In light of some recent tragedies in Bet Shemesh in which young children playing in the parking lots of their buildings were hit and injured/killed by cars driving through (backing up), some rabbis of the local communities have come out issuing an interesting psak..

A weird incident happened recently in the Haredi neighborhood of RBS D. 

זאת בית שמש!❣️ pic.twitter.com/ISdL1xkYf9

— יוסי ריינר | Yossi rainer (@yossi_rainer) August 28, 2023

#תרבות_ברמה

מיטב החדשות של בית שמש:

עם כדור ביד והרבה אמביציה התאספו אמש עשרות נשים חרדיות תושבות שכונת רמה ד' למשחק כדורסל ראשון במגרש הספורט החדש בשכונה.
"נשים יכולות לשחק כדורסל בלי לחרוג מגדרי ההלכה" הן אומרות בנחרצות,
"אנו קוראות לכל אחת שמתעניינת בכדורסל להצטרף אלינו". pic.twitter.com/7a63GdNkMm

— רמה ד' - בית שמש (@ramadalet_bs) June 11, 2023

Translation:

Kikar is reporting on an interesting battle taking place right now in RBS D, a similar battle to one that has taken place in many cities and neighborhoods with mixed populations - basically a power struggle for controlling the tone of the neighborhood or city.

Every year the debate arises in Bet Shemesh as to which day of Purim should be celebrated. Bet Shemesh always celebrated on the 14th of Adar, like most cities, because it is an unwalled city. There have always been some people who felt that in Bet Shemesh Purim should be celebrated on the 15th as well, like a walled city, due to its proximity to the ancient remains of Bet Shemesh and Yarmouth that was walled. These opinions have somewhat increased over the years with the expansion of the new neighborhoods of Bet Shemesh with RBS Gimmel and Daled (C and D) actually sitting on and adjacent to the ancient walled city of Tel Yarmouth.

Everybody has their preferences for the type of community they want to live in. Some people want a more diverse community, some want a more tolerant community, some want a more religious community, some a less religious community, some a Haredi community, some a Dati Leumi community, some a secular community, some want more yeshivas, some want more parks, come want more community centers and basketball courts or soccer pitches, some want more shuls and schools, some want more Hassidic, some want mroe Litvishe, some more Sefardic, some more Ashkenazic, some want a more "anglo" community, some a less anglo and more Israeli community, etc. 

This ad was run in local Bet Shemesh periodicals..

A lot has been written about celebrating Purim in Bet Shemesh in the coming days due to the proximity of new neighborhoods to the ancient Yarmuth ruins. 

There has been some talk for a long time about questions regarding which day should be celebrated as Purim in Bet Shemesh, or in certain parts of Bet Shemesh, due to its proximity to ancient walled towns. While Bet Shemesh celebrates Purim on the 14th, like most of the world, some say it should also, at least msafek, do the mitzvot of Purim on the 15th like Jerusalem and other walled towns, due to proximity to the ruins of Yarmuth, and possibly also due to the proximity to the ancient Tel Bet Shemesh.

I am not sure what to add about this, so I am just going to post it as a public service announcement..

Yesterday it became known that a number of apartments in the "Mechir LaMishtaken" lottery for RBS E (Hei), aka Neve Shamir, were won by Haredi residents. In light of that, Mayor Aliza Bloch released a statement saying that anybody buying apartments in RBS Hei should know in advance that the buildings and the neighborhood will be built according to the plans designing it for the general public - tall buildings, no sukka porches, less space for shuls and more for other community structures. Anybody buying there should know this in advance and not complain later.

And, Bloch continued, RBS D (Daled) is designed for the religious and Haredi communities and anybody buying there should take that fact into account.

