This past MOtzei Shabbos, Shalom Lerner held his event in which he offically announced his candidacy for the position of mayor of Bet Shemesh.
I purposely delayed writing about it, so I would not be caught up in the excitement of the event and write a post while pumped on adrenaline or anything like that.
The event was fun and exciting. The hall was filled to well-beyond capacity. Reports say that there were around 950 people who showed up. Not everybody stayed the whole time - people came and left, and many stayed for the duration.
Of course there was the social aspect of it, and everybody was having a good time seeing friends, but when the event actually started it was exciting.
There were various speakers representing varying communities. An Ethiopian Rabbi, the Rabbi of Nofei Aviv, a representative of the Russian community was meant to be there speaking, but he got called away on an emergency (he is a doctor), so he sent his good wishes to be read. A representative of RBS spoke, a rep from the Dati Leumi community spoke, and Shalom Lerner spoke.
Aside from the speakers themselves, the crowd consisted of people representing the wide spectrum of the Bet Shemesh population. There were people from old Bet Shemesh, next to new Bet Shemesh and RBS residents. Some Haredi residents, some secular, along with the naturally larger representatino from the Dati Leumi community. A lot of anglos and a lot of Israelis, along with plenty of Russians and Ethiopians.
They played a video speaking to various people about why Shalom is the right person for the job. You can see the video at the end of the post.
Surprisingly, even Moshe Abutbol was there. Abutbol (Shas) is currently the leading candidate for the mayoral position. He even spoke in the video and said that if he himself does not win the position int he elections, he would be happy if it was Shalom lerner who won!
Shalom's campaign is picking up momentum. I am told that a new professional and scientific poll being released on Friday is expected to indicate that Shalom has overtaken the current Mayor for second place and is closing in on Moshe Abutbol for first place.
Of course polls don't necessarily mean much, but they are a reasonable indication of trends, even if they cannot be relied upon for accuracy.
Email shalomformayor@gmail.com to help out or to get a sign for your front of your home!
And here is the video:
Rafi,
ReplyDeleteDo we need to register to vote? Since we just arrived year ago, we don't really know the procedure...
thanks!
you just need tyo make sure the address in your teudat zehit is your Bet Shemesh address. No need to register with a party (unless you want to be able to vote in party primaries).
ReplyDeleteYou can only vote in the city in which your Teudat Zehut says you live. So, for example, if you moved to BS from jerusalem but never bothered changing your TZ, you can still only vote in Jerusalem. Before the elections you would have to go to Misrad HaPnim and change it to your current address so you can vote in your city.
If you just made aliya and you live in BS, your TZ probably has you as BS. So you are probably ok.