Security patrols conducted by non-Jews are soon to be
launched in Bnei Brak on Shabbosim and holy days. The patrols
will be active in various areas of the city which have
recently been focal points of violence and robberies.
Municipality Secretary and Spokesman Avrohom Tannenbaum
related that many complaints have been filed in recent months
about juvenile delinquents -- the majority of whom are not
residents of Bnei Brak -- who sit on street corners and
badger passersby, sometimes even physically attacking
them.
In some cases, the youths tore down bus stops, taking
advantage of the fact that on Shabbosim there are few people
in the streets, as well as of the fact that those who are
accosted will not call the police. There has also been a wave
of robberies in certain neighborhoods. At times it was pretty
clear that the thieves are non-Jewish workers from Romania or
Thailand who live on the edges of the city.
Rabbi Shlomo Stern, a member of the City Council, raised the
issue at Council meetings. Mayor of Bnei Brak Rabbi Mordechai
Karelitz asked the director of the Emergency Services
Department of the Municipality, Mr. Chaim Nogleblat, to deal
with the problem.
Within this framework, it was decided that non-Jewish workers
who are on duty on Shabbosim and holidays in the Municipal
Emergency Department will man car patrols, which will drive
through city neighborhoods which have been targets of
violence. Each patrol car will display an identifying lit-up
sign to indicate that it is part of the municipal patrol and
not a mechalel Shabbos, in order to prevent friction
between the patrols and city residents. These plans were
devised in conjunction with Dan area police headquarters.
The idea was approved by the gedolei haposkim and
rabbonim of Bnei Bark, who examined all halachic
aspects of the issue and presented clear halachic
guidelines for its implementation. Rav Moshe Stein, head of
the Karlin Stolin kollel of Bnei Brak and a well known
moreh horo'oh in the city, reviewed all details and
then presented the plan to the gedolei haposkim, who
conveyed their guidelines to the appropriate Municipal
officials, among them, Mr. Chaim Nogleblat, director of the
Emergency Services Department, and Mr. Boruch Avni, director
of the Municipal headquarters linked to this department.
It was stressed that the non-Jewish workers who conduct these
patrols must not serve as Shabbos goyim for residents,
and may not be approached with problems non-Jews are
generally asked to solve on Shabbos and yom tov.
