HolyExposures Note: Shalom Lerner is on the Bet Shemesh City Council, and was the ‘other’ (e.g. non haredi) candidate in last year’s mayoral elections .  This open letter sent by Shalom to both the Bet Shemesh and Ramat Bet Shemesh lists, in English, is presented in its entirety for your viewing pleasure.  I find it quite ironic that this vote was made on a day when Haredim were rioting in the streets in Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet.

Will Gimmel prove to further encircle the remaining non haredi elements in the Ramah?  It reminds me of the old Sesame Street gag where the guy paints himself into a corner.  We’re told here to petition our city council for action. What is the action we are asking for?  What is the best scenario?  It seems that in any case Ramat Bet Shemesh is going to have a very diminished national religious camp before long, and a non-existent secular population.

What do you think?

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From: Shalom Lerner
To: list at shemesh.co.il; rbs at cs.huji.ac.il
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:55:31 +0200
Subject: [RBS] City Council & Ramat Bet Shemesh Gimmel

I would like to clarify my view as to the importance of the decision of the
City Council regarding Ramat Bet Shemesh Gimmel.

The starting point is that the city was stagnating. In recent years
thousands of charedi families moved in and very few non charedi ;a charedi
mayor was elected and people are even more worried about our future.There
isn’t and hasn’t been for a long time any reasonable housing for dati-leumi
families, which could attract a massive influx of new people i.e.young
couples,middle class Israeli families etc.

After a long public and private political battle, with clear threats, which
lasted till after midnight Tuesday ,(threats from their side – we will be on
our own in opposition the Likud will replace us in the coalition,we will
lose all our power, Moatza datit will be given to charedim ie.mikvaot
,future rabbanim,batei knesset,etc.allocations for schools etc++++ .We on
the other hand said we will rally a large and vocal opposition starting with
8 Council members, we will legally stop any building in gimmel and in
general make their life miserable)
Boruch hashem we will never know who would have been the most hurt, but no
doubt a lot of damage would have been caused.
On the other hand, now we have hope. We can, if we are united, smart and
work hard to bring in new blood and give much needed hope and future to our
communities and city. Imagine if we could bring in the next two years 1000
dati leumi families – this would immensely strengthen all our existing and
future communities and help build our future city.

Now to the practical side:
The division, the map, the plots etc.were prepared by Jacki in such a way
that we maximize our joint non-charedi section of 1500 units and sideline
the charedi part.
The main entrance will be to our schuna and a new road will be built for the
charedim. In all cases we don’t need to travel via their schuna. There
will be a special committee ,which together with the professional staff,
will ensure that all agreements will be kept. The committee is composed of
representatives of each population, plus the Mayor i.e. Richard Peres, Moshe
Montag, Jackie Edri or myself and Moshe Abutboul.
There will be money for a public campaign, but eveything depends on us if we
believe in Bet Shemesh and in gimmel. I believe we will be able to attract
people, but if we concentrate on all our problems and magnify the charedim
capabilities, we might end up losing the battle.
The whole taba(housing plans and zone)were designed for non charedi public
and cannot be changed. It is planned for quality housing, with a lot of
green and if it will be reasonable prices, would be ideal for our
communities.
The ministry will give 12 million shekel for a Beit Tarbut in Migdal Hamayim
(where they sell avatichim), mifal hapayis will give additional NIS12
million. Besides that, we have pledge of around 15 million shekel for a
library and conservatorium built together with Heichal Hatarbut as one
complex. This will be done via Keren Kayemet, England and Keren Bet Shemesh.
Finally kvish 10 will be finished, funded by Misrad Hashikun and Misrad
HaTachbura in an amount of NIS 60 million (besides the NIS 60 million
already invested )
Planning for widening kvish 38 was also promised and should start soon.There
is still a lot to be done and gained if we are smart and united, or chas
vechalila lose, if we are negligent and stupid.

Regarding Beit Natif which is in Gimmel 2, (not in the neighbourhood
discussed above), we have supported this for years. We signed all requests
and I brought it up in yesterday’s council meeting, but it doesn’t help if
all that’s being done is sending letters to Beyachad council members(many
times insulting and ungrateful). Whoever really wants to make it happen
should start lobbying NOW – the Mayor, Council Members, Misrad Hashikun,
Misrad Hapnim, Chevra LeHaganat Hateva etc. and will find us to be the most
loyal and capable partners as always.

My thanks go to my colleagues Jacki Edri and Ilana Yarchi, who together we
worked very hard to ensure the future of our city.

I hope this clarifies the situation. I will gladly answer your questions.

Shalom Lerner
lerner8  at  bezeqint.net  (phone number removed)