Beit Shemesh
Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ [bet ʃemeʃ]) is a city located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of 154,694 in 2022.[2]
Beit Shemesh
- בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ
- بيت شمس
- בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ
- بيت شمس
Beit Šemš
Bet Shemesh (official)
34,259 dunams (34.259 km2 or 13.227 sq mi)
154,694
4,500/km2 (12,000/sq mi)
House of the sun
The city is named after and located near the remains of ancient Beth Shemesh, a biblical city in the territory of Judah.[3] Its ruins can be found today at the archaeological site of Tel Beit Shemesh.
Education[edit]
In 2001, there were 56 schools and 14,148 students in the city: 41 elementary schools with 10,716 elementary school students, and 20 high schools with 3,432 high school students. 40.3% of 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate.
Economy[edit]
Beit Shemesh has two industrial zones containing mainly small industry, particularly in the Northern industrial zone which is typified by carpentry and metalwork workshops, garages and wholesale and retail outlets. The Western industrial zone contains several larger companies including Beit Shemesh Engines Ltd. (BSEL) which manufactures and repairs jet engines and jet engine components, Barzellan and others. Nearby in the Noham industrial zone are situated various other factories and offices. Since the high tech boom began in the 1990s, Beit Shemesh has been host to several hi-tech startups including Omek Interactive.
Sports[edit]
Beit Shemesh is home to numerous sports clubs all under the main sport associations (Beitar, Hapoel, and Maccabi). The city has soccer teams including juniors, seniors and over-35s teams and boasted a franchise in the Israel Baseball League. The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox represented Beit Shemesh and finished in first place nationally in the league's only season, though they played their games at Gezer Field in Kibbutz Gezer due to a lack of proper facilities in Beit Shemesh. There is also a very active Little League in Beit Shemesh and Ramat Beit Shemesh, with over 300 members. In the field of judo, Elitzur Beit Shemesh has won many prizes. Israel Kung Fu and world Nunchaku champion (2001) Eli Ivgi was born in and lives in Beit Shemesh.
Gender and transportation[edit]
All public bus service is operated with mixed-gender seating. The Tnufah Bus company which started service in 2022[39] and Express are the transportation carriers in Beit Shemesh. Previously Superbus and Egged also provided bus service. By law, there is no discrimination in seating between men and women on all public transportation.
Communal tensions[edit]
In 2022 Beit Shemesh is a thriving city with a mainly Orthodox and modern Orthodox population. The growing pains of communal tentions of two decades ago have faded since the efforts of the last two mayors: Moshe Abutbul who now is a Knesset member and Aliza Bloch, the former mayor. Beit Shemesh is considered a religious, family-oriented city where children can walk safely and freely both day and night in all parts of the city under the current leadership of Shmuel Greenberg.
In 2004 the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews claimed that Ethiopian Jews working for the municipality were being paid below-minimum wages.[40] In 2011, the Association criticized the referral of Ethiopian Jews to three private pre-schools run by the mayor's wife.[41]
According to The Jerusalem Post, women who belong to a Haredi burqa sect in Beit Shemesh were ostracized by the Haredi community.[42] The leader of the movement, dubbed the "Taliban mother" by the Israeli press, was convicted by the Jerusalem District Court in 2009 on three counts of abuse of a minor and 25 counts of assault in aggravated circumstances, and sentenced to four years in prison. Her husband was also convicted of 10 counts of assault and three counts of abuse of a minor or helpless person, and was sentenced to six months in jail.[43][44]
In 2011, conflicts erupted in Beit Shemesh between extremist ultra-Orthodox men, possibly members of a group known as the Sikrikim,[45][46][47] and other residents of the town due to gender separation at local health clinics,[48] and so called ‘mehadrin buses’ where men sit in the front and women in the back.[49]
When the municipality removed a sign asking women to stay away from a synagogue, hundreds of Haredi men staged riots in which they attacked police officers and reporters.[50][51] Several placards urging segregation between men and women were put back after being removed by the police.[52]
After the opening of Orot Banot national-religious girls' school in September 2011 on the border between the primarily National-Religious Sheinfeld neighborhood and the Haredi Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, groups of Haredi extremists gathered in front of the school, calling the girls names and spitting at them when they headed to and from school. Stones hurled at a boys' school belonging to the same educational network injured a boy in the leg. Two men were arrested on suspicion of throwing eggs and tomatoes at students.[53] In a demonstration outside the school a female journalist was assaulted by young Haredi men who cursed and spat at her, and a clash with parents of girls studying at the school was broken up by the police force.[53]
In December 2011, a national public outcry was raised when a television news channel interviewed 8-year-old Na'ama Margolese, who was cursed and spat at on her way to school by Haredi extremists.[54]
The Jewish Daily Forward reported that the issue is really a property dispute over ownership of the school building.[55] Some Haredi women distributed flowers to the girls of Orot Banot school, telling them "sister to sister" that they were beautiful.[14] On 27 December 2011, a protest against extremism near the Orot Banot school drew 10,000 people.[56][57] After the incidents in Beit Shemesh were reported in foreign press, the US State Department updated its Jerusalem travel advisory advising visitors to "dress appropriately" when visiting ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, or to avoid them entirely.[58]
Beit Shemesh is twinned with:[59]
In the Partnership 2gether program of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Beit Shemesh and the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council are linked to South Africa and Washington, D.C.[61]
After The Washington Post reported in October 2011 that Montgomery County, Maryland was considering a partnership with Beit Shemesh,[62] a local coalition, Human Rights Matter!, objected.[63] The campaign was supported by the Mossawa Center, an organization that defines its goal as the promotion of equality for the Arab minority in Israel but which has been criticized for its rejection of Israel as a Jewish state and its foreign funding from the European Commission, George Soros's Open Society Institute and the New Israel Fund, among others,[64] as well as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire.[65]