, the three owners of the wedding hall, Evrah, Uri Nisim, and Ephraim Yediv were convicted of causing death by negligence and causing damage by negligence. Edi and Adiv were sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment while Nisim was sentenced to four months of community service. The wedding hall would eventually be torn down, and as of 2023, the site remained unoccupied and sealed. Across the street from the site is a memorial garden with names of the victims inscribed on a wall. In May 2007, Eli Ron and three engineers that were involved in the building's construction were sentenced to prison by the Jerusalem District Court. Eli Ron received a four-year sentence. Shimam Kaufman and Dan Sheffer got 22 months, and Uri Pasa got six months. In December of 2006, the court had convicted all three men of causing death by negligence and sabotage by negligence. Now, I spent a few hours digging to see whatever became of Karen and Asof, but turned up empty. They're either not on social media or there were a few accounts that were private, so no idea there. To the best of my knowledge, they're still alive and kicking somewhere. They didn't turn up when I was searching the Find a Grave website. I can only guess they're still happily married somewhere. I figure, if your marriage can survive a literal disaster on your wedding night, there's not much you won't be able to make it through. Or on the other hand, it became an inescapable wedge that eventually drove them apart. One of the two. Hopefully, it's the first option and they'll be celebrating 25 years together next year. Plus, looking on the bright side, no one is ever gonna forget their anniversary. And that was the Versailles Wedding Hall Collapse. Thanks for listening, and if you like the show, please consider leaving a rating or review on your app of choice. And you can always reach out to the show at historiesadisaster at gmail.com with questions, comments, or suggestions. Or to tell me I'm an idiot because I can't pronounce words. Whatever. As well as following the show on social media like Facebook or Instagram and a few others. TikTok and YouTube, whatever. Share the episode. Your friends will love it, and I'll appreciate it. And take care of yourself out there. Chase that dream. Live for today, because tomorrow is never guaranteed. Thanks and goodbye.