Anybody, each person, can choose where they want to live, but everyone should take into account the plans for the designs of the various neighborhoods and decide where they want to live.

sources: Shemeshnet and Behadrei

Mayor of Bet Shemesh Aliza Bloch is putting together her coalition (I have no information about the progress on this other than the little bit that has been leaked to the press - such as it looks like Shas and Agudat Yisrael will be in the coalition, along with Likud, Habayit Hayehudi and Bloch's party, while Degel Hatorah might be out - nothing is final or real until the final coalition is actually announced and then even after that things can change - as they aren't yet getting the jobs or commitments they are demanding).

In the meantime, there is already some news of dramatic changes being made by Bloch in Bet Shemesh.

Bloch announced that in her meetings yesterday in the Knesset with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Minister of Housing (Yoav Galant of Kulanu), among others, it was decided and agreed upon that changes would be made in the agreement with Bet Shemesh for future construction that the Sheves Law will not be applied. The Attorney General of Bet Shemesh, Miki Gastwirth, has already informed kablanim and developers of this change.

The Sheves Law allows kablanim to take the originally approved plans for a neighborhood and using the same meterage make changes by building smaller apartments and up to 30% more of them, without going through bureaucracy and needing to obtain new permits and submitting new plans. Meaning, for the sake of an example, if initial approved plans allowed for buildings of 10 apartments each being 100 square meters, the kablanim using the Sheves Law can build 13 apartments of 77 square meters each (or whatever the actual numbers are).

The Sheves Law gives the kablanim the ability to make more money off the same meterage, by selling more smaller apartments, thus giving them encouragement and more reason to build there. The entire RBS D is planned to be built like this.

With Bloch announcing that RBS D will not have the Sheves Law applied to it, people are in a tizzy. They think this will put a stop to future construction of Haredi neighborhoods, as the kablanim will decide it isn't worth building in Bet Shemesh without the Sheves law. Bloch is making significant changes fast.

I heard Bloch on the radio and she explained that in RBS C (aka Gimmel), for example, many [Haredi] residents are complaining that the neighborhood was built with many people stuffed into small areas, and inadequate infrastructure. She was elected to change that. Instead of building future neighborhoods for more people than approved with less than adequate infrastructure, they will build, and RBS D will still be built for the Haredi community, for the right amount of people for the infrastructure, and the infrastructure (eg shuls, mikvaot, yeshivas, parks, etc) will be built while the neighborhood is being built rather than years after residents move in - as what happened in RBS C (Gimmel).

With the apartments being built to the sizes they were originally planned, that will mean slightly larger apartments at slightly higher prices. That will likely mean not as many newly married young couples, while purchasers will likely be a little bit older, with kids already, and with income and a slightly higher socioeconomic status.

Degel Hatorah is very upset at this and is threatening to thwart the plans to make this change, as such a change must be approved by the City Council. The thing is, even if Degel stays out of the coalition for now, as it looks like might happen, if Shas and Agudat Yisrael join the coalition Degel won't have the blocking majority they were hoping for and this change should get approved easily.

I don't know if this change is good or bad overall. I don't understand the logic of the Sheves Law in the first place. it seems to be a convenient way to pull a fast one on people, planning a neighborhood to look like x and then letting the kablanim change it to y so they can profit a little more. The Sheves Law looks bad to me, but I don't know enough about it. It does seem to me that building for the right amount of people based on local infrastructure seems like a good idea rather than crowding people in with inadequate resources and letting them complain a few years later. The other option would be to extend the Sheves law and have it say that if the kablan increases the numbers of apartments, the infrastructure must be increased proportionally, but then there go their extra profits, so it might still not be attractive...

According to this report on Bechadrei, the Regional Planning and Construction Board made changes to the plans for one section of RBS D and has filed it and made it available for public opposition.

The plan is for 1200 apartments in Southwest Bet Shemesh. The main change is that the plans will include some very tall buildings - some of them as tall as 12 story buildings, thus making it more compatible for the non-haredi community than for the Haredi community.

