Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon is expected to announce on Thursday a change in the name of the Har Nof neighborhood of the city. The announcement, which is expected to be made on Thursday at a special meeting of the Chief Rabbinical Council in memory of Maran Hagaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef, will be giving a new name to the neighborhood, the name of “Neot Yosef”.
The renaming of the neighborhood is in memory of HaRav Ovadia Yosef, and Maran Hagaon HaRav Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, two poskei hador from the last generation. The meeting will be taking place in the former home of HaRav Ovadia Yosef,, on 45 HaKablan St. in Har Nof. The meeting will commemorate his sixth yarzheit.
The city council said that the renaming is being done with full consensus, both within the council and within the neighborhood. A spokesperson for the council said: “Prior to the decision being made, council representatives met with local Rabbonim from the neighborhood, representatives of the community and others. Only after those meetings was the decision made to change the name of the neighborhood to Neot Yosef to memorialize the Gedolei Hador.”
The decision will be brought before the naming committee in the city, and the official change is expected to take place shortly.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
My friends in Har Nof tell me that there has been no open consultation in Har Nof about this suggested change at all and that the residents are very opposed to it. There is already talk of an appeal to the Courts if this is announced. What does the choice of the name of the neighborhood have to do with local Rabbonim from the neighborhood? It is a simple lie to say this is being proposed with full consensus!
with all due respects to the chachamim, I think the name stinks and also I do not think it will stick. Har Nof has been Har NOf for toooo many years to remember a new name.
Open up a new settlement and call it Neot Yosef or Neve Yosef or whatever, in memory of these two distinguished rabbonim….
Isn’t there anything else the Israeli government can waste all this money on?? (Street names, bus names, postal addresses……)
I said right away after these two gedolim zt’l were niftar, people should name thir kids ovadya yosef shalom 🙂
People will use the old name as official name changed doesn’t change what people use in everyday language.
And did they ask the people of Har Nof if they want the name of their community changed? I hope so!
Nope, we live in Har Nof and this is the first time we’re hearing about this. No one asked the residents and everyone who I have spoken with has opposed the change. Har Nof is dealing with a lot of changes without consulting the people who are most affected and it has become very frustrating. First the siege, then renaming Hakablan, and now this.
For the record, I live in Har Nof, and this article is the first I have heard of any proposed name change. The neighborhood is KN”H very large, about 25,000 people, and I find it hard to believe that there would be any kind of consensus on an issue that would pose even a middling inconvenience for anyone who lives here.
Also, as has been pointed out, Har Nof has been around for close to 40 years. It has an identity – not the least part of which is the attack and resultant Kedoshim 5 years ago.
And leaving aside any issues of propriety, I am curious. Which Rabbanim have agreed? There are some very great Rabbonim here, such as R’ Moshe Shternbuch, R’ Avraham Yitzchok Rubin, and many others. There certainly has been to open communal discussion, or even notification.
Mods: Last two sentences of my post should read:
There are some very great Rabbonim here, such as R’ Moshe Shternbuch, R’ Yitzchok Mordechai Rubin, and many others. There certainly has been no open communal discussion, or even notification.
This is the work of Deri who owns Lion. And it’s being named after Rav Ovadia only. The announcement was made in his office even. They just threw Rav Eliashiv in there so Ashkazaim don’t complain. Otherwise it should be called Neot Yosef Shalom…
I LIVE IN HAR NOF AND NOBODY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WAS CONSULTED. THIS WAS A DECISION MADE UNILATERALLY BY MOSHE LEON AND HIS FRIEND ARIE DERI. WE DON’T ACCEPT IT.
OUR MAIN PROBLEM IS THE DAILY TRAFFIC JAM CAUSED BY CLOSING THE FOREST ROAD, LET THE MAYOR SOLVE THAT PROBLEM.