Demonstration tonight! in RBS B

Rechov Nahar HaYarden 9
7pm
Demonstration protesting the violence against the kanaim and extremists in Bet
Organized by other Charedim in Bet

The Latest local War?

Will we have more violence, road closures and sinas chinam in RBS B? Will this spill over into RBSA again? Does anyone know exactly what they are planning to build in Resido center that is antagonizing the Rabbis & residents in RBS B?

This appeared in Afersemon and is hanging in places around RBS: (translation is paraphrased)

"Resido Center is in the final stages of construction on Nahar Yarden corner of Herzog, this large building is a grave spiritual danger for the entire area and can chalila ruin the entire investment of sweat and blood by the Rabbis and institutions of the neighborhoods which spread Torah and Judaism."

"Since the initiatives and trials of our Rabbis have until now not suceeded in anything and these [people] are still stubborn and continue to be rebel."

(in large letters) "WE ARE THEREFORE WARNING

the Resido company and all parties involved cease and desist this very moment, do a last minute about face and change your destructive plans to change the face of our pure and holy neighborhood."

"Because we will fight with great might and fierceness because this touches our souls!"

"(You may well remember that in the past in Bnei Brak they tried to build a shopping mall and they did not succeed)"

"Charedi Beit Shemesh is ready and prepared to fight for its soul"

(in large letters) "WITH A GREAT FORCE"

"To distance from our homes this leperous growth who knows the consequences!"


SIGNED "The public committee to save the neighborhood" (be prepared for a continuation of details to follow"

Comments are moderated, inappropriate comments will be deleted!

Demonstration - New Date

We finalized with the police that the demonstration against violence will take place next Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 6 p.m. Rechov Herzog.

Exact details still to follow.
Spread the word.
If you would like to help organizing please call or e-mail me.

Shalom Lerner
9909817/8 050 5256716
shalomlr@bshemesh.co.il

Urgent - Time for Action!

The demonstration due to take place this Monday, on Rechov Herzog, against violence in the neighborhoods, has been postponed due to technical reasons. We will notify you as soon as possible of a new date.
Shalom Lerner
Deputy Mayor Beit Shemesh
9909817/8 050 5256716
shalomlr@bshemesh.co.il

Two days ago a woman was attacked on a bus; I was told that Friday, before Shabbat, some fanatics put rocks on Rechov Herzog, which could be very dangerous; yesterday they sprayed graffiti around the area of Orot Neria on Rechov Herzog (signs and fences).

After speaking this morning to the Chief of Police, Jerusalem region (under whose jurisdiction we are) I realized that we cannot rely on them and we have to start acting.

On Monday evening at 18.00 (29.10.07), we will, be"h hold a mass demonstration on Rechov Herzog in front of the buildings who think that it's their shecunah, telling them "Ad Ka'an" "עד כאן".

If you want to live peacefully with us, good. This is our city, our neighborhoods and we plan to stay here and we won't let you ruin it!

I hope that all good people in Beit Shemesh, especially Scheinfeld, Aviv and Rama Aleph residents will be there on mass.

We are planning a meeting of activists on Friday morning - if you would like to join or help, please e-mail or call me (see below).

We have waited long enough (maybe too > long) and now is the time to take action.

All the best,
Shalom Lerner Deputy Mayor Beit Shemesh 9909817/8 050 5256716 shalomlr@bshemesh.co.il

Jackie Edry and Zvi Wolicki will be with us Monday night - please come

Please join us for our next Anti-Violence Action Committee meeting:

When: Monday night, October 15th at 8:30 pm
Where: Havatzelet 14B, Ra'anan home

On the Agenda:

* Effective and quick ways of gathering signatures on the petition
* Setting a date to meet with the mayor and chief of police
* Letting the candidates know how important this is to us...

Our meeting Monday night has turned from a "let's brainstorm ideas after
the chagim" discussion to a meeting with 2 elected officials within the
Beit Shemesh municipal government. Please come, if nothing else to show
Jackie and Zvi that we are real, that we are to be taken seriously, and
that we won't stop until the problem is solved.

