About 15 years after the plans were submitted and after enduring years of overcrowding and substandard conditions, construction of 36 classrooms for the chareidi tzibur in Jerusalem’s N’vei Yaakov neighborhood is moving forward.

The city will be building two schools to accommodate the growing chareidi community, one for boys and one for girls. While these two buildings will not solve the overcrowding in chareidi mosdos, it is a most welcome step in the right direction and it will permit many students to stop attending class in caravans and other ill-suited structures.

The תורת העמק Talmid Torah will receive 22 additional classrooms and הצנע לכת School which is under Mora D’asra HaGaon HaRav Tzvi Weber Shlita will receive 16 classrooms. 25 million NIS is being invested in the project.

Ironically, the plan was approved back in 1998, during the tenure of the late Degel Hatorah MK Rav Avraham Ravitz z”l in his capacity as deputy minister of education. He realized that the chareidi community in N’vei Yaakov was growing rapidly and there was a need for mosdos chinuch. Nevertheless, for one bureaucratic reason or another, the implementation has been delayed for many years.

As a result of the tenacious efforts of Jerusalem Deputy Mayor R’ Yitzchak Pindrus, it appears that finally, the community will see the realization of this project. Pindrus is also working with Mifal HaPayis lottery officials in the hope of securing a significant budget for the construction of a major community center. The lottery authority often uses its profits for such projects.

There is no date given for the expected completion of the new classrooms.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)