Beit Shemesh – Anglos Get Their Shul, But Battle with Charedim Not Over

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    Beit Shemesh – Less than two months after some 200 members of Beit Shemesh’s heavily Anglo national-religious community demonstrated in front of city hall against the mayor’s alleged favoritism for his Haredi constituency, the Shas politician appears to have retracted the two decisions that provoked the outrage. While some celebrate his about-face as “success,” not everybody believes the power struggle is over.

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    Ongoing tensions between the two camps have reached news heights in June when Mayor Moshe Abutbol blocked the allocation of a plot of land to a young congregation led by English-speaking immigrants, which planned to build its first synagogue. Earlier this month, however, Abutbol apparently changed his mind.

    “The municipality of Beit Shemesh has come to an agreement with the dozens of residents who have begun to move into apartments in the new neighborhood, about, on the one hand – the need to apportion space for their synagogue, and on the other – setting aside a place for the synagogue for the majority of the neighborhood’s residents, who have not yet begun to live there,” municipality spokesman Mati Rosenzweig told Anglo File this week. The municipality’s policy “remains unchanged,” he added, in that it “views the needs of all residents as equal.”

    In June, Rosenzweig had said the city did not find it appropriate to give the plot, which he called the “only public area in the neighborhood,” for a synagogue when only 30 apartments out of a planned 700 were inhabited in the new neighborhood, called Nofei Hashemesh.

    Congregation Nofei Hashemesh considers the city’s sudden change of heart “a very significant success,” its president, Jason Schwartz, told Anglo File. “The mayor and certain members of the city council have now expressed their support and have given us a location to put up a temporary structure within the Nofei Hashemesh community for a shul,” explained Schwartz, who moved here from New Jersey in 2008. “At the same time, the city is bringing our request for a permanent site back to the municipality land allocation committee, where we believe it will be approved as we had originally anticipated.”

    The mayor also recently came under fire for reassigning a plot dedicated to a national-religious hesder yeshiva, which combines religious studies with army service, to Haredi institutions. This week, however, the yeshiva’s director, Chagai Goldschmidt, told Anglo File his institution renewed negotiations with the municipality. While unwilling to confirm rumors the yeshiva and the city had reached an agreement, he said there were “signs” the yeshiva would be able to start erecting a building soon.

    Just a few weeks ago, the city’s Rosenzweig had told Anglo File the yeshiva’s current location would serve their needs “for the coming years.” This week, he said the municipality “awaits the yeshiva’s official authorization” from the Defense Ministry, “at which time a proper and fitting place for it will be allotted.”

    The Nofei Hashemesh Congregation, half of whose members are native English speakers, is led by Rabbi Shalom Rosner, a popular Modern Orthodox leader who left his teaching position and pulpit in New York two years ago to head the new community. Some 60 member families gather for services and lectures in a local school and the rabbi’s basement. Building of temporary structure started last week, Schwartz said, adding he hopes to hold High Holy Days there.

    “Over the last few weeks we have seen real teamwork,” Rabbi Rosner told Anglo File this week, “with all elements of the city council working to advance our interests.” Schwartz, who was instrumental in organizing the demonstration a few weeks ago against the municipality, also spoke of “a newfound effort to work together toward the positive advancement of Beit Shemesh.”

    Schwartz added: “It’s now our responsibility as citizens of Beit Shemesh to allow them to show that they will keep their word and work for the betterment of all demographics.” Rabbi Boaz Mori, the head of a local national-religious yeshiva for English speakers, says the recent developments show Mayor Abutbol is indeed adopting a new policy. If in the beginning of his term, he might have favored Haredi institutions, he is now “trying to be a mayor for all citizens,” Mori told Anglo File.

    “I don’t think that he’s anti-national religious,” the New York native, who moved to the city over a decade ago, said. “To a certain extent, the mayor had to please his constituency, the people who voted him into office, and therefore he immediately granted a lot of things to the Haredi community and because of that was ignored by the national-religious community. I think that now he’s balancing things out.”

    Jacky Edry – the number-two man in the city council’s largest opposition faction BeYachad – told Anglo File Abutbol has understood “he can’t always fight” and has chosen instead a “path of peace.” But a number of Beit Shemesh residents are skeptical about the municipality’s backtracking. “The tide is definitely not turning,” said Shalom Lerner, who heads the predominantly national-religious BeYachad. “The pressure helps, but it’s still an uphill battle.” The mayor only gave up on his opposition to the Nofei Hashemesh shul because “they had no legal leg to stand on,” said Lerner, who was born in the U.S.