B'vracha,

Sharon Ra'anan
NDS Technical Writer
(02) 589-4147 0545-665-105

The Action Committee Against Violence in Beit Shemesh - Petition Against the Violence Available for Signing

The Action Committee has prepared a petition against the violence and intimidation, with the help of many people, including Chareidim from Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet who are against the violence and intimidation. Our aim has been to develop a petition phrased in such a way as to condemn the violence and intimidation categorically, while also using Hebrew phraseology acceptable to even the most halachically meticulous in the Chareidi community.

We aim to use this petition as one of the steps in uniting all sectors of the community in Bet Shemesh against the violence, and showing that people of good will from all sectors CAN work together fruitfully to solve problems in our city. We will present the mayor and the police chief with the thousands of signatures which we expect to collect – but, more important than that, we will use this petition as a statement by the vast majority of the people of all sectors in the city that we will not tolerate violence and intimidation, and that we want to change the atmosphere such that Bet Shemesh will once again be noted as a quiet pleasant city, and will no longer be in the news mainly because of violent incidents.

We realize that full realization of this vision will probably take years, but we are willing to work step-by-step to galvanize the goodwill of the majority of people of all sectors in the city into a force that this city can be proud of. The more people who sign this petition the more it will signal to the hooliganistic elements, who are trying to intimidate the good people of Bet Shemesh, that people WILL stand up and be counted against such reprehensible behavior.

We request that all residents of Bet Shemesh from the age of 18 and up sign our petition (which is in Hebrew), the English translation of which is:

We, the undersigned, condemn all acts of violence and intimidation of residents of our city which are perpetrated, as it were, in the name of our holy Torah; behavior of this type is contrary to our holy Torah and demeans it, and at times even causes actual life-threatening danger. We appeal to the leaders and Rabbis of all the communities in the city to exert all of their influence to bring about an immediate cessation of all of these types of actions. We pray that our appeal will be warmly received, and that through our endeavors the verse, (Zechariah 8:19) "Love peace and truth," will be fulfilled.

You can download the petition from this website and print it and sign it and collect signatures of your neighbors – please contact Catriel Lev (054-762-9332) in Ramat Bet Shemesh, or Sharon Raanan (054-566-5105) in Nofei Aviv, when you have sheets full of signatures, so that we can collect them.

You can also receive petition files by sending an Email to Catriel Lev (Email: clev@actcom.com) requesting them.

Additionally, people can sign the petition online at the internet address:
http://www.lamitnadev.kaima.org/moatza/p2_7.html
And we thank HaMoetzah HaTziburit Lemaan Bet Shemesh for providing the web page where people can sign the petition online!

Please help make Bet Shemesh a better place by signing this petition and encouraging others to sign as well.

Flyer Against Hooligans Distributed at the RAMA Steiblach in RBS-Bet

This is a copy of the open letter against hooligans distributed at the RAMA Steiblach in RBS-Bet. It was brought to the Piacezna Rebbe by somebody who saw it around.

Action Committee against Violence in Beit Shemesh

Meeting Minutes: August 8, 2007

Attendees: Sharon Ra’anan, Catriel Lev, Marsha and Stuart Razin, Alan Halibard, Cindy Feder, Eve Finkelstein, Renee Halpert

Description of the reality of violence: We discussed our personal experiences with haredi violence in Beit Shemesh.
Estimate: There are 500 – 1000 hooligans in RBS.
Our goals:
To create a climate of zero-tolerance for violence within Beit Shemesh.
To give the silent, non-violent majority the courage to speak up publicly and demand that the violence stop.
To push the police to punish the perpetrators.
To create a “rumble” from below that will convince our leaders – politicians, Rabbis, and police officers – that we are unhappy with the current situation, and will not stand for it.
To reverse the negative decline within Beit Shemesh: housing pricing are dropping, people are moving to Modiin, who would want to come here given the garbage, the violence, the current climate?
First Project: Citizen’s meeting with the Mayor. Action Items:
Invite the Mayor (Renee)
Once we have a date, invite other influential people: Chief of Police (Renee), Rabbis (Stuart), Shalom Lerner (Stuart), Shimon Peres (Sharon to talk to Akiva Tor), Sheetreet (Eve), Avi Dichter (Eve?)
Marsha and Alan to work on phone calls to various block representatives. (Renee will coordinate.)
Katriel and Sharon to work on a list of demands during the meeting.

