The veteran residents of Beit Shemesh insist the chareidim are taking over and they are continuing to fight the logistical trend. Chareidim insist that they are moving in to a frum city and as a majority they have certain rights. This perhaps, in a nutshell, spells out the ongoing tensions in the city between the chareidim on the one side and the dati leumi and secular community on the other.
The following is about a chareidi man who purchased an apartment in an area that is becoming chareidi, and his court battle, from which he emerges victorious.
In August 2016, the chareidi man purchased an apartment in Beit Shemesh [not Ramat Beit Shemesh], in an area that is slowly turning chareidi. He immediately learned the building has a lighting sensor that is activated by movement, when one enters and leaves. This obviously presented a serious problem for him on Shabbos and Yomtov. He decided he would spend Shabbos and Yomtov at his parents and in-laws to avoid the halachic issues.
At first, he tried dialogue, speaking with tenants and explaining the problem he faces weekly. However, his words were not received well as his neighbors refused to do anything to accommodate him. At one point, he offered to pay for a mechanism that would bypass the automatic sensor on Shabbos and Yomtov, but this too was rejected by the building’s vaad and residents.
After feeling he exhausted all avenues of dialogue, he turned to the Lands Authority for legal assistance, speaking with attorneys Yisrael Endaan and Yisrael Hecht. He asked them to rule the neighbors must accommodate him regarding Shabbos and Yomtov in line with Article 27 of law which states, “The owner of an apartment may, without the consent of the other apartment owners, install at his own expense, a mechanism enabling the automatic operation of lighting without Chilul Shabbos, in the community property, and it shall bear the costs of maintaining and operating the mechanism”.
At first, Land Authority officials were no helpful and instead of enforcing the law, they questioned why he purchased an apartment in a secular area. A visit to his home in May 2017 by officials led them to understand he truly has no other way out other than having a bypass installed as he offered, at his own expense. It was also ruled that he does not have the right to ask for eliminating the system of lighting that has been in place for fifteen years.
Yael Antebi-Sharon, who oversees land registration and visited the building and apartment, ruled in favor of the chareidi tenant, to permit him to install a Shabbos bypass. In addition, she ordered tenants to pay him 1,000 shekels to cover his legal expenses. The building’s tenants committee, which obviously does not wish to attract additional Shomer Shabbos tenants, appealed the ruling to the Jerusalem District Court. Justice Moshe HaKohen heard the case and he ruled to delay implementation of the previous ruling until the court hears the appeal. This compelled the chareidi family to continue traveling for Shabbos and Yomtov. The case did not move for three months until attorneys for the chareidi man requested the court address the matter urgently due to the hardship resulting to their client.
The tenants told the court that in light of the strained relations in Beit Shemesh between religious and secular tenants, he should have purchased elsewhere since the building wished to maintain the character of the building as it has been regarding religious observance.
Justice Anat Zinger stated the court does not find its place intervening in the previous decision by Lands Authority official Antebi-Sharon. The building’s vaad was instructed to pay the frum tenants legal fees of 7,500 shekels. Immediately following the ruling, he installed a bypass to enable him and his family to remain home on Shabbos and Yomtov.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Reminds me of the residents of a well known Long Island community, many of whom were “ehrliche yidden”, who aggressively opposed efforts to install an eruv by allowing lines to be installed on public utility poles and light poles. It wouldn’t have had any adverse effect other than facilitating the qualify of life of frum yidden who might want to live there. On the other hand, there are too many authenticated stories about frum families moving into a neighborhood and not maintaining the property and landscaping as the prior owners had done, not following rules governing trash removal, etc. Respect goes BOTH ways.
Nice. That’s the way to do it.
But what about the other current headline from Bet Shemesh? where because some altra-chareidi didn’t like how someone dressed they ruined the front lock of the family’s apartment while they were inside – locking them in – and also scribbled on the door “די לפריצות”
That’s no way to ‘win’ a neighborhood…
MDshweks, there are many different Chareidi groups (duh!) , not all of whom behave according to the same guidelines. And guess what? There are smart Chareidim and there are not-smart Chareidim too ….
What one does is not a reflection on the other. The fellow who wanted lighting in the stairwell of his building without a problem of chilul Shabbos was within his rights. The other case you mentioned, in all likelihood, was not in accordance with halacha. What’s important in these, and all the other “disagreements,” is to be sure we have all the facts before passing judgement. There are halachos about giving people, especially frum ones, the benefit of the doubt. It’s in the nature of news reporting, on this or any other website, that once you’ve read the story of what (“allegedly”) happened, the reader become convinced that “that is (exactly!) what happened, leaving little room for judging le’kaf zechus. We should all work on that!!
I have heard regarding such lights there are poskim who hold since it isn’t your intention to cause the light to go on it isn’t a problem. Did he ask his Rav about this?
Apparently there is some law that allows something. But I do not understand what it actually means “a mechanism enabling the automatic operation of lighting without Chilul Shabbos, in the community property”. Just how does the new mechanism differ from a motion sensor? Or is it that they leave the light on all the time? I suppose from the wording “without Chilul Shabbos” is open to interpretation. So maybe the law originally meant that instead of a physical mechanism (like the light in a fridge) that opens physically when opening a door, the law permitted the installation of a motion sensor. At the time, that is what was meant by “without Chilul Shabbos”. Now with further stringencies coming in that is no longer sufficient for this person and something else was done – but it still does not tell us exactly what replaced the motion sensor.
Bigkhuna that is not so. If you don’t need the lights is one thing and it is being done by Jews for Jews. It is not being done
and set up by Goyim for Goyim
I can explain very easily why this man bought in Beit Shemesh… because the prices of apartments in RBS are insane.