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MindBizEsther Mann, LMSW 30

Now What?Hannah Reich Berman 31

Selective HistoryRabbi Avi Shafran 36

ReflectionsSteven Genack 58

The Price Of Gold

Stuart W. Mirsky 62

For Arguments Sake

Preschoolers at the Hollander Early Childhood Center of Yeshiva of SouthShore collecting food for Tomchei Shabbos and the Eliezer Project last

week. The children filled the wagon with food, just like Yosef HaTzadik didin Parashas Vayigash. Gourmet Glatt provided the wagon.

Supermarket Sweep

B Y R A B B I Y A I R

H O F F M A N

Bruce A. Blakeman, 54, the

Republican candidate for New

York State comptroller in 1998,

recently announced that he

would seek to run against

Kirsten Gillibrand in next years

election for U.S. Senator from

SenatorialCandidate

BruceBlakeman

Continued on Page 14

ILLEGAL ARAB

BUILDINGSLEGITIMIZED

DOERS VS. BLOGGERS

B Y S A M U E L S O K O L

ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

The Jerusalem municipality

announced Monday that several

hundred illegal Arab dwellings

will be granted retroactive per-

mits as part of a plan to rezone

the western slopes of the neigh-

borhood of Silwan. Structures

HaRav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, of Aish Kodesh in Woodmere addressingthe joint Orthodox Union/Yeshiva University symposium on enhancingour everyday prayers. The program was held on Sunday, December 6 at

DRS HALB and also featured Rabbi Eli Mansourand Rabbi Mayer Twersky. See Page 42

Continued on Page 16

B Y L A R R Y G O R D O N

There are people in Jeru-

salem who just dont like Arieh

King. He makes them feel

uncomfortable, and their

attempts to vilify and deni-

grate what he does were bound

to head in his direction sooner

or later. Mr. King, a resident ofEast Jerusalem, is on a mission

to restore housing justice in

the city while at the same time

fortifying its Jewish character

and population for many years

to come.

I first met Arieh King in New

York a few weeks ago, and his

story, told in these pages, imme-

diately inflamed the passions of

the Jewish National Fund as

well as other organizations in

Israel who Mr. King insisted are

helping to facilitate the growthof Arab housing throughout

Jerusalem as well as in other

areas of Israel. I knew as soon as

I met him that we would have

B Y R AV A R Y E H Z .

G I N Z B E R G

CHOFETZ CHAIM TORAH CENTER

The world has always been

divided into two categories, the

doers and the non-doers: the

minority who dedicate their

days and nights for the commu-

nity at large, and the majority

who are content to just sit on

the sidelines and be passive

observers to all that goes on

around them.

It is no different for Klal

Yisrael. There are a minority of

Yidden who live for others,

whether its delivery for

Tomchei Shabbos, giving up

their Shabbos and yom tov

menuchah to go on Hatzalah

calls, or even dedicating the lit-

tle free time that they have to

work for their shul or local

yeshiva. This minority compris-

es, for the most part, passionate

and concerned people who

want to make a difference in the

world during their few years

that Hashem has awarded them

Continued on Page 5

B Y L A R R Y G O R D O N

It seems that because of the

nature of my occupation, when

I walk the streets of Israel and

breathe its air I turn into a pack-

ager of experiences. (Granted, I

should take notesand on

some occasions I dobut it

would look silly to walk around

the streets of Israels cities with

a notebook, jotting things

down.) As a result, what you get

here is a series of situations and

experiences that have made a

deep and lasting impression

somewhere in the area of my

brain that, well, packages and

stores these things.

We did many things in Israel

over the last ten days, over

Chanukah. I dont know if its

just me, but I cannot find any

rest in Israel other than the half-

dozen sleeping hours used to

simply recharge our souls so

Continued on Page 11Continued on Page 12

CANDLE LIGHTING

Dec. 25 4:15 PM

Jan. 1 4:20 PM

Not Forgetting Jerusalem

MAKING OUR PRAYERS COUNT

HALB Dinner honorees.

See Page 73

Bat Mitzvah of

Elisheva Lichtman.

See Page 77

TAG dinner in memory ofRabbi Moshe Weitman, zl.

See Page 48

VOL. 10 NO. 13 8 TEVES 5770adhu ,arp

DECEMBER 25, 2009

$1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM

INSIDE FROM THE EDITORS DESK

HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE

See Pages 3, 4 & 5


2/316 December 25, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES

up to four stories tall in the residential

section of the neighborhood will be

included in the move, which doubles the

current limit of two floors.

