The ongoing battle pertaining to the Shabbos generator in the Givat HaBanim neighborhood in Bnei Brak is now in the Supreme Court. The court on Monday, 22 Adar II began hearing the appeal filed by Bnei Brak City Hall, in which the city points out that Shabbos generators are commonplace in chareidi communities throughout Eretz Yisrael, including Bnei Brak.

The Tel Aviv District Court issued an order to remove the generator in September 2013. The court levied a 4,000 shekel a day fine for each day the generator is not removed.

Residents siding with the court action to remove the Givat HaBanim area generator insist the generator is intolerable from a noise and pollution perspective and this compelled them to act as they did.

The matter began over five years ago. The resident living close to the generator turned to a court seeking a judicial order to remove the generator, which they explained ruined their lives. This led to the local planning board issuing retroactive permits for the generator. The residents turned to the district planning board against the local board and the district officials ruled the local planning board exceeded its authority by issuing the permit. Then began the saga of court actions, which lead to the Tel Aviv District Court ruling to remove the generator.

In recent months Bnei Brak’s Rav Avraham Rubinstein has been working with Deputy Mayor Menachem Shapira to reach agreement with the residents in the area of the controversial generator in the hope resolving the matter without removing the generator.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)