"The political disputes revolve around one main issue, which is the growing charedization of Beit Shemesh and its suburb of Ramat Beit Shemesh.."
But then you say that Beit Shemesh is already a majority chareidi city? It sounds like talking about the growing Britification of London, or the growing Frenchification of Paris?
" He’s clean-shaven and has a Master’s degree in public policy; "
-Then isn't he automatically the most qualified candidate? Since he has an official *Master's* degree in *public* *policy*? Or do the other candidates have that as well?
"Note that this is notwithstanding the fact that someone told him all about what a terrible anti-charedi heretic I am! Clearly, he is sophisticated enough to distinguish between my museum and my other activities"
Maybe he's just not a black and white character (pun intended) and doesn't think you're a terrible person.
So I have a simple solution to all of this... move to the North like we did. There is a great need for more Jews to move to the north. We (charedi, non-charedi, secular Jews) are in the minority here. Many, many more Arabs live here. I have nothing against them but this is supposed to be a Jewish country; it would be nice to one day have a Jewish majority living up here as opposed to our small minority today. I cannot promise less politics, probably just different politics. (Truthfully, even in our small yeshuv of 390 or so families there are more politics than I would wish, just not the same as is happening in Beit Shemesh.)
Aliza Bloch didn't "sell out" she was a pragmatic person who kept her promises to be the mayor to the whole Beit Shemesh and not a specific group. She also realizes that she could never win reelection without chareidi support.
His actual business model (as in the model for the institution he founded and runs) is to appeal to everyone and stay away from anything remotely controversial. This is not his business.
As a longtime Charedi Beit Shemesh resident its very upsetting to see such a one-sided screed, especially from someone who likes to think of himself as nuanced and balanced. I do not have the time nor the will power to pick apart the myriad of falsehoods, misrepresentations, half truths, omissions etc. Suffice it to say, an equally onesided screed could (and probably has somewhere) be written from the charedi perspective listing all their grievances against the dati leumi community and all the ways they've been maligned, and mistreated in building permissions, neighborhood zoning etc.
Just a word to the reader - Always take with a grain of salt when you read something such as this in which things are just so clear - back and white, one side it evil and the other the blameless victim.
But that's the thing, while the charedim lost the mayorship, they received many more seats on the city council than Bloch. She basically had to work together with the charedim in order to have a stable coalition. Some would say this is preferable over one side having total power. There were many charedim that voted for Bloch for mayor but gimmel for city council specifically for this reason.
"I guess both sides are upset"
This is true. like in most politics, nobody gets everything they want.
Could you pick out one or two items of disagreement? Otherwise your comment is kind of contentless. For all I know you live in the US and never set foot in Bet Shemesh as you are posting anonymously (I don’t think that’s true but the comment by itself give no indication of anything).
Just walk through the right parts of RBS alef or gimmel and you'll see pashkavilim plastered to the wall (some even in english if you find hebrew difficult) listing the many grievances of the last 5 years. non-charedi schools put in the heart of charedi neighborhoods, not allowing the charedi residents who lawfully live in RBS 5 have any shuls or gans (they all are still praying in apartments) because the neighborhood was supposed to be for non-charedim, etc. etc. etc.
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
Both wrong. My 6 and 5 yo kids go to school in Israel by bus, and I was doing the same at an even younger age in France. But I don't write pashkevillin about this and I don't call my personal preferences 'political grievances'.
Non chareidi schools for little children…the horror!! Oh, wait must have been girl schools…like when they used to spit on little girls and call them prostitutes….
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
So you are saying that the DL parents are complaining about their schools being placed in Charedi planned areas? And the Charedim are complaining about their schools being placed in the DL areas. That’s not what I heard it certainly possible. Never heard about the traffic complaints.
Slifkin, you're an obsessed weirdo. Get a life.
As long as you're not obsessed with Slifkin...
(Hard to tell -- you probably change your pseudonym for each comment you write.)
"The political disputes revolve around one main issue, which is the growing charedization of Beit Shemesh and its suburb of Ramat Beit Shemesh.."
But then you say that Beit Shemesh is already a majority chareidi city? It sounds like talking about the growing Britification of London, or the growing Frenchification of Paris?
" He’s clean-shaven and has a Master’s degree in public policy; "
-Then isn't he automatically the most qualified candidate? Since he has an official *Master's* degree in *public* *policy*? Or do the other candidates have that as well?
"Note that this is notwithstanding the fact that someone told him all about what a terrible anti-charedi heretic I am! Clearly, he is sophisticated enough to distinguish between my museum and my other activities"
Maybe he's just not a black and white character (pun intended) and doesn't think you're a terrible person.
