No more water: 'Temporary injunction' against evacuation of two yeshivahs from the B.A. compound

July 9, 2017   

A glimmer of hope? The management of the 'Omlim' and 'Torat Yehuda' yeshiva, located in the compound on Hayarkon Street in Bnei Brak, where the 'Shaar Talmud' yeshiva was located, went to court today and filed an urgent request for a temporary injunction, ex parte - against the evacuation and demolition of the place. Judge Gilad Hess granted the request and issued a 'temporary injunction' against the evacuation by the Bnei Brak municipality - until a different decision is made. According to the judge's decision, the Bnei Brak municipality must respond to the request by Wednesday. The judge scheduled a hearing with the parties on Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, as part of the Bnei Brak mayor's fight against the yeshiva in the compound, Hanoch Seibert ordered the water supply to be stopped to the compound - and the municipality's personnel carried out the move. Last night (Saturday night), the students of the 'Shaar Talmud' yeshiva left the yeshiva hall against which an evacuation and demolition order was issued by Bnei Brak mayor Hanoch Seibert. In recent years, there has been a struggle between the mayors of the Torah and Hasidic schools and the management of the yeshiva, which is intended for young candidates who need personal attention - over the yeshiva's grounds. On Thursday, the High Court ruled that the municipality's demand to vacate the yeshiva, which is located on an area of ​​11 dunams, is justified - and that the yeshiva's management must vacate immediately. The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzhak Braverman, who tried until the last moment to prevent the decree, tore his clothes when the High Court's ruling was received. Students of the Shaar Talmud yeshiva gathered on Friday night in the yeshiva hall, accompanied by the heads of the yeshiva, MK Moshe Gafni, Deputy Mayor Menachem Shapira, as well as residents of the city who came to show their solidarity - and sang songs of awakening emotion. [vimeo url="https://vimeo.com/224551080" width="600" height="400" responsive="yes" autoplay="no"] Rabbi Chaim Atik, head of the small yeshiva, shouted in the yeshiva hall: "Is this what we deserve? To send us to the dumps? We have orphaned students here, children of single-parent families, we are their air... We need to make an effort here, to tell Rabbi Gafni and Rabbi Shapira - it's great that you came to help us, but we really need salvation. We are not going to sleep tonight. We don't know what the day will bring..." In a conversation with a Haredim 10 reporter - MK Moshe Gafni said: "This is a Haredi city! Such a thing cannot happen! I don't remember in my public life when people come to evacuate a yeshiva where young men are sitting and studying. I'm sitting here and crying." On Shabbat night, hundreds of residents of the city of Bnei Brak participated in a mass Shabbat reception at the yeshiva complex - as a sign of solidarity with the students and the yeshiva administration. The residents came to express their protest against the evacuation order of Bnei Brak Mayor Hanoch Seibert, following the call of the rabbi of Kiryat Herzog, the eminent Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Schwartz - to come and pray instead of the evening prayer. In a harsh letter he wrote to the residents, Rabbi Schwartz called the mayor: "That evil person wants to abolish a temple for a little while." The participants read chapters of Psalms "for the cancellation of the harsh decree to evacuate the yeshiva.".