Roadblock to new shul in Beit Shemesh for Woodmere’s Rabbi Rosner

By Mayer Fertig

Rabbi Shalom Rosner stunned his congregants at Bais Ephraim Yitzchok in Woodmere in January 2008 when he announced that he and his family would be making aliyah. That summer he moved to a new neighborhood in

Beit Shemesh. Advertisements for the development called Nofei Shemesh clearly showed where the shul that Rabbi Rosner was to lead would one day stand. But construction of the shul is now on hold by order of the

mayor of Beit Shemesh, Moshe Abutbol, of the Shas party, Rabbi Rosner confirmed.

Many of the English-speaking residents of Beit Shemesh believe Abutbol takes his orders from the town’s sizable Charedi community, which they accuse of seeking to dominate public life in the city. Last week several hundred Anglos sought to pressure the mayor by demonstrating in front of city hall after Abutbol took a discussion about allocating

the plot of land to the shul off the city council agenda.

Several weeks ago, according to Ha’aretz, which first reported this story, intense public pressure from non-charedim forced Abutbol to back away from a plan to transfer control of the city’s mikvaot, or ritual baths, from a representative of the chief rabbinate to a chareidi rabbi.

A spokesman for the mayor denied that chareidi pressure about the shul had any bearing on the mayor’s decision.

Another possible factor might be the higher profit margins builders could realize were future residential development in the area to be geared toward charedi families.

“We’re getting mixed signals and we’re pushing him to keep building because all the houses in our development are full,” Rabbi Rosner said on Wednesday. There were 35 homes in the first phase of construction and rental space is available nearby, Rabbi Rosner said.

Even without a building of its own, Rabbi Rosner leads a functioning congregation in Nofei Shemesh.

“Things in any developed project take time,” he stressed. “Life in Beit Shemesh is great. There are wonderful families, our kids are happy. The mix of Anglos and Israelis in the schools has been a wonderful transition for us and our children. And any challenges we face would be solved if more wonderful families would join us.”