Q&A: Clearing Out Shelters in Bnei Brak
Clearing Out Shelters in Bnei Brak
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I live in the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood in Bnei Brak. Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein instructed that the building committee is permitted to throw out the contents stored in the shelters (such as sukkah walls) in order to clear them for use during missile barrages.
Why can’t I object to clearing out my belongings, with the claim of “I can maintain” according to the view of the Chazon Ish that missiles will not fall in Bnei Brak?
I am attaching links:
https://www.kikar.co.il/haredim-news/s2kcnu
https://www.kikar.co.il/haredim-news/s2rqbz
Answer
Rabbi Zilberstein has no legal authority to instruct anything. But this is the instruction of the state, and the shelters must be cleared out. And if you object with a claim of “I can maintain,” you are invited to commit suicide in advance by jumping from the Shalom Meir Tower (don’t forget to shout that “I can maintain” that a God-fearing person who commits suicide will not die). Good luck.
Discussion on Answer
To the thread starter:
Quite apart from the question itself, a shelter is not a storage room for all the junk. It is public property.
The Rabbi should be proud of himself — someone from the Ramat Elchanan neighborhood is writing here on the site 🙌🙌🙌🙌
That means the Rabbi’s wings have spread to very faraway places
Maybe my blessing worked [an ordinary person’s blessing, etc.] https://mikyab.net/posts/82751
I apologize for the bluntness. But this really is an outrageous question that angered me (for many reasons). Sorry.
It’s not the residents who are to blame, but rather the negligence and disregard shown by the Bnei Brak municipality.
The municipality (and Civil Defense), whose job is to supervise the condition of the shelters, do nothing(!) No reports, no guidance, and of course no budget.
The municipality can and should help renovate the shelters, which over the course of decades have fallen apart and are unfit to stay in.
And as someone already said before me in this post on Prog:
https://www.prog.co.il/threads/%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%91-%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A5-%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A7.920437/
Therefore it’s no wonder that many residents treat the matter lightly and continue to see the shelter as a storage room, contrary to the law.
This is the classic shirking of responsibility that is very widespread in our circles, and especially in the Haredi public. In general, institutions reflect the opinions and values of the public. If this public cared about it, the municipality would do it. Therefore the responsibility lies with the public as a whole, and also with the institutions.
Something similar applies to the arguments about Bibi’s responsibility in the Shalit deal. He is the formal person responsible because he made the decision. But the majority of the public that pushed him to decide that way (and mocked and ridiculed the opponents — portraying them as wicked and detached) is also responsible.
And so too regarding religious coercion: the responsibility does not rest only on the Chief Rabbinate and the religious public, but also on the secular public that allows it and then whines. If it were very important to them, it would not happen.
And there are many more examples along these lines.
Beyond the extraordinary Talmudic sophistication of the question, you should ask yourself where you got the idea of using a claim of “I can maintain” regarding assessments of reality. And where do you get off making an “I can maintain” claim about other people’s property and other people’s risk?
I must say, with all due respect, that it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a stupid question.