The announcement from the Appeals Committee of the National Planning and Building Council came on Wednesday afternoon, 7 Tammuz 5772, bringing good news for the chareidi tzibur.

According to HaMevaser, the committee heard the appeal regarding the Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel-2, an appeal filed by RBS residents who feel the massive project will significantly negatively impact the community. The committee however did not agree and the appeal was rejected and the green light to go ahead with the new community was given.

The district level planning board rejected the effort to halt the project about two months ago. That decision addressed the construction of an additional 1,800 housing units in addition to the 2,500 units that have been built in RBS Gimmel-1.

The committee also states that while the area cannot be earmarked exclusively for chareidim, if it does become chareidi, then that community must have appropriate services, such as shuls and other mosdos. The committee explains that at the end of the day if the community is not exclusively chareidi, then the planned construction of some of the mosdos that would be required in a chareidi community would not be built.

While chareidi leaders are pleased over the decision, realizing the construction will bring some relief to the chareidi housing shortage, residents are not as euphoric for their fear the area will rapidly become too congested and the access roads and infrastructure simply cannot adequately handle the size of what RBS will become.

There are also plans for RBS Deled HaMevaser adds, which will include 8,500 housing units in a number of satellite communities.

At present there are those who are pleased with the new reality and there are many opponents, including chareidim who fear the overcrowding and all that accompanies such a reality, and the veterans of Beit Shemesh, the dati leumi and secular communities, who feel they are being driven out by chareidim as was the case in other areas.

Some dati leuma/chardal residents left Har Nof for example, which began as a dati leumi area and eventually becoming a chareidi neighborhood in the capital. From there they moved to Beit Shemesh to enjoy a dati leumi lifestyle, only to find themselves seeking a new homes a few years later.

Some American chareidi families who made aliyah to RBS told YWN-ISRAEL that they too are concerned, for they feel the “American chareidim” are more moderate in their hashkafa than their Israeli counterparts and if the new communities become Israeli chareidi, they may feel as uncomfortable as many of the dati leumi residents seeking a new community to call home.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)