A hachnasas sefer torah is planned for Wednesday, the fourth day Chol Hamoed, in the neighborhood of Nof Tzion in Yerushalayim. The event is set to get underway at 4:30pm in the presence of government ministers, MKs, rabbonim and other notables.

The new Jewish community, slated to be 400 housing units, is situated near the Arab neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. As a result, there have been some calls to postpone the planned event, fearing violence in the shadow of over a week of Arab violence in the capital.

Organizers explain this event was planned weeks ago, and there is no more an appropriate time to bring a new sefer torah to a new community in Yerushalayim than on yomtov. 91 housing units are completed and the first residents of this new dati leumi community are expected to move into their homes in the coming weeks.

Today’s festive event will include laying the cornerstone for the next stage of construction.

Sadly there are some who view this new neighborhood a provocation, since it is situation adjacent to the Arab neighborhood. Others reject the theory, explaining it is just another neighborhood in the capital, while others question how we can ever expect to achieve peace with Israel’s neighbors when a Jewish neighborhood aside an Arab one is viewed as a provocation by the left-wing community.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)