The secular mayor takes care of worshippers: a new synagogue for Givat Hambatar

April 6, 2014   

In accordance with the agreement reached by community members and representatives of worshipers on Paran Street in Givat Hambatar with representatives of the Jerusalem Municipality, headed by the Municipality's CEO, Attorney Amnon Merhav, members of the City Council, and Advisor to the Mayor Avraham Kreuzer - an expedited process was initiated to allocate space for a synagogue that would serve the hundreds of residents of the neighborhood.

These days, the municipality has even published an official request to allocate space for the operation of a synagogue in the neighborhood, as required and customary by law.

As you may recall, at the end of a difficult saga, and after a complex legal process, it was agreed upon by the community representatives and under the direction of the neighborhood rabbis, by order of the great men of Israel, to evacuate a temporary structure that had been placed in the neighborhood, in parallel with the implementation of an expedited process for allocating space for the synagogue, which will operate legally and as requested.

Community representatives praised the Jerusalem Municipality's businesslike conduct in the matter, in light of the adherence to the conclusions reached by the parties, with the aim of resolving the existing distress in the neighborhood regarding synagogue buildings for the benefit of worshipers.

""This is an example and model of joint work with mutual understanding of all parties that led to the advancement of the matter in an extraordinary and appropriate manner," said the residents' representatives.

Synagogue tax collectors praised the mobilization of the municipality's CEO Amnon Merhav, at the behest of Mayor Nir Barkat, to promote the expedited allocation process, and the special activity of Mayor's Advisor Avraham Kreuzer, together with public representatives and members of the city administration, to bring the affair to an appropriate end, for the benefit of the neighborhood's residents.