Tzedek-Tzedek

The battle since the start of this school year , for Orot Banot School , has reached national status. 8 year old American olah, Naama Margolies, from Beit Shemesh, has become a national icon, due to a Channel Two News report aired this Saturday night. Naama explains how scared she is to travel the 300 metres from her home to school. And, in front of the cameras, and in spite of her mother’s words of encouragement, Naama refuses to walk there. Naama is clearly traumatized by the protesting Sikrikim (extremist chareidim) who have demonstrated outside Orot Banot modern-orthodox girls school for the past half-year. The demonstrators reportedly scream insults ("whores!""shikses!"), spit and throw various objects at the young school girls.  Her mother explains that, although her family is orthodox, in the eyes of the kanoim, they are not. The report continues by interviewing a chareidi-from-the-street (in his car) who justifies and apparently ag...

             Photo Courtesy of Yissachar Ruas                        (Above Two Photos Courtesy of Michal Stein) Over a thousand Bet Shemesh residents are reported to have demonstrated outside the building slated for "Orot Banot" National Religious girls' school last night. The dispute is over the use of the new school building, located in Ramat Neriya, Bet Shemesh, which was built by the Orot Banot's parent organization, Shaalei Torah. The problems surfaced with objections and threats by other local residents, " Kanoim " (loosely translated as extremists, militants, fundamentalists, whatever...), who live in neighboring buildings designated for Chareidim. The Bet Shemesh Municipality, under the Shas Party Mayor, Moshe Abutbol, has withdrawn its support for the Orot Banot school, and ordered the school out, apparently in response to the threats of violence against persons and ...

  Motsei Shabbat, 20th August, 2011  We pray and mourn for our brother and sisters in the South, where there are mounting casualities from the terror and rocket attacks in Eilat, Beersheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon..and indeed everything within 40km of Gaza. From the narrow view from Bet Shemesh, we are also keeping a wary eye on those ranges. In the Molten Lead campaign, in the winter of 2009/10, Hamas fired a huge quantity and variety of rockets at every Israeli town within 45km of Gaza. At that point Bet Shemesh, at 50 km from Gaza,  became a refuge for around a thousand school kids from the South; Lema'an Achai took a leadership role, in partnership with the Municipality, Ezrat Achim, Shaalei Torah, the Community Centers, and many schools in Bet Shemesh who took in kids during that one month period of terror. Bet Shemesh stands ready, should there be a need, to host as many civilians as need refuge here. However, if the current conflict continues, a...

By Rabbi Dov Lipman From 2005-2009 the Bet Shemesh municipality charged more in arnona (city taxes) than they should have on the basis of a one year allowance which the government granted them in 2004. A resident of the city complained in court and the city came to a compromise with this person - half the amount and it will go to shuls. This is our money! We are are talking about between 300 NIS and 500 NIS for each of us. I assume that everyone could have a use for this money which belongs to you. Please write back to me with your name, zehut number, address, and phone number and I will add you to our objection which we are submitting to the judge tomorrow when he will make the compromise final. Please send me the information as early as possible today. If you can, please come to my home at 12/2 Maapilei Egoz apt. 2 to sign. Thank you and I hope to hear back from all of you. Dov

By Rabbi Dov Lipman STORMIEST CITY COUNCIL MEETING IN YEARS This week's city council was the most fiery the city has seen in many years.   It included the Mayor trying to have Tziyon Sultan, editor of the Keren Or newspaper, removed from the room and a group of Old Bet Shemesh residents disrupting the meeting numerous times until some of them were removed from the room.   Issues raised at the meeting included : 1. The municipality grants arnona reductions to 7,000 out of the 17,000 homes in the city.   While this is a high number, it has not been granting residents the full reduction allowed according to the Interior Ministry.   This policy has saved the city 1 million NIS per year.   The Mayor wants to change this policy and provide the full arnona reduction according to the law.   The opposition protested that the only way the city could make up this loss of 1 million revenue would be through raising the arnona of others or through more parking ticket...

Last week's public protest in support of Lema'an Achai was remarkably successful. The issue of zero municipal funding for Lema'an Achai received more attention in the week of the demonstration than for the whole previous ten dry years!  There was also extensive coverage in the past weekend's local press - as a counterbalance to the Council's approval of the 2011 Budget. Here is a selection of photos of the occasion (pictures courtesy of Daniel Gilad): Protest Organizer Rabbi Dov Lipman Demo Organizer Rabbi Dov Lipman (Left) with Zvi Wolicki from Chen Party  R.Dov Lipman with Councilor Shalom Lerner (Beyachad Party) R.Dov Lipman with Natan Shitreet (Likud Party) R.Dov Lipman with Councilor Motti Cohen  Councilor Meir Balayish (sent out of the Budget meeting to address the crowd by Mayor Moshe Abutbol)

Thank you to everyone who took the time to come to tonight's demonstration which was a smashing success by all definitions.  We raised the awareness level regarding the issue of Lemaan Achai and the city budget to level it has simply never reached.   The fact that a not so well liked Deputy Mayor felt the need to come out to face the crowd and address the issue or was sent out by his boss showed that it was a tremendous success.  The Mayor absolutely took notice and the resulting heated discussion/debate in the city council meeting showed how the Lemaan Achai left out of the budget issue is one they cannot ignore.    Thank you to those who wrote on the city's facebook page about this.  The city spokesman came over to me after the city council meeting and told me that they were on shock and that the Mayor was being updated with how many people wrote on there.  Therefore, please please write a message on the following link:  http://www.fac...

