Yes We Can! (Mikva RBS)

Rav Nir Vargon said the following on Shabbos in shul as a summary of lessons learned from the mikva struggle.

NOTE: He spoke in Hebrew and I, with his permission, have translated his words to English. Any mistakes and inaccuracies are mine alone and I apologize for them in advance.
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Yes We can!

This is not a victory speech. And we cannot enter into euphoria. There are still extremist elements in Bet Shemesh, and I stress that I am not referring to the Haredi community and not to its Rabbonim, who do everything to take control here in RBS A with unlimited control. As of today, these powerful extremist elements are expecting to obtain a significant grip in RBS A by controlling the public mikva on Lachish, and who knows to where it will spread next. Therefore, the Action Committee has decided not to stop in the struggle.

On the other hand, I wanted to share with you the three main achievements of our struggle until now. First, at the beginning of the struggle, when the head of the Moetza HaDatit was replaced, the extremists wanted to take control over the two mikvas saying “the mizrochnikim will not fight for the mikvas”, and today it is clear to the mayor and to the extremists that they will not get more than the one mikva.

Second, even when the discussion was regarding one mikva until this past Tuesday, the mikva on Dolev which is closer to us would be transferred to Haredi control, and our wives would have to walk to the mikva further away that is older located on Lachish, and this week it was agreed that the mikva on Dolev that is closer to us will remain under the supervision of the Rabbanut.

Third, at the beginning of the struggle, we heard testimony by women who were treated in a shameful manner in the Haredi side of the public mikva, when they did not act in accordance with the stricter demands, and beginning this week the Haredi side is also officially under the supervision of Rav Biton with a letter hanging in the Dolev mikva by Rav Davidovitz in which he commits even in the Haredi side to allow every woman to immerse herself according to her minhag, as Rav Ovadya Yosef obligated him to do, and as is befitting to be in practice in any public mikva.

The conclusion I wish for us to learn from this is that next time we feel that they are trying to restrict our lives in RBS A:

Instead of saying “We have lost hope”,

Instead of sinking into despair due to politics and demographics,

Instead of thinking about a nice apartment in a comfortable place, about beautiful schools and large shuls with developed communities,

We will say to ourselves, “yes we can!” (pardon the lack of originality)

We can manage a struggle for our needs, our rights and our beliefs

We can manage a struggle even against a majority in City Council, and against threats by the mayor,

And most importantly: We can continue to live our lives here, to educate our children here, according to our religious and nationalist beliefs, for many more years.