    “The mayor is still pushing a Haredi agenda,” he added, citing a letter in which the municipality’s director-general, Matityahu Chutah, wrote that “actually, the population of the city of Beit Shemesh is Haredi in nature.” Rosenzweig, the city’s spokesman, told Anglo File that Chutah was referring to “the city’s new neighborhoods [that] belong to ultra-Orthodox and other observant religious sectors.”

    Jonny Klompas, a Johannesburg-born Beit Shemesh resident, is also skeptical. If the national-religious community’s recent successes show anything, it is that “any progress for our community… is unfortunately going to involve a hard and long fight,” he said. “If there’s a little victory here that’s very good, but until I actually see them building the shul I would say, ‘what’s the next step, what’s the next potential place for them to sabotage it?'”

    David Stern, the editor of the local Connections magazine, also feels Beit Shemesh will for now remain “a vicious battleground” between the two communities. The victories regarding the Nofei Shemesh shul and the hesder yeshiva are merely “tactical” and while welcome “should be viewed as such,” the U.S.-born journalist said. “The long-term health of this city will be determined by the willingness of the Haredi coalition to show that they can promote significant non-Haredi building and achieve a healthy and respectful balance between the two communities.”


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    10 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    It will take court action and intervention by the national government to teach the Hareidi politicians that there days are over and that a more pluralistic and inclusive form of governance must prevail. The MO and secular jews have said enough is enough and are just beginning to assert their legal rights.

    JewishEndOfDays
    JewishEndOfDays
    13 years ago

    Peace between Chareidi and Dati? There has to be a peacemaker that convinced Mayor Moshe Abutbol to be “modeh.”

    My bet it was R. Ovadia Yosef. The Sefardim understand the need for religiously motivated soldiers.

    Goodilan
    Goodilan
    13 years ago

    Says, you are obviously not a Torah Observant Jew. Why do you insist on constantly post on a Frum site. Are you looking for a fight? Do you think you will somehow convert us to your way of secular thinking? Perhaps some frum Jew somewhere said something mean to you and your feelings are still hurt. My guess is that you just enjoy picking a fight.

    We get it. Frum is bad. Torah is bad. The secular world is a veritable utopia where everyone is happy and enlightened, every new idea pushes humanity towards it’s golden age and all the streams flow with chocolate milk.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    What are anglows? Conservative? Modern? Arnt they the same?

    stevenberger
    stevenberger
    13 years ago

    Um, I think they are orthodox

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    to no. 3. Actually what you would call a “non-torah observant jew” constitutes the majority of those who are shomrei torah umitzvot in eretZ yisroel. The non-Hareidi frum communities are disgusted with the zealots who have hijacked yiddeshkeit and are fighting back.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    13 years ago

    Goodilan obviously cannot understand the difference between someone who is torah observant and the illegal actions of a small group of Chareidim who would like to impose a dark and hateful lifestyle on all yidden in EY. Most orthodox yidden in eretz yisroel would identify themselves with those who daven in the Nofei Hashemesh shul and not with the bigots who would deny them their rights.

    charliehall
    charliehall
    13 years ago

    Rabbi Rosner is a very respected talmid chacham and there is no excuse for the shabby treatment of his kehillah.

    Goodilan
    Goodilan
    13 years ago

    Says,
    Your comments show an ongoing trend of anti-religious in general. I have seen you make comments regarding various issues and regardless of the stream of frumkite, is seems that you constantly take the opposing view. The trend I notice seems to be that in any article regarding a conflict in the frum world, you position will be to defend modern over Chareidi and secular over religious, regardless of the branch. I also notice that you linked Modern Orthodox to secular Jews, something I’m sure a good many would be offended by.
    So again I ask you, because I really am course about your motivations, why is there an anger against the frum world (and I am lumping everything from Modern to Chassidic in the term frum.) In so many comments in different articles, you attack, seemingly reflexively the frum world. Why is Pluralism, your favorite buzzword, more important that Torah (and for the record, I completely support the idea of there being multiple streams within the frum world, but I’m reasonably sure that this isn’t what you mean.)
    And “Q” What “Says” says is definitely not the truth. The anger I feel comes from listening to lies and lashon hara. And for the record, by most people’