Five New Synagogues Planned in Tel Aviv
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Demand is up: Five new synagogues will be built in five northern Tel Aviv neighborhoods.
The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv
The neighborhoods, all relatively new ones, are Ramat Aviv Gimmel, Kokhav HaTzafon, New Ramat Aviv, Ezorei Hen, and North Tel Baruch.
Eldad Mizrachi, who heads the Tel Aviv Religious Council, said, "We are happy to see that the demand for the new synagogues is coming mainly from the residents themselves - indicating a spiritual-Torah thirst even in areas that were not exactly considered fortresses of religiosity."
There are currently 544 synagogues in operation in Tel Aviv. Mizrachi said he hopes the five new ones will be completed over a "not long period."
The Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, told HaTzofeh's Tuli Pikarsh, "There are more worshippers, and not enough places for them to sit."
At a recent gathering of Tel Aviv synagogue gabbaim (sextons), Mizrachi spoke "in the name of hundreds of rabbis who are happy that Rabbi Lau is continuing his Rabbinic mission in this 'city that never stops.'" Rabbi Lau, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, recently decided not to run for President of Israel.
Rabbi Lau spoke of the recent flowering of Torah study and spiritual pursuits in Tel Aviv. Two examples of this are Yeshivat Maaleh Eliyahu and the Rosh Yehudi center.
Maaleh Eliyahu is a hesder yeshiva established about ten years ago by a group of students from Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, headed by Rabbi Chaim Ganz. The yeshiva's activities include hosting soldiers for classes, one-on-one study, meals, as well as other community outreach.
Rosh Yehudi (lit., Jewish Head, or Jewish Mindset), is a Torah study center and community for those seeking to add Jewish spirituality to their lives. It produces a weekly pamphlet detailing, among other things, the stories of young Israelis who grew up secular and returned to Jewish observance through Rosh Yehudi. Located near Shenkin St., considered a bastion of secularism in modern Israeli society, Rosh Yehudi seeks to answer questions such as, "What is the nature of our connection to each other as members of the Jewish people, and what is this connection based on? Where does it come from? Do we, as a nation and as a State, have a message for humanity? What is our commitment to the State and to the IDF? What type of relationship should there be between the individual and society in general?"