Bet Shemesh Weekly News


By Rabbi Dov Lipman

1)SHMUEL POPPENHEIM ATTACKED
Last week, Shmuel Poppenheim, the Toldos Aharon chasid who has spoken out against the violence of the extremists, was interviewed by Haaretz.  In that interview, Poppenheim, who has made great efforts to prepare Chareidim for entrance into the work place, criticized Rabbis who try to prevent Chareidim from going to work.  When Poppenheim arrived at the Toldos Aharon shul on Friday night, he was asked to leave by some of the men there.  He refused and they began screaming, "Sheigitz, Apikores, get out of here impurity!"  He refused to leave and they began to push him out.  Poppenheim held onto book shelves to resist being pushed out and then one knocked off his shtreimel, a second guy broke his glasses, and a third hit him hard in the ribs.   He left the shul for a few minutes but then went back in and was hit again.   The Toldos Aharon rabbinic leadership has come out strongly against the attackers and are implementing sanctions against the attackers.
 
2)KIKA FURNITURE CHAIN COMING TO BEIT SHEMESH?
Mayor Abutbol was in Germany last week visiting a sister city and traveled to Austria where he proposed using the new 3,000 dunam given to the city from Mateh Yehuda for a new KIKA store.  The owner of KIKA was impressed with the offer and said he would come to visit the area after the Spring, and if everything adds up, may even open the store in the Bet Shemesh region before the planned store in Haifa.  He talked about using all 3,000 dunam for a 4-story mega store including parking.

 
3)TENSION BETWEEN CITY TREAURER AND CITY MANAGER
City treasurer, Aryeh Bardugo, threatened to resign in recent weeks because city workers are spending more money than the city has.  The pressing issue has become city workers who insist on using city cars.  The tension also increased over the city manager holding meetings to plan the 2012 budget without the treasurer in attendance.  Mayor Abutbol, who is under significant pressure since there is no budget approved for 2012 and no scheduled city council meeting for the budget on the horizon, has been mediating between the treasurer and the manager.
 
4)PLEASE TAKE 1 MINUTE AND SIGN THIS PETITION - AND HAVE EVERYONE IN YOUR FAMILY SIGN
This will show that you support the appeal against the approval of the plans for RBS Gimmel 2 
 
5)WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO ATTEND THE DEMONSTRATION AT THE APPEAL NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 4
Life is very busy but there are moments when we need to make the extra effort.  This is a person call from me asking you to take a half day from work and come to the protest on Sunday March 4 in Bayit Vegan from 8:30a.m. to 10:00a.m.  We have a free bus available for anyone who wants.  This is our first real chance to stop the madness in the city planning (or non-planning) in an official way and the pressure from hundreds of people there will help or cause while a smalll presence there will hurt the cause.  Please e-mail me back to register for the protest.
 
I should also menton that we are still short funds for this process.  Please e-mail me back ddlipman@aol.com if you can donate and I will guide you.
 
There will be a gathering in RBS Aleph to explain what is happening with the future construction and why it is imperative that you join the demonstration.  Please come to Ohr Hashalom, Rav Soloveichik's shul, corner of Refaim and Maor, this Wednesday night (Feb. 29) at 9:00p.m. 
 

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