NOTE: Katriel can translate from English à Hebrew, so anything we have to go out, please run it by him!

Catriel Lev's call to action

Catriel Lev asked me to post this here:

DON'T BE FRIGHTENED!
THIS IS A LONG Posting, but ITS MAIN POINT IS SUMMARIZED in the following two paragraphs:

I am starting an initiative to rid our neighborhood of its intolerance and violence problems; I call it the Vaad LeHatzneah Lechet im Elokecha (הועד להצנע לכת עם אלקיך), based upon the verse in Michah (6:8) – but the name is much less important than the goal! I am not naïve; the problems may never be totally eradicated, but if we make that our goal, we should be able to reach something like 90-99% success over the course of the years that this initiative will have to operate! We need the participation of many, many people from each of the communities which comprise Ramat Bet Shemesh – so this initiative is for all of you: Dati, Chareidi, Masorati and Chiloni!

I urge everyone else who has the courage and the determination to work with me to build a coherent non-violent solution to contact me by Email (clev@actcom.com) so that we can set up a LONG list of MANY people who will be willing to stand up and be counted to stop the Chillul Hahshem.

Some DETAILS of This Initiative:
First of all, this type of initiative will clearly need years to turn back the unhealthy tide that has caused so much Chillul Hashem and grief to residents of our city! I am looking for other like-minded people from Bet Shemesh FROM ALL COMMUNITIES – we can only do this with serious public Chareidi community participation as well as participation of the other communities in our fair city! I am NOT looking for people who want REVENGE or the like! We need people with the courage and the determination to work to build a coherent non-violent solution – and non-violent solutions almost always take more time to effect than violent ones!

I ask for people to have courage and determination because people have already been threatened with regard to these issues, and we can expect that there will be further threats (and perhaps physical attacks) as this initiative progresses. HOWEVER, I am certain that it behooves us to develop the courage and determination to take action, even if it entails some risk, so that we have a chance to "turn the tide" and not just leave our neighborhood open to more and more violence and intolerance!

We must pursue positive steps with calculated plans to make EVERYONE feel as welcome as possible in our community; and this means working out practical "programs" that will halt violence (or at least reduce it in the utmost) and will "force" violent types to find outlets for their nervous energy in activities that neither injure nor offend others. So this requires all of us to "step back" from our anger at the despicable actions which have occurred, and realize that those who have been performing these actions are also our fellow Jews, and that there are ways to direct them to non-offensive behavior. That they may deserve to be punished is beside the point – WHAT WE NEED IS A TRULY PLEASANT COMMUNITY ATMOSPHERE, so we also have to be ready to deal with the needs of the people who have been behaving offensively!

The most elementary part of a solution is having reasonable people from all communities unite for the common goal of eliminating violence as a way to deal with community issues. The vast majority of people from all communities are disgusted with the violence by "hooligans" that is besmirching the name of our city (at least, I believe that the vast majority thinks this way, and I sincerely hope that I am not being naïve in this belief), but this "silent majority" opinion has not yet coalesced into a form that can be used for positive action.

There are three basic points on which we must take positive action:

1. Getting everyone who disapproves of violence to refrain from any actions which might make the hooligans who commit violent acts appear to be celebrities. They have already become celebrities to a certain extent, and we must work on removing this celebrity status. This, of course, includes approaching Rabbis who have not yet opposed the violence and to show them how opposing the violence will improve the community (in addition to being required Halachically, as an EIDAH CHAREIDIT wall poster requiring a cessation of the violence emphasizes – see http://rbsanews.blogspot.com/2007/07/kol-koreh-against-violence.html, which was publicized on this blog spot), and how they can utilize the energies of these hooligans for positive activities (see point #3).

