Degel HaTorah Knesset members and Degel HaTorah Branch
Council members participated in an impressive, dignified
inauguration ceremony held two weeks ago to mark the opening
of the new Degel HaTorah Information Bureau in Ramat Beit
Shemesh.
Associated with the Degel HaTorah Information Bureau on
Rechov Nachal HaKishon in Ramat Beit Shemesh-Aleph, the new
facility will also provide information and assistance in both
public and private matters on a wide range of areas. As part
of operations, party representatives in the Knesset and the
City of Beit Shemesh will hold reception hours for municipal
and government inquiries in tandem with professionals in
various fields.
The inaugural ceremony was opened and led by Branch Council
member R' Betzalel Kahn, who provided a brief overview of
Degel HaTorah activities in Beit Shemesh ever since the first
chareidi neighborhoods were built ten years ago. Later he
noted that the chareidi population in the city has grown
substantially over the last five years, including increasing
numbers of bnei Torah. Today Degel HaTorah supporters
represent the vast majority of Ramat Beit Shemesh residents,
he added.
"The accelerated development of the chareidi public in all of
the city's neighborhoods," said Kahn, "combined with the fact
that the people have many needs--and the attention the
chareidi resident receives from city authorities needs
considerable improvement-- prompted the party to bring in
leading public activists to set up Degel HaTorah's
Information Bureau, which will faithfully serve the entire
public on a wide range of topics and activities. The purpose
of Degel HaTorah, which was set up by Maran HaRav Shach
zt'l, is to assist the public and the individual, and
to loyally and constantly represent the bnei Torah
sector everywhere."
Later he invited HaRav Shlomo Zalman Perlstein, moro
de'asra of the Ramat Beit Shemesh-Aleph neighborhood, to
address the gathered audience. "Today we are about to open a
bureau whose entire essence is chesed for bnei
Torah and for the general public, like the rest of Degel
HaTorah's bureaus around the country. One of the verses of
Yeshayohu reads, `. . . veyesodosayich besapirim.'
Generally iron and cement are used as building materials, not
precious stones. But the building of Klal Yisroel--the
essential foundations, which are invisible to the eye--is
with diamonds. When we speak of an Information Bureau we are
referring to yesodosayich besapirim."
Other speakers included Degel HaTorah Secretariat Chairman MK
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz and Beit Shemesh Degel HaTorah
Information Bureau Manager Rabbi Moshe Montag, who also
serves as a member of the Branch Council. Participating at
the event were Rav Tzvi Davidovitz, a moreh tzedek for
the Chassidic kehilloh in Ramat Beit Shemesh-Aleph;
Rav Yitzchok Meir Hagar, a moreh tzedek in Ramat Beit
Shemesh Beit; MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni; Rabbi Yaakov Guterman,
head of the Kiryat Sefer City Council and director of Degel
HaTorah's Department of Municipalities; Rabbi Eliezer
Greenbaum, City Council member and chairman of the Degel
HaTorah branch in Beit Shemesh; Rav Tzvi Ravinsky, director
of Toras HaBayis and Beis Sholom Institutes; Rav Yaakov
Segal, director of the city's Eitz HaDaas network; Rav Shmuel
Greenberg, secretary of the city's Degel HaTorah branch and
director of the chareidi section; members of the Branch
Council and party activists in the city.
