See Pages 3, 4 & 5

$1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM VOL. 10 NO. 13 8 TEVES 5770 adhu ,arp DECEMBER 25, 2009

INSIDE FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK MAKING OUR PRAYERS COUNT

MindBiz BY LARRY GORDON
Esther Mann, LMSW 30
Now What? Not Forgetting Jerusalem
Hannah Reich Berman 31
There are people in Jeru- I first met Arieh King in New
Selective History salem who just don’t like Arieh York a few weeks ago, and his
Rabbi Avi Shafran 36 King. He makes them feel story, told in these pages, imme-
uncomfortable, and their diately inflamed the passions of
Reflections attempts to vilify and deni- the Jewish National Fund as
Steven Genack 58
grate what he does were bound well as other organizations in
The Price Of Gold to head in his direction sooner Israel who Mr. King insisted are
Stuart W. Mirsky 62 or later. Mr. King, a resident of helping to facilitate the growth
East Jerusalem, is on a mission of Arab housing throughout
to restore housing justice in Jerusalem as well as in other
the city while at the same time areas of Israel. I knew as soon as HaRav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, of Aish Kodesh in Woodmere addressing
the joint Orthodox Union/Yeshiva University symposium on enhancing
fortifying its Jewish character I met him that we would have our everyday prayers. The program was held on Sunday, December 6 at
and population for many years DRS HALB and also featured Rabbi Eli Mansour
to come. Continued on Page 5 and Rabbi Mayer Twersky. See Page 42

DOERS VS. BLOGGERS HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE

BY RAV ARYEH Z.
GINZBERG
CHOFETZ CHAIM TORAH CENTER
Bat Mitzvah of
Elisheva Lichtman.
The world has always been
See Page 77
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 K’lal
Yisrael. There are a minority of
Yidden who live for others,
whether it’s 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 12
For Argument’s Sake
BY LARRY GORDON
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 notes—and on
some occasions I do—but it
would look silly to walk around
the streets of Israel’s 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 don’t know if it’s
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 11

TAG dinner in memory of

Supermarket Sweep Senatorial ILLEGAL ARAB
Candidate
Rabbi Moshe Weitman, z’l.
See Page 48
Bruce BUILDINGS
Blakeman LEGITIMIZED
BY RABBI YAIR BY SAMUEL SOKOL
HOFFMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

Bruce A. Blakeman, 54, the The Jerusalem municipality

HALB Dinner honorees.
See Page 73
Republican candidate for New
York State comptroller in 1998,
recently announced that he
would seek to run against
Kirsten Gillibrand in next year’s
Preschoolers at the Hollander Early Childhood Center of Yeshiva of South
Shore collecting food for Tomchei Shabbos and the Eliezer Project last election for U.S. Senator from
week. The children filled the wagon with food, just like Yosef HaTzadik did
in Parashas Vayigash. Gourmet Glatt provided the wagon. Continued on Page 14
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
Continued on Page 16

CANDLE LIGHTING
Dec. 25 – 4:15 PM
Jan. 1 – 4:20 PM
Arab Buildings
Continued from Front Cover
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
“It is vital to show true Jewish
sovereignty in all sectors of the
city, especially in the Arab
neighborhoods”
the next city council meeting in
January, 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.”
16 December 25, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES
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 mayor’s 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 itself
is 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 mayor’s 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
the same period, 63 percent of prepared to act in the eastern inspectors and seriously increases
permit requests were granted neighborhoods of Jerusalem, it’s a the budget to handle the illegal
in West Jerusalem. most positive sign, as it is vital to building in Arab neighborhoods,
“The Arabs are building on
purpose where they are not
allowed, and they are keeping
for themselves for the future
show true Jewish sovereignty in
all sectors of the city, especially in
the Arab neighborhoods,” he said.
However, Luria quipped,
and if all Arabs will have to show
true ownership to the properties
on which they have built before
receiving any retroactive
Your Ad
the areas where they have a
permit to build,” says King.
In 2007, journalist Aaron
Klein reported that “270 acres
“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
approvals, then maybe one could
see some merit in the new deci-
sion.
“However, without these basic
Could
in the northern Jerusalem
neighborhoods of Qalandiya
and Kfar Akev…and about 50
acres in…Shoafat” belonging
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
conditions, Barkat’s new decision
is very problematic and question-
able to say the least. Sadly, I’m not
sure whether these most basic
Be Here.
to the Jewish National Fund if the Municipality adds building conditions will in fact be met.” ❖
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 King’s
which operates primarily in
Jerusalem’s 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
Barkat’s 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

5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 25, 2009 17