40 Friday, December 31, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Jerusalem Growth May Lead to Decline
BY UZI BENZIMAN
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
Economic Branch
Agriculture, forestry
and fishing •
Industry (mining and
manufacturing)
Electricity and
water
Construction (building and
public works)
Commerce, restaurants
and hotels
Transport, storage and
communication
Financing - business
services
Public and community
services
Private and other
services
JERUSALEM - For
the first time since the es-
tablishment of Israel, the
state's capital is also its
largest city. The Central
Bureau of Statistics re-
cently announced that by
the end of 1975,
Jerusalem's population
numbered 356,000, corn-
pared to. 354,000 in Tel
Aviv.
During 1976 this trend
has apparently con-
tinued, enlarging the
numerical gap between
the two cities' popula-
The table clearly re-
tions to 7,000. Jerusalem
finds itself in the throes of flects the relatively high
an intensive growth proportion of Jerusale-
process while Tel Aviv mites employed in public
faces the beginning of its and community services
in comparison with the
decline.
•
national average or with
It is consequently im- the parallel rate in Tel
portant to question at Aviv. On the other hand,
this time whether a much higher proportion
Jerusalem has estab- of Tel Aviv's employes
lished proper procedures work in industry, com-
that will enable the cap- merce and business serv-
tial to avoid the dangers ices.
that threaten to blight
An analysis of this em-
life in Tel Aviv: .
ployment structure indi-
.Jerusalem's objective cates that the Tel Aviv
problems are, if anything, population enjoys a
even more daunting than higher standard of living,
Tel Aviv's, as a look at the an assumption that finds
comparative statistics its confirmation by com-
shows: 31 percent of the paring the number of
Jewish families • in motorized vehicles be-
Jerusalem and 34 percent
of the Arabs are large
families (more than five
persons) while the parallel
figure in the Tel Aviv
population is only 19 per-
cent ; 53 percent of all
Jerusalemites born
BY MOSHE RON
abroad came from Asian
(The JeWish News Special
and African countries (i.e.,
Israel Correspondent)
TEL AVIV - A few
of Sephardic origin) corn-
pared to 31 percent in Tel yearS ago an American
Aviv; and 45 percent of the yeshiva, Yeshivat Tfuzo,
Jerusalem population is was transferred to Mount
included in the labor force Zion in Jerusalem. The
compared to 49 percent of mountain, according to
the tradition, is the site of
Tel Aviv's.
The following table King David's tomb. On
gives a breakdown of the Shavuot, religious Jews
employment structure by come in masses to the
tomb, light candles and
economic branches:
recite Psalms.
The yeshiva became
popular. as hippies from
the U.S., other countries
and Israel joined it to
learn Talmud. But in the
course of time controver-
sies 'broke out about the
yeshiva. It was learned
that Torah scrolls were
spoiled and scholars be-
aten during clashes in the
yeshiva. Some needed
medical help and the
manager of the Yeshiva,
Rabbi Mordechai Golds-
tein, was called to the
police station.
The members of a
Sephardic . synagogue on
Mount Zion accused
Rabbi Goldstein of trying
to expand the territory of
his yeshiva and taking
over all institutions on
the mountain. These ac-
cusations were shared by
the members of an
Ashkenazic synagogue.
The Sephardic
synagogue was estab-
lished 29 years ago after
the War of Liberation: The
Old City of Jerusalem-was
in the hands of Jordan and
armed Jordanian soldiers
guarded its walls. Mount
Zion was the nearest place
to the Old City and the
Wailing Wall in Jewish
hands. On Shabbat and
Israel Jerusalem Tel Aviv
8.5%
0.4%
0.2%
24.1%
13.0%
24.6%
1.1%
0.8%
1.1%
8.9%
9.7%
6.7%
12.7%
13.7%
19.3%
7.4%
6.1%
8.2%
5.7%
6.7%
10.7%
24.3%
41.8%
21.1%
7.3%
7.8%
8.1%
tween the two cities: 23
percent of the Tel Aviv
residents compared to 7.5
percent of the Jerusalem
population.