Mayor Nir Barkat personally present-

ed the plan to the Municipal Planning

and Construction Committee, where it

was passed as official policy. The plan

is scheduled to be brought to a vote in

the next city council meeting inJanuary, after which it will become the

official policy of the relevant planning

departments throughout the

Municipality of Jerusalem.

According to the municipality, such

a rezoning would allow for legalized

housing for about 500 families in

Silwan and an addition of 500 new

housing units to be issued permits,

totaling an addition of 1,000 housing

units to the area.

There are 71 structures with valid

demolition orders in this area of

Silwan but only 10 of those currently

exceed four stories in height. According

to city officials, the mayors plan pro-

vides solutions for the lack of afford-

able housing in the area and allows for

about 90 percent of the housing viola-

tions to be theoretically legalized.

Silwan is located in the Kidron

Valley, across from the Shiloah Pool

and the City of David. The name Silwan

is derived from the Siloam which itselfis a derivation of the word Shiloah.

Between 1886 and the late 1930s,

Silwan was the location of a Yemenite

Jewish village. During the Arab revolt

of 1936-1939, the British Mandatory

authorities expelled the Jews following

a series of Arab pogroms. Arabs subse-

quently inhabited the Jewish homes.

Arieh King, the director of the Israel

Land Fund, has expressed concern over

the mayors actions and has posited

that they will exacerbate the problem

of illegal Arab building.

King told the Five Towns Jewish

Times that Barkat is fulfilling the

dream of the radical left in Jerusalem

by making it clear to Arab residents

that building illegally will be rewarded.

The Israel Land Fund is an organiza-

tion working to reestablish an Israeli

presence in neighborhoods such as

Silwan, where Jewish life was inter-

rupted by the Arab-Israeli conflict.

According to the ILF, there are over

700 illegal Arab structures in Silwan.

Dr. Meir Margalit is a founder of the

Israeli Committee Against House

Demolitions (ICAHD) and until recently

represented the left-wing Meretz party

in the Jerusalem city council. In

November, Margalit resigned his posi-

tion to protest the demolition of Arab

homes in Jerusalem. ICAHD describes

itself as a group originally established

to oppose and resist Israeli demolition

of Palestinian homes in the Occupied

Territories.

Margalit contends that Arabs build

illegally in Jerusalem because the city

is stingy in issuing permits.

According to the municipality, 200

construction permits were requested in

East Jerusalem during the past year.

Sixty one percent of these projects were

granted permission to proceed. During

Arab BuildingsContinued from Front Cover

It is vital to show true Jewish

sovereignty in all sectors of the

city, especially in the Arab

neighborhoods


3/35 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 25, 2009 17

the same period, 63 percent of

permit requests were granted

in West Jerusalem.

The Arabs are building on

purpose where they are not

allowed, and they are keeping

for themselves for the future

the areas where they have a

permit to build, says King.

In 2007, journalist Aaron

Klein reported that 270 acres

in the northern Jerusalem

neighborhoods of Qalandiya

and Kfar Akevand about 50acres inShoafat belonging

to the Jewish National Fund

have been appropriated by

Arab residents of Jerusalem.

Daniel Luria is the execu-

tive director of the Ateret

Cohanim Jerusalem Reclam-

ation Project, an organization

similar to that of Arieh Kings

which operates primarily in

Jerusalems Old City district.

He told the Five Towns

Jewish Times that the reality

over the years has, unfortu-

nately, been to close a blind

eye to illegal Arab building. The Arabs have sensed weakness

and so have built thousands of

units in the eastern sector of

Jerusalem with impunity.

Luria was supportive of

Barkats decision to increase

municipality involvement in

East Jerusalem, but has reser-

vations over the decision to

retroactively grant permits.

When a mayor of Jerusalem is

prepared to act in the eastern

neighborhoods of Jerusalem, its a

most positive sign, as it is vital to

show true Jewish sovereignty in

all sectors of the city, especially in

the Arab neighborhoods, he said.

However, Luria quipped,

Giving into the reality and simply

accepting all the illegal Arab build-

ing may not be the right method.

Will the right message be received

by the illegal Arab builders? If the

new decision re building rights is

also coupled with house demoli-tions in all Green zoned areas, and

if the Municipality adds building

inspectors and seriously increases

the budget to handle the illegal

building in Arab neighborhoods,

and if all Arabs will have to show

true ownership to the properties

on which they have built before

receiving any retroactive

approvals, then maybe one could

see some merit in the new deci-

sion.

However, without these basic

conditions, Barkats new decision

is very problematic and question-

able to say the least. Sadly, Im notsure whether these most basic

conditions will in fact be met. O

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