A Guest Post by Rav Dov Lipman

These last few weeks have seen extremists try to force their ideologies on the rest of Bet Shemesh and we have, with God's help, stood up to them and said, "NO! This is a city for all Jews regardless of their background, customs, or ideology.

A beautiful culture hall is now being built in the land between Nachala Umenucha and Migdal Hamayim (you may be familiar with the place where they sell watermelons and the taxi stand for Moniyot Sharet) This culture hall will serve all the Bet Shemesh populations including chareidim (just imagine - finally a beautiful local place
for a siyum hashas, concerts, etc. ).

Within the last few days, a man idenitying himself as a resident of Nachala Umenucha called one of the people involved in the construction of the Culture Hall and said that he and his friends will not let the culture hall be built in that location because it means that secular people and secular events will ruin the holiness of their
neighborhood. There was actually an effort from this group to tear down the security fence protecting the construction site.

We are not going to let a group of thugs stop things from moving forward in this city. All of us who simply want a nice, pleasant Jewish city and not looking to force it into becoming an exclusively chareidi city are gathering together on Motzei Shabbat to once again say, "NO! This is a city for all Jews regardless of their background, customs, or ideology." I encourage everyone in Ramat Bet Shemesh to come and join us in a protest march beginning at 9:00p.m. at the corner of Ben Zeev and Levi Eshkol. (If coming from RBS, turn right at the Yarden/Herzog traffic circle, then turn left at the first traffic circle. That is Levi Eshkol. Pass the first traffic circle and you will see the gathering on the left at the next corner. Park along Levi Eshkol.)

This will be your chance to unite with the rest of Bet Shemesh and declare that we are one nation of Jews and no one can force their ideologies upon us in an attempt to take away things which any normal city needs.

I look forward to seeing all of you there and please do not hesitate to e-mail me at ddlipman@gmail.com with any questions.