So I have a simple solution to all of this... move to the North like we did. There is a great need for more Jews to move to the north. We (charedi, non-charedi, secular Jews) are in the minority here. Many, many more Arabs live here. I have nothing against them but this is supposed to be a Jewish country; it would be nice to one day have a Jewish majority living up here as opposed to our small minority today. I cannot promise less politics, probably just different politics. (Truthfully, even in our small yeshuv of 390 or so families there are more politics than I would wish, just not the same as is happening in Beit Shemesh.)
Aliza Bloch didn't "sell out" she was a pragmatic person who kept her promises to be the mayor to the whole Beit Shemesh and not a specific group. She also realizes that she could never win reelection without chareidi support.
I would get out of BS while you can!
RDNS, or any other commenter here who will give a non-diatribe response, would you care to revisit this post?
After reading this, I think the answer involves praying harder for Moshiach. Democracy and Jews is not a good mix.
Rabbi Slifkin, you shouldn't believe all charedis think of you as a heretic. However, being anti-charedi is kind of your business model, why deny it?
His actual business model (as in the model for the institution he founded and runs) is to appeal to everyone and stay away from anything remotely controversial. This is not his business.
I know that, I was talking about the blog. I should maybe precise this isn't an accusation. I find it most of the time very interesting.
As a longtime Charedi Beit Shemesh resident its very upsetting to see such a one-sided screed, especially from someone who likes to think of himself as nuanced and balanced. I do not have the time nor the will power to pick apart the myriad of falsehoods, misrepresentations, half truths, omissions etc. Suffice it to say, an equally onesided screed could (and probably has somewhere) be written from the charedi perspective listing all their grievances against the dati leumi community and all the ways they've been maligned, and mistreated in building permissions, neighborhood zoning etc.
Just a word to the reader - Always take with a grain of salt when you read something such as this in which things are just so clear - back and white, one side it evil and the other the blameless victim.
Do you mean under Bloch? Well, at the end of the day, the charedi candidate lost the election, so what did you expect? I guess both sides are upset.
But that's the thing, while the charedim lost the mayorship, they received many more seats on the city council than Bloch. She basically had to work together with the charedim in order to have a stable coalition. Some would say this is preferable over one side having total power. There were many charedim that voted for Bloch for mayor but gimmel for city council specifically for this reason.
"I guess both sides are upset"
This is true. like in most politics, nobody gets everything they want.
So why don't you give some examples.
You're the Rebbeh so everything you say must be true and exact.
Could you pick out one or two items of disagreement? Otherwise your comment is kind of contentless. For all I know you live in the US and never set foot in Bet Shemesh as you are posting anonymously (I don’t think that’s true but the comment by itself give no indication of anything).
Just walk through the right parts of RBS alef or gimmel and you'll see pashkavilim plastered to the wall (some even in english if you find hebrew difficult) listing the many grievances of the last 5 years. non-charedi schools put in the heart of charedi neighborhoods, not allowing the charedi residents who lawfully live in RBS 5 have any shuls or gans (they all are still praying in apartments) because the neighborhood was supposed to be for non-charedim, etc. etc. etc.
So these are all grievances about Bloch. They have nothing to do with the bulk of my post, which is about tje charedi takeover of Beit Shemesh.
By the way, what non-charedi school was put in the heart of a charedi area?
How can both non-charedi schools in charedi neighborhoods and lack of charedi synagogues in non-charedi neighborhhods be bad at the same time?
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
Both wrong. My 6 and 5 yo kids go to school in Israel by bus, and I was doing the same at an even younger age in France. But I don't write pashkevillin about this and I don't call my personal preferences 'political grievances'.
Non chareidi schools for little children…the horror!! Oh, wait must have been girl schools…like when they used to spit on little girls and call them prostitutes….
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
So the children deserved to be spat upon. Got it
What is the objection to non-Charedi schools in mostly Charedi neighborhoods? Do the Charedim advocate complete segregation?
you fool. you either don't live in israel, or you don't have children. Everyone living in Israel with kids going to school prefers that the schools allocated buildings in their neighbourhood be schools that the residents of the neighbourhood would actually send too. In israel kids travel to school on there own already at a young age and the closer the school the better. Additionally, when a school is full of kids from outside the neighbourhood, that leads to an excess of cars bringing those kids to school clogging up the already poorly designed roads in the neighborhood.
So you are saying that the DL parents are complaining about their schools being placed in Charedi planned areas? And the Charedim are complaining about their schools being placed in the DL areas. That’s not what I heard it certainly possible. Never heard about the traffic complaints.
Also isn’t that a long-standing claim? I though that the various protests were one of the many things that propelled Bloch into office.