WikiSysop at 13:11, 31 October 2007

2007-10-31T13:11:11Z

Stemonitis: moved Bnei Brak, Israel to Bnei Brak: needless disambiguation; requested at WP:RM

2007-06-21T06:36:45Z

moved Bnei Brak, Israel to Bnei Brak: needless disambiguation; requested at WP:RM

New page

#REDIRECT [[Bnei Brak]]

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−	~~#REDIRECT~~ [[Bnei Brak]]	+	'''Bnei Brak''' (or '''Bene Beraq''') ({{lang-he-n\|בְּנֵי בְּרַק}}, ''{{unicode\|Bəne Bəraq}}'') is a city in [[Israel]], on the central coastal strip, just east of [[Tel Aviv]], in the [[Gush Dan\|Dan metropolitan region]], the [[Tel Aviv District]]. It is the only large city in Israel whose population comprises predominantly [[Haredi]] Jews.
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		+	Bnei Brak's [[jurisdiction]] is 7,088 [[dunam]]s. According to the [[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] (CBS), as of September [[2006]], the city's [[population]] stood at 147,100, growing at an annual rate of 2.0%. Its small physical size and large number of inhabitants make it Israel’s most densely-populated city.<ref name="tourism">[http://www.tourism.gov.il/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Discover+Israel/Cities/Bnei+Brak.htm Israel Tourist Information—Bnei Brak]</ref> It is the poorest city per capita in the [[Tel Aviv District]].
		+
		+	==Population==
		+	The city has a population of about 147,100 residents (as of September 2006), the majority of whom are [[Haredi Judaism\|Haredi]] [[Jew]]s. It also has the largest population density of any city in Israel, with {{PD km2 to sq mi\|20076}}.
		+	It is a very large center for Orthodox Jews.<ref>[http://www.torah.org/features/spirfocus/bnaibrak.html Israel's religious city]</ref> In the [[Israel legislative election, 2006\|2006 Israeli legislative elections]], 89% of the voters chose Haredi parties, and another 7% voted for other religious parties. While the city does not have an official 'religious' status, the migration and development of the population has led to two distinct sections: The northern part of the city as well as the extremities have a significant non-religious minority population while the core of the city is almost entirely religious. While this religious population used to be mainly [[Religious Zionist]], it is now primarily Haredi.
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		+	A large part of this religious part of the city is completely closed off to vehicular traffic during the [[Shabbat]] (from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday). Virtually all stores in the city are under some form of rabbinical supervision, many having multiple supervisory organizations, and not a single store is open during the Shabbat.
		+
		+	==Modern history==
		+	[[Image:800px-Ponivez1.jpeg\|thumb\|250px\|[[Ponevezh yeshiva]] in Bnei Brak]]
		+	[[Image:Bene Beraq.JPG\|thumb\|250px\|The landmark [[Coca-Cola]] plant]]
		+	Bnei Brak was founded as an agricultural settlement in [[1924]] by Rabbi [[Yitzchok Gerstenkorn]] and a group of Polish [[Hasidic Judaism\|chasidim]]. Due to a lack of land many of its founders turned to other occupations, and the village began to develop an urban character. Its first [[rov]] was Rabbi [[Arye Mordechai Rabinowicz]], a descendant of the [[Yaakov Yitzchok Rabinowicz\|Yid Hakodosh]] and formerly the rov of [[Kurów]] in [[Poland]]. He was succeded as rov of Bnei Brak by Rabbi Yosef Kalisz, a scion of the [[Vurka (Hasidic dynasty)\|Vurker dynasty]].
		+
		+	The town was set up as a religious settlement from the outset, as is evident from this description of the pioneers:
		+	:''Their souls were revived by the fact that they merited what their predecessors had not. What particularly revived their weary souls in the mornings and toward evening, when they would gather in the beis medrash situated in a special shack which was built immediately upon the arrival of the very first settlers, for tefilla betzibbur three times a day, for the daf yomi shiur, and a gemora shiur and an additional one in Mishnayos and the Shulchan Oruch.''<ref>[http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5759/yisro/features.htm Bnei Brak at 75: City of Torah and Chassidus]</ref>
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		+	Bnei Brak gained official recognition as a city in 1950.
		+
		+	The famous 20th century rabbi, [[Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz]] (known as the ''Chazon Ish'') settled in the village (at the time), and many owe the town's rapid increase in numbers due to his presence. Many see the efforts of Rabbi [[Yaakov Landau]], who served as the chief rabbi of Bnei Brak for 40 years (1936-1986), as instrumental in the fact that Bnei Brak developed into an important religious city. Other famous rabbis who have lived there include Rabbi [[Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler]], Rabbi [[Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky]] ("the Steipler"), Rabbi [[Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman]] ([[Ponevezh]]er Rov) and Rabbi [[Elazar Menachem Mann Shach]]. Currently famous rabbis who reside in Bnei Brak are Rabbi [[Aharon Leib Shteinman]], Rabbi [[Nissim Karelitz]], Rabbi [[Shmuel Vozner]], Rabbi [[Chaim Kanievsky]] and Rabbi [[Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz]].
		+	[[Image:VizhnitzEdited.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|Vizhnitz Chasidim in Bnei Brak]]
