A major rally is taking place on Thursday, erev Rosh Chodesh Iyar, at Zvill Square on Jerusalem’s Shmuel HaNavi Street, not far from the location of the Number 2 suicide bus bombing attack that claimed 23 lives, most from the chareidi community.
Event organizer Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Viener explained on Thursday that for years, rabbonim and askanim have been in contact with Egged and Transportation Ministry officials, doing everything possible to reach an agreement to provide mehadrin bus service in chareidi neighborhoods.
The rav explained the Vaad Rabbonim for Transportation is seeking mehadrin service in all areas with 90-95% or higher chareidi ridership on buses, permitting men and women to use separate doors and to accommodate the religious lifestyle of the chareidi community.
The rav stated “they simply won’t budge” regarding Egged and others as talks to date have failed to bring about new mehadrin lines, particularly buses servicing the Kosel.
The rav pointed out that all prominent Jerusalem rabbonim and admorim have expressed support for Thursday’s event, calling on everyone to attend. He pointed out that Thursda’ys event is only local, Jerusalem, “a relatively small event”, adding he is hopeful the decision-makers will hear the message and avoid the need for a larger forum in the future.
Rabbi Viener stated the event today will be organized and peaceful, stating if “extremists” use the forum to provoke unwanted incidents, it is not at all related to the organizers and the wishes of Gedolei Yisrael Shlita.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
The Rabbis at the Transportation Vaad should be at the kosel bus station and encourage the men to go in through the back door. They should also run a campain to encourage the men to enter the bus at the back door.
They should try a capitalist “free market” solution. Open up the route to competition, and see what sells the most. Entrepreneurs have a track record of cleverly solving problems in ways that make them a profit. Central planning, whether by our leaders (our rabbanim, who know very little about running buses), or the secular government (who also know very little on running an efficient transportation system, in addition to hating us), ininherently inefficient and unlikly to get good results.
Hate to tell you this but most charedim I know find this a real non-issue. Housing for our children is far more important to most of us than separate bus lines.
When you ride on a bus that is so packed that you can’t move, then ladies prefer not to have men pushing them, even if that means entering the bus through the back door. The main problem is, that there are not enough buses, and they are therefore too full.