2. Getting the hooligans to cease violence. This is, of course, extremely difficult; but enough strong community social pressure can produce the desired result! This will probably take years of repeated step-by-step social action: first, making community leaders truly aware that the vast majority oppose this hooliganism; second, convincing them that they can make a difference if they continually speak out against the violence (and showing the positivist attitude that even if it does not make an immediate impact the first time, it can have a cumulative effect if it is consistently followed up), third getting through to the hooligans themselves (most, or all, of whom are known in their communities).

3. Rehabilitating the hooligans (most, or all, of whom are known to participate in other activities [like "Tishes", and Hachnasot Sifrei Torah] in order to find "action"): This means having their communities develop programs which can channel the "nervous energy" which these hooligans put into violence, and use it for positive actions (there are some well known examples of this occurring). Perhaps the extremist communities need to provide a Simchat Torah-like affair once a month, and maybe even many of these people who are at present besmirching the good name of Bet Shemesh can be "roped into" activities that help the community (building rooms for Talmudei Torah, helping people build Succot, bringing food to the elderly and the sick, helping people get to hospitals when necessary, etc.). Their community leaders who know them should be trying to channel that "nervous energy" which is often let out in unseemly manners, so that it is let out in ways that can make a positive contribution to the community.

I think that the community leaders who are not at present expressing themselves will NOT do what I suggest here unless there is serious social pressure, and sincere desire to change things among the "silent majority of peaceful Chareidim" (despite the almost certain knowledge that it will engender threats against them) along with the members of the other communities; and I hope that these step-by-step plans can turn around the situation eventually. There do not appear to be any easy solutions, but I have just outlined the skeleton of a coherent non-violent solution.

However, I am not naive – it will probably get worse before it gets better! This why I am appealing to reasonable people from all communities to Email me and let us begin serious POSITIVE action, and we can only do this with serious public Chareidi participation! I have spoken to some Chareidi Rabbis, and will speak to more, but they all seem to agree with me that the solution can only come from the grassroots average people having the courage to confront the situation and to make it clear that they will not tolerate violence and demand that all disagreements (whether they be ideological, Halachic or otherwise) be voiced without violence and with kavod for the other people involved.Let us attempt to "turn back the tide" of violence and to perform a true Kiddush Hashem before it is too late!

Bivrachah,
Catriel Lev
Telephone: 02-991-4332
Mobile Phone: 054-762-9332

WANTED: First-hand accounts of incidents of violence in Beit Shemesh

It seems that the level of violence in our city has increased. In order to figure out how to address this problem, it is important to first define exactly what the problem *is*.

If you personally experienced an act of violence - someone spitting on you, throwing a rock at you,verbally abusing you, making you feel fearful in any way - please describe it in detail and send it to me or post it here. (Where were you, what happened,who was the violent party, etc.)

Secondly, if you would like to help me begin to work on this issue,please let me know. I believe that many solutions exist, and we can work together to make Beit Shemesh a better place.

B'vracha,

Sharon Ra'anan SRaanan@nds.com

(02) 589-4147 0545-665-105

Kol Koreh Against Violence

Thanks to Dov Krulwich for sending this in. I too saw it hanging near the RBSA mercaz.

Poster against violence in general and spec. not to throw rocks, not to burn garbage in the streets, not to damage property because it is not derech haTorah.

Signed by Rabbis of Eida Charedit:

R' Moshe Sternbuch, R' Meir Brandsdorfer, R' Avrahm Yitzhak Ulman, R' Naftali Frankel, R' Yehoshua Rosenberger (Rav of Rama in RBS B) R' Yaakov Mendel Yarovitch and the GaB"D R' Yitzhak Yuvia Weiss

Please send in other newsworthy items from RBS A and I will be happy to post (at my discretion)