Bnei Brak

Location o Bnei Brak athin the Tel Aviv Destrict

Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak

Bnei Brak (or Bene Beraq) (Ebreu: בְּנֵי בְּרַק‎‎  (audio)^?, Bəne Bəraq) is a ceety locatit on Israel's central Mediterranean coastal plain, juist east o Tel Aviv, in the Dan metropolitan region an Tel Aviv Destrict. Bnei Brak is a center o ultra-orthodox Jewish cultur.

Bnei Brak covers an aurie o 709 hectares. Accordin tae figures o the Israel Central Bureau o Statistics, at the end o 2009, the population wis 154,400, wi an annual growth rate o 1.7%. Bnei Brak is ane o the poorest an maist densely populatit ceeties in Israel.

History

Bnei Brak takes its name frae the auncient Biblical ceety o Beneberak, which wis locatit 4 kilometers (2 mi) tae the sooth o whaur Bnei Barak wis foondit in 1924.

Bnei Brak wis foondit as an agricultural settlement bi Yitzchok Gerstenkorn an a group o Polish chasidim. Due tae a lack o land mony o its foonders turned tae ither occupations, an the veelage began tae develop an urban character. Its first rabbi wis Rabbi Arye Mordechai Rabinowicz, umwhile rabbi o Kurów in Poland. He wis succeedit bi Rabbi Yosef Kalisz, a scion o the Vurker dynasty.

The toun wis set up as a releegious settlement frae the ootset, as is evident frae this description o the pioneers:

Their souls wur revived bi the fact that they meritit wha their predecessors haed no. Wha particularly revived their weary souls in the forenuins an toward forenicht, when they wad gather in the beis medrash situatit in a special shack which wis built immediately upon the arrival o the vera first settlers, for tefilla betzibbur (communal prayer) three times a day, for the Daf Yomi shiur, an a Gemara shiur an an additional ane in Mishnayos an the Shulchan Oruch.

Bnei Brak wis declared a ceety in 1950.

Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz (the Chazon Ish) settled in Bnei Brak in its early days, attractin a lairge follaein. Rabbi Yaakov Landau, chief rabbi of Bnei Brak between 1936 and 1986, helped tae make it an important releegious center. Ither leadin rabbis who hae lived in Bnei Brak are Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler, Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky ("the Steipler"), Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman (Ponevezher Rov) an Rabbi Elazar Menachem Mann Shach. Notable rabbis who reside in Bnei Brak the day are Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, Rabbi Shmuel Wosner, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky an Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz.

In the early 1950s, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Meir Hager, foondit a lairge neighborhuid in Bnei Brak which continues tae serve as a dynastic center unner his son, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager.

Beginnin in the 1960s, the rebbes o the Ruzhin dynasty (Sadigura, Husiatyn, Bohush), who haed umwhile lived in Tel Aviv, moved tae Bnei Brak. In the 1990s they wur follaed bi the rebbe o Modzhitz. Unlike the umwhile fower Gerrer rebbes, who lived in Jerusalem, the current rebbe (syne 1996) is a Bnei Brak resident. The rebbes o Alexander, Biala-Bnei-Brak, Koydanov, Machnovke, Nadvorne, Premishlan, Radzin, Shomer Emunim. Slonim-Schwarze, Strykov, Tchernobil, Trisk-Bnei-Brak an Zutshke reside in Bnei Brak.

Till the 1970s, the Bnei Brak municipality wis heidit bi Releegious Zionist mayors. Efter Mayor Gottlieb o the Naitional Releegious Pairty wis defeatit, Haredi pairties grew in status an influence; syne then they hae govrened the ceety. As the Haredi population grew, the demand for public releegious observance increased an mair residents requestit the closure o their neighbourhuids tae vehicular traffic on Shabbat. When they demandit the closure o a main street (HaShomer St. nou Kahaneman St.), the non-releegious residents protestit but the toun's releegious inhabitants wan the battle. Syne then, their influence in the ceety continuously grew.

