The HaShomrim organization was launched in northern Jerusalem to patrol the chareidi areas, an added force to enhance area security in the hope of curtailing burglaries and thefts. One of the forces behind the organization is Jerusalem Councilman Rabbi Shlomo Rosenstein, who has seen the fruits of the organization’s labor, reporting a significant decline in thefts in the community due to the visible presence of the volunteers during the week.
R’ Rosenstein recently arranged for a non-Jew to patrol on shabbos, bringing the organization to 24/7 operation, resulting in a significant drop in crime. Police informed HaShomrim officials that thieves who were apprehended during the week explained many of their colleagues comes to chareidi areas on Friday night and shabbos, well-aware they cannot telephone police. This seems to have compelled Rosenfeld to find a non-Jew to patrol on shabbos to fill this critical void.
The shabbos patrols are now underway, and organizers are optimistic the patrol will spread to other chareidi areas, including Makor Baruch, Sanhedria, Zichron Moshe and N’vei Tzvi.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
Given the Israel prohibits local police forces (out of fear they won’t follow the national police directives), and regards hareidim as traitors to the zionist cause, I doubt the government will be too happy with this development. They are quite angry of Hatsalah, and this is worse from their perspective – a citizens patrol is one step away from a militia.
We have had a Friday night patrol in Neve Yaakov (Kaminetz) in northern Jerusalem for over five years now. Before that, we had 4-7 robberies every Friday night, and our “cousins” roamed the streets of the neighborhood at will. Since the inception of our patrol, robberies have been cut to zero, our police department has received awards year after year, and we can sleep in peace on Friday nights. I would like to stress that our completely secular local police department works with us in close cooperation, appreciates our work, and the whole thing has led to a tremendous kiddush Hashem.So whoever believes that the police or the government would oppose such an effort may be mistaken. The organizers of our patrol, the Mishmeret Hashabbat, are happy to work with any other neighborhoods who are interested in establishing a similar group.