Saturday night. Again, me and the youth competing on Hashomer Street.
I keep in touch with them during the week, too, but on Saturday nights it's good to meet and see with my own eyes.
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A few days before Purim, they were very worried. They learned that the complex that had been opened for them at Kol Reash Gadol on Halehi Street, near the Ayalon Mall, would be closed to them on Purim night in favor of a volunteer organization. This made them very angry - and rightly so.
I spoke with city officials, who tried to explain that the organization in question has volunteers from the youth who are competing. That sounded like a weak excuse, because the complex is large and there is room for everyone.
It turns out that the youth in the competition aren't exactly suckers. One of them circulated videos protesting that the complex wouldn't open to them on Purim night. "And look, it's a miracle," says one of the boys. "Suddenly they canceled the party for the organization and let us have a party there.".
This partially solved the problem of Purim night, "because the boys don't know what they will do there, if there are plans. This place is closed most of the day and night, so they have lost trust in it.".
But let's say that a Tzalash arrives at the Bnei Brak municipality on Thursday night. And what next?
So here it is: On Saturday night I met the boys on Hashomer Street, dealing with boredom. A police car was parked near the fire station - and was watching.
Guides, kernels and pickles were not seen in the area. And the compound on Lehi Street? He took his night's nap.
Shabbat, Purim in Jerusalem. There is no public transportation, so the boys have no way to get to the capital and once again they are 'stuck' on the streets of Bnei Brak. And the compound on Lehi Street? They slept through the night. So is today, Shoshan Purim. Another day of boredom.
I again approached municipal officials with the question: Why don't they open the complex at all hours of the day and night, with refreshments, with programs, maybe even with classes.
Response before the problem. When received - published.
""They made a fuss about us," one of the boys tells me, sadness evident in his eyes. "They announced the opening of a complex, did public relations, showed that they were doing something after the events of the burned bus and the media interest, and from what it looks like - until another bus is burned here, like them, God forbid, no one will really move.".
