“The Manhattan of the Dan Region” was the title of yesterday’s Bnei Brak conference, which unveiled the “next business center of Israel” – the Bnei Brak Business Center (BBC), located in the northern part of the city. The BBC is due to have 15 high-rises.
Participants at the conference included Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Stanley Fischer, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. chairman Lev Leviev, and other leading businessmen.
Fischer said, “I am pleased that everyone emphasized that the employment situation and poverty need not exist in Charedi cities, and that there is no reason for this to continue. It contributes nothing to the things that are important to use as Jews and Israeli citizens.”
Fischer said that what was happening in Bnei Brak was part of a growing trend in Israel. “The mayor of Bnei Brak wrote me that he wants to make an important step to make Bnei Brak a major business destination, and to increase revenue of the city and its residents. What the city will do with the extra revenue is very important – some of it should go to education, because the people need to obtain the tools for dealing with the new situation.”
(Source: Globes)
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10 Responses
Bnai Brak is already a business center. It’s just that the business that most residents are involved in (Torah study), has a deferred compensation plan, so they residents appear poverty stricken. In essence, there balance sheet shows huge assets on the long term accounts receivable line, in the form of “V’hakeren kayemes l’olam haba!”
Nonetheless, I do heartily approve of any efforts to assist on the “Ochel peiroseihen b’olam hazeh” line as well!!
There are those who happily opt for a life of poverty.
As long as the “first world” economy is run by and for hilonim, who see us as something backwards to be uprooted (and being polite, I won’t mention what we think of them and their perverse and disgusting lifestyles) – of course we’ll be poor.
Being frum in a secular environment is very challenging. Even in America, which is probably the most tolerant of minority religions of any western country, merely being Shomer Shabbos and Shomer kashruth probably costs you half your changes of parnassah (career paths closed, geographically limited to places with kosher food, no opportunity to engages in the social practices important for career advancement, etc.). In Eretz Yisrael, the ruling elites are fanatically secular and intolerant of religion – so of course we are worse off economically.
If Mr. Fischer wants to convince the hilonim ruling class to open up to people from traditional religions, and in particular to Jews, he’ll find hareidim taking over the economy. That however, is unlikely since the whole idea of zionism from “day one” was to be an “Am Hofshi” – a people free from the yoke of Torah and Mitsvos.
Midwesterner. Decent point you are stating in theory However you can’t achieve olam haba without olam ha’zeh. It’s hard to get through this world without money (and we aren’t counting depending on a fortunate circumstance of a wealthy parent or in-law). Take Pesach for example. Pretty hard to fulfill the Yomtov without money to buy food or matzah. I think a combination of work and torah is a better alternative (as pirkei avos suggests)
To #3
All those from Eretz Yisroel walking around here in the USA with tales of woe looking for money don’t look very happy to me!
There companies in Israel (of which I am a part of just one) that cater to religious people, ask shaylos about anything that needs to be asked, all food served at meetings always is done by the highest common denominator of hashgacha, etc.
There is not an excuse of the chilonim running the economy. I am aware personally of people being given time off from a large global company with a branch in Israel to learn (he takes one day a week off).
People do need to investigate more to find these jobs (maybe), but I had made my decision to join such a company and did.
Apukerma, stop the the propaganda, the lies, the chillul HaShem.
The truth is that frum Jews work. Under right conditions they can prosper (consider America, especially out of New York). The problem is that the hilonim are a bunch of bigots, and we are the target of their bigotry. Our culture is incompatible with their’s, always way (and this goes back to the Jews were wanted to pass for Greeks), and always will be. They are the problem.
The problem is that the Eretz Yisroeldike Frum are very extreme and machmir: work is posul; and even if ye work, the office has to be kosher lemehadrin.