In Jerusalem's Kiryat Yovel neighborhood bnei Torah congregations were allocated sites for use as botei knesses following prolonged, arduous legal battles.
At a meeting this week the city's Planning and Construction Committee decided to grant the new bnei Torah residents of lower Kiryat Yovel the use of a site that has stood empty for years. The decision, based on the "irregular use" clause, will enable the congregation to use the shul freely for three years.
During the course of the long, vociferous meeting, led by Deputy Mayor Kobi Kachlon, representatives for the mispallelim claimed the opposition by a handful of secular residents — most of whom do not live near the shul — does not stem from germane considerations, but from hatred towards any signs of religiosity, Rachmono litzlan, and decried the possibility of Jews being unable to pray freely in a minyan in Eretz Hakodesh.
Over the course of several hours the secular opponents raised various absurd claims. For instance, they tried to argue that the site should not be transformed from commercial use to a place of prayer, until Atty. Elkana Holtzer, who is representing the mispallelim, demonstrated that the store in question was closed long ago and the site has been vacant for several years.
Meanwhile, in the upper section of Kiryat Yovel avreichim secured the use of a spacious hall with seating for 150, following efforts by Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yitzchok Pindrus.