In a short period o time maist o Bnei Brak's secular an Releegious Zionist residents migratit elsewhaur, an the ceety haes become amaist homogeneously Haredi. The ceety haes ane secular neighbourhuid, Pardes Katz. Names o streets wi a Zionist connotation wur renamed for prominent Haredi figures, for example, Herzl St. wis chynged tae HaRav Shach St. Bnei Brak is ane o the twa poorest ceeties in Israel.

Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau is a respectit authority on Jewish law an kashrut superveesion. Rabbi Moshe Landau teuk office efter the daith o his faither, Chief Rabbi Yaakov Landau in 1986. The Landau family is somewhat affiliated with Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism. The "Rav Landau" hechsher (kosher supervision) is widely acceptit as ane o the best in Israel, relied on bi amaist aw releegious Jews in Israel. Rabbi Nissim Karelitz is Chief Rabbi (av beis din) o the Lithuanian Haredi population o the ceety. He leads a beth din that includes baith Lithuanian Haredi an Hasidic dayanim, cried She'aris Yisroel, which is an aa a hechsher (kosher superveesion).

Bnei Brak is hame tae Israel's first women-anerlie depairtment store.

Bnei Brak is notit for its abundance o sel-help an volunteer organizations. Several organizations help the ill, special needs population, an the poor. There are an aa available abudant airticles tae be borraed free o chiarge, frae extra baby beds, electric drills, paint rollers, tae bridal dresses.

At the instigation o the Chazon Ish, the Bnei Brak municipality set up an alternative water supply, for uise on Shabbat an Yom tov. This supply, which does no require intervention bi Jews on days o rest, avoids the problems associatit with Jews working on the day of rest at the naitional water company Mekorot.

Demographics

Ari-Ashlag Synagogue

Accordin tae figures bi the municipality o Bnei Brak, the ceety haes a population o ower 165,000 residents, the majority o whom are Haredi Jews. It an aa haes the lairgest population density o ony ceety in Israel, wi 23,375 indwallers per square kilometer (60,541/sq mi). In the 2006 Israeli legislative elections, 89% o the voters chose Haredi pairties, an anither 7% votit for ither releegious pairties. While the ceety does no hae an offeecial 'releegious' status, the migration an development o the population haes led tae twa distinct sections: The northren pairt o the ceety as well as the extremities hae a significant non-releegious minority population while the core o the ceety is amaist entirely releegious. While this releegious population uised tae be mainly Releegious Zionist, it is nou amaist exclusively Haredi.

Mayors o Bnei Brak

• Yitzchok Gerstenkorn
• Moshe Begno
• Reuven Aharonovich
• Shimon Soroka
• Yitzchok Meir
• Shmuel Weinberg
• Moshe Irenstein
• Yerachmiel Boyer
• Mordechai Karelitz
• Yissochor Frankenthal
• Ya'akov Asher

Economy

File:CocaColaPlantBnaiBrak.JPG

Coca-Cola plant in Bnei Brak. The wirds "Coca-Cola" are seen in Ebreu on the sign

Ane o the landmarks of Bnei Brak is the Coca-Cola bottlin plant in Kahaneman St. It is awned bi the Central Bottling Company (CBC), which haes held the Israeli franchise for Coca-Cola products syne 1968. It is amang Coca-Cola's ten lairgest single-plant bottlin facilities warldwide. Accordin tae Dun's 100, "CBC's dedication tae excellence an innovative technologies in aw auries o its operations haes wan it prizes frae the US-based Coca-Cola Company, as well as recognition an accolades frae various public institutions for its environmental-friendly operation an ongoin community service".

Twa major factories which dominatit the centre o Bnei Brak for mony years wur the Dubek cigarette factory an the Osem fuid factory. As the toun grew they foond themsels in the middle o a residential aurie; baith left the aurie. Osem's main factory is nou locatit on Jabotinsky road in Petah Tikva, juist next tae Bnei Brak.

References

Template:Tel Aviv Destrict Template:Lairgest Israeli ceeties

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Bnei Brak