An emergency meeting was held in Bnei Brak last week to
address the refurbishing of Beis Knesses Heichal Shmuel,
which was burned in an arson attack. The beis knesses
was built by local avreichim and other residents after
Bnei Brak Mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz apportioned the
building site. Rabbonim and roshei yeshivos were
present at the meeting, calling on the public to extend the
boundaries of kedushoh in the neighborhood.
Early last week the beis knesses, located in the
Kiryat Herzog neighborhood and inaugurated only one week
earlier by young yeshiva talmidim, became a burning
inferno, destroying the labor of congregants who invested
prodigious efforts to elevate and glorify this mikdash
me'at.
On Shabbos Ki Seitzei many people were on hand to inaugurate
the beis knesses, and on Sunday a Daf Yomi
shiur, given by a prominent neighborhood
avreich, was already underway. Three hours after the
end of the shiur, the beis knesses was
maliciously ignited. All of the contents were completely
consumed in the blaze. Sifrei kodesh were charred and
destroyed but the sefer Torah miraculously
survived.
Congregants arriving at the scene bitterly mourned the
desecration of a mikdash me'at built with their own
hands. Area residents reported seeing two youths from the
former Soviet Union fleeing.
Hundreds of Kiryat Herzog residents arrived throughout the
day as a show of protest over the desecration. Mayor Karelitz
also visited the scene to express his pain over the
ignominious act and offered encouragement to the
gabboim, promising to provide assistance.
At a demonstration the next evening Rav C. Feinstein, Rosh
Yeshivas Beis Yehuda, Rav Y. Segel, Rosh Yeshivas Bircas
Yosef and Rav Y. Frankel, rov of the Kerem Yisroel
kehilloh and Chanichei Hayeshivos in Kiryat Herzog,
spoke before the audience.
