The Eidah Charedis of Yerushalayim is embarking on a new campaign to fight the planned construction of a subterranean section of the light rail that is planned to go underneath various Chareidi neighborhoods in Yerushalayim, including the Geulah neighborhood.
One of the light rail lines that is currently planned to help alleviate congestion and traffic in the city is supposed to be constructed underground throughout many neighborhoods in the northern section of the city, which is predominantly Charedi.
The planned route takes the line down Strauss and Yehezkel Streets with three stations planned along the way. The route bisects Kikar HaShabbat that divides Geulah and Meah Shearim. Extremist elements in the Charedi community have expressed their strong opposition to the plan.
One representative of the Eidah told Kikar HaShabbat news service that: “The passage of the light rail here, and all that is planned with it, will bring people who have never been here before and will cause a lot of promiscuity. We will fight this plan so that there will not be even one station on our streets. As soon as they start construction here we will destroy it. We will interrupt the work every single day and all day.”
The Eidah published a letter stating that they believe the construction will cause severe destruction to the neighborhood and that all residents of the neighborhoods should oppose the plans and the construction by any means necessary.
The planned line for the area is part of the “blue line” which is the third intersecting line that will connect the light rail to the Ramot neighborhood in the north of the city, to the Gilo neighborhood in the south of the city.
The line that bisects the Geulah and Meah Shearim neighborhoods is just over a mile in length (2.2 km) and runs from Yaffo street to Bar Ilan street along Strauss and Yehezkel. In an effort to not bother the residents of these areas, city planners, including Charedim on the city council, planned the route to be subterranean to avoid upsetting the locals.
The entire route, aside from the Emek Refaim segment, has been okayed by the regional planning committee as well as by the city planning committee. 42 stations in total are planned for the blue line which will serve some 235,000 residents of the city who live in close proximity to the planned route. The light rail is expected to severely diminish the number of cars and busses on the roadways throughout the city by providing a cleaner, more efficient, and faster means of transportation.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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13 Responses
The first time one of these idiots attempts to interfere with the construction of needed infrastructure, he should be dragged off to jail where he will be guaranteed to mingle with some of these “outside” people who will give in a great introduction to promiscuity. While the municipality should always seek out the views of ALL neighborhoods affected by new transportation facilities, ultimately the needs of the greater public must take priority. The streets belong to all, not any single constituency.
retard bunch of people, it going underground, no one is interested in gulauh anyway
“Extremist elements in the Charedi community“. Seriously? Was this necessary?
the eida charada is always against something never positive …..
tells a bit about them.
To: as I see it
Maybe they don’t care about “gulauh” but they do care about Geulah.
Gadolhadorah and “as I see it”, you are playing with fire when you make such comments about Rabbonim and Gedolei Torah. It’s called mechallel Shem shamoyim burabim! Please take my words seriously. יש דין ויש דיין.
To Yisroel H Your made a very serious but silly comment. The posters you degrade didn’t demean any gedolim. Since when did Eidah Chradis become the guardian of Isreal. I’ll tell you a story that happened in the 1970’s. There was a yeshiva who didn’t take money from the Israeli government. When the old Rav passed away the son (who is today a recognized godol) decided to take money for his mosad. Representatives of the Eideh came with a paper with a long list of those who hold you can’t take money from the government. The rov promptly turned the paper over to the blank side and asked, ” Where is the list of those who are matir.”
The solution is to only make stations at the beginning and end of Geulah. When the line opens no strange elements will be in the neighborhood. At the same time, all the bus routes that now crisscross Geulah should be discontinued. Anyone living in Geulah will be welcome to walk out of the neighborhood to catch the bus or light railway. Especially on the heatwave days in mid-summer, it will be good for them to get some exercise! Oh and of course the roads should be closed to private vehicles. Guys, you can’t have it all ways.
The proposed light rail is simply the replacement of the current 71 and 72 buses, go through Kikar shabbos today, with a light rail line with the SAME EXACT route, just underground (through kikar shabbos). it is unlikely that those people that dont get off the bus today, will get off the train and climb to the street just to ruin Mea Shearim. It seems to me that this is a little bit of an overreaction by the Eida.
(unless the problem is that it will be harder to disrupt daily life by making a macha, then i guess the train will ruin things;)
Ah yid:
What are you proving from your story? That there are different opinions amongst Gedolim? I’m making a point here that someone who is posting comments in public should be careful as he is playing with his עולם הבא. Even if his user name is anonymous he still causes a חילול השם. This does not only apply to this particular article. I just felt it was appropriate to say it here . I don’t think you disagree.
Ah the gadol HaTorah always hating and hating. What an antsemite. You hate us
Your new official nickname is @ antitorah
@antitorah you are an extreme hater. Leave YWN
What happens when they find things from the first or second בית like all other excavations
Forsight: Yup….always hating the haters, misogynists, the hooligans who disrupt the lives of the tizbur and attack the police. In this case, there is an obvious threat by a fringe group to disrupt the construction of essential infrastructure based upon a mindless and likely illegal assertion of the right to block construction approved by the municipal government to keep out other Israelis. I don’t recall the last time the Eidah was advocating for something positive to make lives better for the tzibur. Although you clearly identify with these elements, I won’t suggest changing your screen name to “Tunnel Vision”.