It is generally thought that Haredim avoid buying in high-rise buildings because they try to avoid using "Shabbos elevators" and do not want to have to walk up so many flights of stairs. This is why the other neighborhoods of RBS C, D and E have been planned with buildings that are maximum 5 stories tall.

The plans include a section for commerce, business, public buildings, schools, medical center, gas station, a neighborhood park and a large park.

I do not know how this will affect the opposition to the construction plans of new neighborhoods. Will they still be opposed as being built only for Haredim? This might not affect the complaints coming from the environmentalists, but those from the social perspective might lose their main argument. I hope and expect that community leaders in Bet Shemesh will work to put together buyers groups and try to attract young couples and families to buy in this new neighborhood, if it will be approved.

Archaeologists have announced that they have discovered remnants of the palace of King David in the archaeological site called Qayifa located in the Elah Valley, just outside of Bet Shemesh.

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University and Antiquities Authority have announced that the remnants of the palace show that the palace was located in a strategic spot. Based on the size, the palace would have overlooked the town of Gat and the ares in which the Philistines resided. Looking west the palace would have view of the coastal region, and that extends eastwards and southwards all the way to Jerusalem and Hebron.

In the ongoing debate among a variety of historians and archaeologists about the actual status of King David and his reign, this find might resolve matters. Two buildings were discovered in the ruins - one has been identified as King David's palace, and the second identified as a huge royal storage house. They are saying that this is clear proof of the existence of David's kingdom and that it knew to establish power centers in strategic locations. Qayifa was destroyed in the battles with the Philistines at about 980 BC.

The timing of this discovery was right for the protests against construction in the hills outside RBS. While the regional committee found a way to speed up the hearings in an unprecedented way, this new find can, and already is, be used as another reason to alter the original plans - now Qayifa is not just the ruins of a village, but has major historical significance.


(source and more details of what was discovered can be found at NRG)

Residents of Elah Valley: We will not allow Holyland 2 to happen here

  -- NRG

According to various reports in the various news outlets, between 120 and 150 residents of the Elah Valley towns and Bet Shemesh showed up outside the office of Minister of Interior Gideon Saar today to protest the planned construction in the mountains of the Elah Valley, in what is to become RBS D and RBS E.

The main statement of the protesters was that the Elah Valley, where David fought against Goliath, is a unique region in the State of Israel, and in an arbitrary decision of the previous Minister of Interior, it is going to become a real estate monstrosity. The protesters say that these plans were approved without alternatives being investigated, as the law requires, and such massive construction will destroy the area. Alternatives should be researched, and a national park should be established in the area to protect the environment and archaeology.

In the past few days the following notices have been put up around Bet Shemesh (and RBS) (click image to enlarge):

It is a statement of the plans for planning of the new neighborhood of RBS D2 and an announcement of the legal period of time for filing objections.

If you look around Bet Shemesh and RBS, you can see clearly that City Hall has a very difficult time administering the city at acceptable levels with the current level of population. The streets are dirty. The roads are filled with potholes. More and more schools are cropping up in caravans and temporary structures rather than in school buildings, Tipat Chalav had to fire their secretary due to city cutbacks and it is now difficult to get appointments for your childs vaccinations and well-care, etc..

There are a lot of reasons one can oppose the new neighborhoods plans. I am not an expert in many of the issues involved, such as population density, type of construction, adequate business areas being designated, road design, green areas, parks, school buildings, etc. though they are all important issues and there are people dealing with them specifically. In my mind, as stated above, just look around.

The one thing the Iryah of Bet Shemesh has done well in recent years is pass the planning of new neighborhoods and build. In my opinion, the reason to oppose the new neighborhoods is on a temporary basis alone. The Iryah has moved so fast, there is no way it will be able to keep up with the demands of services required, neither for the new residents of said neighborhoods nor for the old residents of Bet Shemesh.