Tonight at 5pm there will be a protest to support Lemaan Achai against the Iriya. Rav Haber and the Vaad support this protest, and if you can participate in some way, it is highly recommended. For further information, there is an email below from Dov Lipman. Thank You. KSY Vaad ----- Original Message ----- From: Dov Lipman Sent:  Wednesday, February 09, 2011 1:36 PM Subject:  The Lemaan Achai protest is ON It was a morning full of negotiations and back and forth between city representatives and the demonstration organizers and, in the end, we are moving forward with the demonstration this evening.  It was obvious that the demonstration has thrown many at City Hall into panic mode, clearly showing the effectiveness of the demonstration, but they did not offer enough to make us back down.  Anything short of official recognition of the role which Lemaan Achai plays in the city and making it a formal and official line in the city budget is not acceptable to...

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT BY RABBI DOV LIPMAN Dear Friends, On Wednesday, the city council is voting for the 2011 budget.  The budget includes hundreds of thousands of shekalim for worthy chesed organizations but zero money for Lemaan Achai because extremist elements have instructed the Mayor not to give Lemaan Achai money.  Lemaan Achai provides all the social welfare services for Ramat Bet Shemesh including social workers to the point that the city's welfare department simply refers everyone in RBS to Lemaan Achai and the city does not have to expend resources there.  The city's welfare department is receiving 46 million NIS in the budget and not one shekel of it is set aside for Lemaan Achai.  We are protesting this injustice and the Mayor's caving to the demands of extremists elements this coming Wednesday at 5:00p.m. at City Hall.  Please come and join us at this very important event.   Thanks, Dov Lipman 

By Rabbi Dov Lipman BUDGET READY FOR VOTE DESPITE SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS AND CONTROVERSY Mayor Abutbol is presenting the 2011 municipal budget to the city council for a vote this coming Wednesday evening at 6:00p.m.   It was not an easy process and there is still significant controversy surrounding the budget.    Issues include : A line which reports income of 133,000 NIS with the headline "meat and fish ." 200,000 NIS for the "Foundation for City Success," a foundation with which city reps are not familiar . Projected income of 1.8 million NIS from parking tickets when in the first 9 months of 2010 there was only 400,000 NIS income from tickets . An increase from 100,000 NIS to 150,000 NIS for "Help for newborn mothers" when in 2010 only 13,000 NIS was actually spent for this cause .     400,000 NIS to Yad Eliezer which is a national chesed organization and zero to Lemaan Achai, a local organization which was promised funding by the Mayor and was ...

By Rabbi Dov Lipman HALFWAY HOUSE FOR PEDOPHILES IN MIDDLE OF OLD BET SHEMESH 200 residents of the Rechov Hamishlat neighborhood in Old Bet Shemesh took to the streets last Sunday to protest the establishment of a halfway house for convicted pedophiles who have been released from prison.   City councilman Motti Cohen (Dor Acher) pointed out that a city council committee had to approve the use of a building in a residential neighborhood for this purpose which did not happen and, therefore, he would be asking the city attorney to close the home.   An emotional moment took place when the mother of a girl who was killed at the city's shuk 4 years ago spoke and said that she asked the Mayor to use the home for a Midrasha named after her daughter to help troubled girls.   Many accused the Mayor of allowing the halfway house to be established because it is run by his friend who is a Shas activist.   The city government issued an official response that it was checking into...

By Rabbi Dov Lipman 5 COUNCILMEN JOIN MAYOR'S COALITION, 3 LEFT IN OPPOSITION   Mayor Abutbol celebrated the addition of 5 new coalition members last Motzei Shabbat.  This was a political victory beyond just the size of his coalition (16 members) because he succeeded in breaking apart all of the opposition parties.  Irit Marciano of Likud separated from Likud's other council member, Natan Sheetrit and joined the coalition in return for the city worker portfolio.  Jacky Edri and Ilana Yarcho of Býachad separated from Shalom Lerner in return for land for a hesder yeshiva, a shul for Nofei HaShemesh, control of the dati chinuch and youth movement portfolio, money for marketing dati communities, a member on the Matnas committee and the city's religious council, and money for women's activities.  Stella Walter and Alex Shleptzinko of the Russian party, Mishpacha Achat, joined together in return for the absorption portfolio.  Motti Cohen of Dor Acher se...