The following data,
moreover, underscores
the inferiority- of Jeru-
salem (in comparison
to Tel Aviv) with regard
to economic and social re-
sources: the number of
families receiving wel-
fare in Jerusalem, 14 per-
cent, in Tel Aviv 9.5 per-
cent; allowances for large
families in Jerusalem,
32.8 percent, in Tel Aviv,
9.9 percent; sub-standard
housing in Jerusalem, 48
percent, in Tel Aviv, 22
percent.
The significance of these
figures is quite clear:
.Jerusalem is by far the
poorer city. Yet,
Jerusalem must cope with
urban problems that are
much more severe than Tel
Aviv has ever had.
The experience of the
last nine years, since the
post-1967 unification, in-
dicates that the mistakes
that brought Tel Aviv to
its present miserable
situation may be re-
peated in Jerusalem, too.
The city's municipality
does not devote sufficient
attention to town-
planning problems. The
municipality has ap-
proved the erection of
new suburbs on the
periphery of the city
without balancing this
decision by strengthen-
ing the infrastructure
and service facilities of
the city center.
The municipality -does
not allocate enough funds
to improve the conditions
of the population living in
old and neglected sub-
urbs.
When taking decisions
concered with long-term
planning, the mayor and
his councilmen must bear
in mind the dangerous re-
sults of planning wrongly
a fast-growing city, as the
Tel Aviv experience has
so clearly demonstrated.
Mt. Zion Yeshiva Spurs Battle
Between Worshippers, Scholars
.
Holy Days, masses of reli-
gious Jews climbed 'the
mountain to say their
paryers near the Old City.
They opened a synagogue
on the mountain.
Afterwards, . new
groups came regularly to
pray in this synagogue.
But the Ministry for Re-
ligious Affairs and the
public committee for
Mount Zion demanded to
close the synagogue since
it was established with-
out an official license.
When the synagogue
was not closed, the
scholars of the yeshiva
came in. They tried to dis-
turb and stop the prayers
in the Sephardic and
Ashkenazic synagogues.
One of the participants in
the prayers, Dr. Shmuel
Abelson, an immigrant
from the U.S. told us how
old and sick people, who
climbed the mountain
with strenous efforts,
were disturbed during
their prayers: Torah
schrolls were stolen from
the Ashkenazic
synagogue.
The troubles started in
1968, when Rabbi Golds-
tein opened the yeshiva
on Mount Zion. The
yeshiva was transferred
from the U.S. on the re-
quest of the Israeli Minis-
try for Religious Affairs.
The ministry transferred
to the yeshiva the right to
supervise the holy places
on the mountain.
The participants in the
prayers accused Rabbi
Goldstein of harassing
them with the yeshiva
scholars. Once, these
scholars "occupied" the
Ashkenazic synagogue
and established in it a li-
brary. They stopped ad-
mission to the synagogue.
Only after intervention
with Rabbi Goldstein did
he agree to let people pray
at certain hours on Mount
Zion. The same happened
•to the Sephardic 'syna-
gogue.
One room turned into a
war-object between the
people coming to pray in
the synagogue and the
yeshiYa scholars. Rabbi
Goldstein announced
that according to the con-
tract with the Ministry
for Religious Affairs he
has all the rights over the
rooms near King David's
Tomb. "We didn't occupy
the room of the
synagogue. A synagogue
has free access to all. Why
shouldn't my yeshiVa
scholars be allowed to
pray in it?"
The people who pray in
the Sephardic school
turned to the chariman of
the Committee for
Foreign and Security Af-
fairs of the Knesset, Yit-
zhak Navon, and asked
him. for help. They ac-
cused some of the yeshiva
scholars of using drugs
and taking - girls to the
synagogue, turning a
holy place into a night
club.
Rabbi
Goldstein
strongly denied these ac-
cusations.
The people of the
Sephardic and
Ashkenazic synagogues
are waiting for the au-
thorities to intervehe'and
torn.
z
restore order on Mount
Zion.