Just look around and see that the city has already not been able to keep up with basic needs of services of its residents. Slow down, catch up, improve city infrastructure, makes city services more efficient, get the budgets on track with the needs of the city, and then worry about new neighborhoods in 6 months or next year or however long it takes. It will be nice to have 15-000-20,000 new neighbors, but the city should first catch up with its current obligations.

There are people arranging forms for filing protests. Someone should be outside of Best Market on Dolev, as well as in other areas around Bet Shemesh, this Friday, and at other times, with forms for signatures. If you agree, if any of the issues make you concerned with the growth unmatched by the ability to render services, make sure you find a few minutes and sign the form.

A Guest Post by Rabbi Dov Lipman in response to RBS D Approved

We have succeeded in fighting the plans for RBS Gimmel 2 for well over a year and will continue to do so in court. The moment the opportunity to submit objections to the current plans for RBS Dalet we will do the same.

Everyone must understand that the current plans will destroy the quality of life for residents of RBS Aleph - whether datiim, chareidim, or chilonim. They plan to build these neighborhoods without an adequate plan for transportation, education, and more. If you dislike sitting on highway 38 now, just wait for how bad it will be when thousands of new homes are built before the access roads are improved. If you think our schools are packed and in inadequate structures now, just wait for how bad it will be when thousands of houses are added before the educational infrastructure is in place. If you think the RBS Mercaz is crowded now, wait intil thousands of new citizens flood to make use of it because of inadequate commercial space.

My friends, the political leadership has led you to believe that this is some kind of "anti-Haredi" campaign. In actuality, we are the ones who truly care for Haredim and are trying to preserve the quality of life for Haredim as well. Our recent appeal led to changes in the plans which will improve the quality of life for any Haredim who move into RBS Gimmel 2. The political leadership has one goal in mind - build, build, build as quickly as possible so that was can be the national heroes for solving the Haredi housing crisis and advance ourselves - without thoughts to the quality of life of the city's current residents including Haredim and without thought to the quality of life to whoever moves to the new neighborhood includimg Haredim (ask the residents of Heftziba if they are satisfied with their lack of green space).

We will continue to fight all these plans and do whatever we can to stop these destructive plans from coming into fruition and invite all citizens from chilonim through chareidim to join our efforts.

Please e-mail me at ddlipman@gmail.com if you would like to join our efforts.


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The financial newspaper Calcalist is reporting that the first detailed plans for the next neighborhoods of RBS to enter the stages of construction have been approved. The planning committee put aside plans for the construction of 1440 homes in the southern hills of Bet Shemesh spanning 780 dunams of land.

This is one of 6 sets of plans for what will be RBS D, and the planning takes into account the archaeological site of Tel Yarmout.

This is part of a larger plan in which the specific area will include 5300 apartments.

Mention is made that the activists trying to persuade leaders of the Likud (specifically the Prime Minister) to split Bet Shemesh still have not been able to make convincing arguments. In the meantime, mention is also made, haredi entrepreneurs and purchase groups are looking to buy up large tracts of the area to sell to their groups of followers.

The juxtaposition of the two is telling, and it seems this is what has happened all along. Opponents fight the plans, while the haredim make plans to buy the area out as much as possible. What ends up happening, so far at least, is that the oppositions have been rejected (while requiring slight alterations of plans) while the haredim ended up buying significant portions. There was a late notice in the haredi paper Chadash last week that the latest appeals regarding Gimmel 2 have now been rejected. The oppositions have been going nowhere.

Those who oppose the neighborhoods due to the largely haredi population expected to move in might do better work if they tried to buy sections of the neighborhoods to sell to their groups, instead of continuing to try fighting a losing battle. I expect though we will just continue to see more appeals and opposition that will end up being rejected and succeed in doing nothing more than causing a delay of a few months.

Eli Yshai, Minister of Interior, announced that "the plan will create a significant increase in housing available to the broad public, and protected housing, in light of the severe shortage of housing in Israel. I intend to continue and advance plans for construction that will solve the housing crisis for all the citizens of Israel."


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