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Aug 10, 2014
Banning Haredim from the park in Givat Shmuel
remember all the fights in Modiin about whether non-city-residents, a.k.a "haredim from modiin ilit", would be allowed to enter and enjoy Park Anabe for free or if they would be charged a fee?
In the end Modiin resolved the issue by keeping it free for everyone. Problem solved. Or maybe it was just problem moved.
All is good in Modiin, but now Givat Shmuel is trying something similar.
According to Kikar, residents of Bnei Braq, read: haredim, went over to the neighboring town of Givat Shmuel to enjoy the park and sports facility there. While entry is supposed to be free, it turns out all the Haredi visitors were stopped at the entrance and required to pay 30nis per person.
Summer activitiess are expensive, but when you go to something and expect it to be free, being charged full price, per person for a large family, it can be a big hit to the pocketbook.
Some paid, some didn't, some got upset, some protested, some threatened. At the end of the day, the guards at the entrance insisted on all the visitors from out of the city, a.k.a. haredim from Bnei Braq, pay the entrance fee.
The fight is the same - the Haredim from Bnei Braq say it is discrimination, charging haredim money while letting in people with knitted kippot for free, ignoring the issue of where one lives and where one pays taxes. The poritz, the local ruler who decides who to make and who to break, says it is free for locals, no matter what color kippa, because they pay local taxes, and it costs money for people from elsewhere, no matter the kippa color. It just happens to be most visitors are from Bnei Braq, but nothing personal against Bnei Braq or Haredim. And of course there is always someone who adds that during vacation periods the haredim come in mass numbers, making the locals who pay for it feel uncomfortable or they cant enjoy it at all, and leave a big mess. Those filthy Haredim.
So which is it and what will be?
For now, the fee is in place, but my guess is that soon it will be canceled, after a bit of fighting. That's the way it happens, because that is the law. It happened in Ranana, it happened in Modiin, and it will probably happen in Givat Shmuel.
Whatever happens though, perhaps it is time for the Haredi cities to be building some of their own "attractions". Build a nice park and sports facility in Bnei Braq and Modiin Ilit. If it was really so bad, they would be banning these places during vacations rather than fighting for them to be free. The city could charge people from the outside and make some income off it, and do something nice with a controlled environment for their own residents (so they dont have to see the pritzus in other non-haredi cities)... but they wont do it.
In the end Modiin resolved the issue by keeping it free for everyone. Problem solved. Or maybe it was just problem moved.
All is good in Modiin, but now Givat Shmuel is trying something similar.
According to Kikar, residents of Bnei Braq, read: haredim, went over to the neighboring town of Givat Shmuel to enjoy the park and sports facility there. While entry is supposed to be free, it turns out all the Haredi visitors were stopped at the entrance and required to pay 30nis per person.
Summer activitiess are expensive, but when you go to something and expect it to be free, being charged full price, per person for a large family, it can be a big hit to the pocketbook.
Some paid, some didn't, some got upset, some protested, some threatened. At the end of the day, the guards at the entrance insisted on all the visitors from out of the city, a.k.a. haredim from Bnei Braq, pay the entrance fee.
The fight is the same - the Haredim from Bnei Braq say it is discrimination, charging haredim money while letting in people with knitted kippot for free, ignoring the issue of where one lives and where one pays taxes. The poritz, the local ruler who decides who to make and who to break, says it is free for locals, no matter what color kippa, because they pay local taxes, and it costs money for people from elsewhere, no matter the kippa color. It just happens to be most visitors are from Bnei Braq, but nothing personal against Bnei Braq or Haredim. And of course there is always someone who adds that during vacation periods the haredim come in mass numbers, making the locals who pay for it feel uncomfortable or they cant enjoy it at all, and leave a big mess. Those filthy Haredim.
So which is it and what will be?
For now, the fee is in place, but my guess is that soon it will be canceled, after a bit of fighting. That's the way it happens, because that is the law. It happened in Ranana, it happened in Modiin, and it will probably happen in Givat Shmuel.
Whatever happens though, perhaps it is time for the Haredi cities to be building some of their own "attractions". Build a nice park and sports facility in Bnei Braq and Modiin Ilit. If it was really so bad, they would be banning these places during vacations rather than fighting for them to be free. The city could charge people from the outside and make some income off it, and do something nice with a controlled environment for their own residents (so they dont have to see the pritzus in other non-haredi cities)... but they wont do it.
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Rafi wrote "perhaps it is time for the Haredi cities to be building some of their own "attractions". "
ReplyDeleteMy response -- you GOTTA be kidding. Where would the money come from?? The haredim fight TOOTH and NAIL for massive arnona discounts (remember -- 80% wasn't good enough - it must be 90%) for the voluntarily poor who are unemployed out of choice -- the rest of us must support this lifestyle. It is possible that the city of Givat Shmuel was sick of out-of-towners coming and making a mess. It is human nature to treat things that you didn't pay for or contribute to with less care than things that you DID contribute it. As a resident of RBS A, I have noticed that in the past year Park Ayalon (near the bottom) has become REALLY filthy. I can't help but thinking that if the residents there actually paid for the upkeep, they would take more care about not leaving garbage on the grass. Go ahead now -- call me a racist or a 'haredi basher'
I live in Givat Shmuel, there are plenty of free parks that are enjoyed by all segments of the population. There is also a newly renovated "sportek" that is supposed to be for residents only. All residents received an entry card in the mail which can be used at the sportek. Personally, I thought it odd and offensively exclusive that the sportek use would be restricted to card carrying residents, but it is in no way a policy that is anti- Haredi, it is simply a facility that can only be used by residents.
ReplyDeleteI dont know if you will know or not, but what makes on facility only for residents and another open to everyone?
DeleteThe people from Bnei Braq said, what would be f we only allowed locals to use our shuls and supermarkets? What if we charged to come daven maariv in Itzkovitz? there would be an outcry!
Truth is, with all the money collectors in the shuls, one might say they already do charge.. :-)
joking aside, what makes on facility for residents only and another for everyone?
What they should do to make it technically legal is institute a universal charge and give residents a 90% discount so that their entry fee is a token amount. I have no problem with the idea that those whose taxes fund a facility should have preferential access to it.
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteThere's a sportek type park in Carmiel which is free for residents and 25 shekel for everyone else. Seems reasonable to me. Do that for any city park that you want - if it's good enough people will pay.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the difference here is that if it's close enough to a Charedi town, people will also claim it's because of them. Sometimes the Charedi community spends too much energy thinking that everyone is thinking about them, when everyone else is just living their own lives.