Boris ,Smolar's
'Between You
. . . and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
THE ZIONIST ARENA: Many books are appearing (/
now relating to the Zionist movement and to the his-
tory of the creation of the state of Israel. The latest of
them - and one- of the best - is Dr. Emanuel \I
Neusnsi. ann's "In the Arena," just published by Herzl
Pe
A veteran Zionist leader, Dr. Neumann reveals .Y
now quite a number of interesting "behind the scene" \ I
facts concerning the Zionist movement in the United cr
States, inner developments within the world Zionist \,
movement, and events at the United Nations preced-
ing the adoption there of the historic Partition RP ''Qlu-
te.
tion which led to the establishment of the Jewisi .
-
He is the man competent to disclose these
which could not be told until now - because he par-
ticipated in all of the events as a member of the Jewish
Agency Executive. His role in the Jewish Agency is
well known, and so is his role in helping - together
with Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, Moshe Sharett and
others - to bring about the adoption of the Partitition
Resolution at the UN.
His book is a great contribution to Jewish history
in general. It provides new dimensions to many factors
in American Zionism prior and after the establish-
ment of the state of-Israel.
SECRET DEAL: One of the important revelations
in Dr. Neumann's book is the agreement he brought
about in 1932 with King Abdullah, ruler of Transjor-
dan - now Jordan - under which the Arab ruler sold
part of his personally-owned land to the Jewish
Agency. This was at a time when no Jew was permitted
to settle in Transjordan or to possess land there, under
regulations of the British Mandatory Administration.
It is a fascinating story of how King Abdullah, in need
of money, decided quietly to offer part of his land for
sale to the Jewish Agency. The offer was naturally
made in great secrecy, and the Jewish Agency Execu-
tive appointed two of its members- Dr. Neumann and
Dr. Heshl Farbstein - to conduct the negotiations
with the Arab ruler, to sign the agreementwith him,
and present him with the amount he asked.
The deal was top secret for anybody except for
members of the Jewish Agency Executive. It was sup-
posed to have been the first breakthrough in the
British ban on Jews to possess- land in Transjordan
which was earlier a part of ,Palestine. The ruler of
Transjordan wanted to present the British Manda-
tory government with an accomplished fact thereby
asserting himself of his ownership of his own land. He
knew that the British would resent it, but he preferred
that the resentment should come after the deal was
concluded rather than before.
It so happened that I was in Palestine at that time.
I was a trusted friend of MoShe Shertok - he later
Hebraized his name to Sharett, when the state of Is-
rael was established - and of other. leading memberF,
of the Jewish Agency Executive, including Dr.
Neumann. Although no editor of the newspapers in
Jersualem aid Tel Aviv knew of the negotiations with
Abdullah, Dr. Neumann nevertheless entrusted me
with detailed infoi'mation and imAted me to join him
and Dr. Farbstein in the "secret mission"-to 'Transjor-
dan
SECRET MISSION: Our car left in the early morn-
ing hours when people were not yet in the Jerusalem
streets. Within two hours we were over the Allenby
Bridge and on Transjordan soil. An emissary of King
Abdullah met us at a prearranged place somewhere in
Transjordan and joined us in our car to take us to his
ruler. All was shrouded in mystery.
The historic trip concluded in a small peasant
house where Dr. Neumann and Dr. Farbstein on one
side and Abdullah on the other signed an agreement
under which the ruler of Transjordan "leased" to the
Jewish Agency 70,00 dunams of his land with the pro-
vision that the agency had the right to renew the
"lease" twice for a period of 30 years each. Everybody
was happy and I took a photo of the house whel.^ the
historic agreement was signed.
The deal, however, never came to fruition. late
the strict secrecy in which it was conducted, the de-
tails of the agreement. leaked out and appeared in an
Arab newspaper in Lebanon. The British administra-
tion was angry. The Mufti of Jerusalem, an arch--
enemy of the Jews, was furious. Arabs were excited.
The ruler of Transjordan notified the Jewish Agency
that he could not go through with the deal because he
was threatened with assassination.
In the Jewish Agency a suspicion prevaileed that
the "leak" came from Abdullah himself after he re-
ceived the money from the agency. He never repaid
the money. However, the text of the agreement - with
his signature - can still be found in the Jewish Agency
political archives. Dr. Neumann reproduces the
document in his book.