The City of Bnei Brak has asked the Dan District Police to
refrain from summoning contractors to repair interurban
streets on Shabbos and chagim within the city
limits.
Avrohom Tanenbaum, municipality secretary and spokesman, said
that on Shabbos Parshas Bo a gaping hole formed on
Rechov Jabotinsky near R' Akiva Street as a result of heavy
rains. Jabotinsky Street, an interurban artery connecting Tel
Aviv, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak to Petach Tikva, remains open
on Shabbos and holidays.
Upon receiving reports of the hole, the police summoned a
road-repair contractor without notifying the city. When the
contractor arrived on Shabbos afternoon, dozens of local
residents gathered to protest the chilul Shabbos.
The road workers returned to the site about one hour before
Shabbos ended, to try once again to repair the street, but
residents resumed their protest. Police were summoned to the
scene and instructed the workers to wait until the end of
Shabbos.
R' Chanun Zaidman, director of the city's department for
infrastructure and development, looked into the matter on
motzei Shabbos and briefed Mayor Rabbi Yissochor
Frankentahl as per the latter's request, reporting that the
contractor was a Bezeq employee sent at the police's
request.
In his letter to the Dan District Police, R' Zaidman requests
that similar incidents be avoided in the future. In response
to the police's claims that the hole could have caused
vehicular damage and harm to passengers, R' Zaidman said the
city has non-Jews at its disposal who could have blocked off
the hole on all sides, delaying the repair work until
motzei Shabbos, and expressed his regret that nobody
took such steps in order to prevent chilul Shabbos, to
the dismay of many residents.
The contractor sent a letter to city officials saying that on
Shabbos afternoon he was summoned by the police, who told him
that due to the rainstorms a hazard had been exposed at the
company worksite in the Bnei Brak area and in order to
prevent harm to drivers the police had asked him to repair
the street immediately. When work got underway and local
residents came to protest the chilul Shabbos, the
company contractors left the scene out of respect for
residents' demands, returning only after Shabbos. In the
letter, the company CEO offers his apologies to the city for
offending residents' sensibilities and says he hopes such
incidents will not be repeated in the future.