		+	Bnei Brak is also a major [[hasidic]] center. Already in the early 1950s, the [[Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)\|Vizhnitzer]] Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Meir Hager, founded a large neighborhood in Bnei Brak, which contin ues to serve as the center for the chasidus under his son, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager (the present Vizhnitzer Rebbe). Beginning in the 1960s, the rebbes of the Ruzhin dynasty ([[Sadigura (Hasidic dynasty)\|Sadigura]], [[Husiatyn (Hasidic dynasty)\|Husiatyn]], Bohush), who had formely lived in Tel Aviv, moved to Bnei Brak. In the 1990s they were followed by the rebbe of [[Modzitz (Hasidic dynasty)\|Modzhitz]]. Unlike the former four [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)\|Gerrer]] rebbes who lived in Jerusalem, its present rebbe (since 1996) is a Bnei Brak resident. Numerous other rebbes live in the city, among them the rebbes of [[Aleksander (Hasidic dynasty)\|Alexander]], [[Biala (Hasidic dynasty)\|Biala-Bnei-Brak]], [[Koidanov (Hasidic dynasty)\|Koydanov]], [[Machanovka (Hasidic dynasty)\|Machnovke]], [[Nadvorna (Hasidic dynasty)\|Nadvorne]], Premishlan, Radzin, [[Shomer Emunim (Hasidic dynasty)\|Shomer Emunim]]. [[Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)\|Slonim-Schwarze]], Strykov, Tchernobil, Trisk-Bnei-Brak, Zutshke — to name only some of them.
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		+	Until the 1970s, the Bnei Brak municipality was headed by Religious Zionist mayors.{{Fact\|date=February 2007}} After Mayor Gottlieb of the [[National Religious Party]] was defeated, Haredi parties grew in status and influence; since then they have governed the city. As the Haredi population grew, the demand for public religious observance increased and more residents requested the closure of their neighbourhoods to vehicular traffic on the Shabbat. When they demanded the closure of a main street (HaShomer St. now Kahaneman St.), the non-religious residents protested but the town's religious inhabitants won the battle{{Fact\|date=February 2007}}. Since then, their influence in the city was has been in the ascendant.
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		+	In a short period of time most of Bnei Brak's secular and Religious Zionist residents migrated elsewhere, and the city has become almost homogeneously Haredi. The city has one secular neighbourhood, Pardes Kats.<ref name="tourism"/> Names of streets that had had a Zionist connotation were changed and named after prominent Haredi figures, the most recent and final change being the renaming of [[Theodor Herzl\|Herzl]] St. to [[Elazar Shach\|HaRav Shach]] St. The Israeli flag is barely seen in Bnei Brak, since the State of Israel is seen as a secular entity; however, it is certain to be seen flying atop the [[Ponevezh]] yeshiva, as the practice was originally instituted by Rabbi [[Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman]]. Bnei Brak is one of the two poorest cities in Israel. It is renowned as a centre of Torah learning, as well as being famous for the high standard of [[kosher]] supervision of food in the city.
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		+	The current chief rabbi of Bnei Brak, [[Moshe Landau]] is renowned as an expert specialist in kosher supervision and Jewish law. Rabbi Moshe Landau took office after the death of his father, Chief Rabbi Yaakov Landau in 1986.
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		+	In keeping with its religious status, Bnei Brak boasts Israel's first women-only department store.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4923618.stm Israeli shop opens only to women]</ref>
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		+	At the instigation of the Chazon Ish, the Bnei Brak municipality set up an alternative water supply, for use on [[Shabbat]] and [[Yom tov]]. This supply, which does not require intervention by Jews on days of rest, avoids the problems associated with Jews working on the day of rest at [[Mekorot]].
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		+	==Mayors of Bnei Brak==
		+	Mayors of Bnei Brak include: [[Yitzchok Gerstenkorn]], [[Moshe Begno]], [[Reuven Aharonovich]], [[Shimon Soroka]], [[Yitzchok Meir]], [[Shmuel Weinberg]], [[Moshe Irenstein]], [[Yerachmiel Boyer]], [[Mordechai Karelitz]], [[Yissochor Frankenthal]].
		+
		+	== Industry ==
		+	One of the landmarks of Bnei Brak is the [[Coca-Cola]] bottling plant in Kahaneman St. It is owned by the Central Bottling Company (CBC), which has held the Israeli franchise for Coca-Cola products since 1968. It is among Coca-Cola’s ten largest single-plant bottling facilities worldwide. According to [[Dun's 100]], "CBC’s dedication to excellence and innovative technologies in all areas of its operations has won it prizes from the US-based Coca-Cola Company, as well as recognition and accolades from various public institutions for its environmental-friendly operation and ongoing community service"<ref>[http://duns100.dundb.co.il/companies/600057582/index.asp]</ref>.
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		+	Two major factories which dominated the centre of Bnei Brak for many years were the [[Dubek]] cigarette factory and the [[Osem (company)\|Osem]] food factory. As the town grew they found themselves in the middle of a residential area; both are now closed.
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		+	==Historical References==
		+	The city is named after [[Beneberak (Bible)\|a city of the same name]] in the [[Tanakh]] located in a different location than the modern city.
		+
		+	==References==
		+	<references />

Bnei Brak, Israel - Revision history

WikiSysop at 13:11, 31 October 2007

Stemonitis: moved Bnei Brak, Israel to Bnei Brak: needless disambiguation; requested at WP:RM