On a warm Friday morning in May, I stand outside a dusty and windy construction site in Beit Shemesh, waiting to meet Dr. Aliza Bloch, the city’s popular mayor. Most Fridays, I would be more likely to be playing basketball with my over-50 contemporaries on one of the city’s outdoor courts (full disclosure: I have been a Beit Shemesh resident since 1997), but Bloch’s spokesperson has assured me that a tour of the city’s new Neve Shamir neighborhood that is being built on the hills south of the town will provide important insights into the future of Beit Shemesh.
As we wait to meet the mayor, I strike up a conversation with Tal, a young man who works with one of the companies building the project. “Aliza,” he says, “was my principal in high school.”
Aliza Bloch’s parents made aliyah from Morocco in 1963, and Bloch was born in 1967. She and her husband Aharon, a nephrologist, moved to Beit Shemesh in 1992. An energetic and able educator, Bloch headed the Branco Weiss High School in Beit Shemesh for 16 years.
During her tenure, she helped transform the school from a small junior high school to a 1,500-student high school that boasts an almost 90% passing rate in Israel’s annual matriculation exams. Bloch was awarded the National Education Award in 2011 and received her doctorate from Bar-Ilan University in 2016.
Bloch’s predecessor as mayor of Beit Shemesh was Moshe Abutbul, a member of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Shas Party, who held the post for 10 years, from 2008 until 2018. Abutbul’s tenure as mayor was marked by increased tensions between haredi and national-religious elements in the city. Numerous allegations of corruption, preference in establishing haredi-only neighborhoods, and overall inefficiency were rife. There was growing unrest and dissatisfaction, even among haredi constituents, who were unhappy with the quality of services being provided, from poor design of roads to the lack of mikvaot (ritual baths) in certain neighborhoods to substandard educational services. Bloch, a political neophyte, entered the 2018 campaign as Abutbul’s opponent. Despite the dissatisfaction, few thought that Abutbul could be defeated – least of all by a female, national-religious candidate. Recalling her decision to run for mayor, Bloch says, “I decided to join politics in order to take a higher responsibility of society. I
did so despite the troubles along the way, and I decided to take this opportunity to act for a better future for the city.”
On November 1, 2018, in a stunning upset, Bloch was elected mayor, defeating ultra-Orthodox incumbent Abutbul by just 533 votes. The election of Bloch, a member of the national-religious public, was seen as a step forward in the development of the city and an opportunity for Beit Shemesh to grow beyond the religious conflicts that had existed between haredi extremists and others in the city.
Bloch is now halfway through her five-year term, and the euphoria and excitement of her victory have long since worn off. Politics, she has learned, is a daily, difficult slog, and like all politicians, she has had successes and failures and has made her share of mistakes and enemies. Nevertheless, even Bloch’s detractors concede that she is a tireless worker, beginning her workday each morning between 5 and 6 a.m. and not finishing until late each night. Moreover, she exudes optimism and charm to her constituents.
This Friday morning, Bloch, who, in addition to her doctorate in education, holds a Master’s degree in Land of Israel studies, is leading a tour of the land – specifically, taking prospective home buyers on a visit to the soon-to-be-completed Neve Shamir neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Wearing her trademark beret – when she was first elected, a favored Purim costume worn by Beit Shemesh girls was an “Aliza Bloch costume,” consisting of a dress, along with a beret perched on the head – Bloch speaks to about twenty visitors, talking up Beit Shemesh, Zionism, and the Middle East, and how they are all wrapped up in this new neighborhood. “Neve Shamir is one of the few places in the Middle East that I can stand in front of the public and say, come live here because it will be great,” she tells her guests. “This is Zionism today – settling new neighborhoods and building a city with a diverse population. You can have values, and be idealistic and still have a good life. Neve Shamir is a flagship neighborhood,” she says.
Neve Shamir is planned to be a neighborhood for the general public, through which young couples can return to Beit Shemesh. The vision of Neve Shamir, her spokesperson tells me, is of a village within a city with high-functioning facilities and points of culture. City officials hope that it points to the future of the town. Initially, 2,500 units will be available, and the project is slated to reach 7,000 units.
If the mode of dress is an indicator, the people who have come to visit the project seem to come from different sectors of the general public. Some of the men are wearing kippot, and their tzitzit are clearly visible. Others are bareheaded. While a number of women have kerchiefs on their heads and wear skirts, others are wearing pants and are not covering their hair. After Bloch finishes her presentation, she hands the microphone to city officials and representatives of the companies who continue speaking.
“I want to create a city that is mixed – a city that has that has different types of residents,” she says. “I believe that the city must meet the needs of all the different residents in the city. Bloch explains that the new areas of Ramat Beit Shemesh that are under construction are suited for different communities. “I am building Ramat Beit Shemesh Dalet, which will have the characteristics of a haredi neighborhood. Neve Shamir will have the characteristics of a more general population.”
In Bloch’s view, the city must have both types of populations. “Our ability to make a city that is suitable for both groups is essential. Each is entitled to the maximum amount of rights and the ability to live in a city that is diverse, and I think we are taking Beit Shemesh from a small city to a large one with a wide variety of residents.” Bloch says that a child who grows up in a city like Beit Shemesh, with its mixed population, will be growing up in a varied and rich environment that will ultimately provide positive economic growth. “The development of the city automatically creates growth. More people will come here to live, and there will be more entrepreneurs. This creates positive movement and innovation.”
In addition to her inexperience entering office, Bloch’s job has been made more difficult by Israel’s national political squabbles, which have resulted in the inability to pass a state budget. “I didn’t plan that throughout my entire term that there would be no national government without a national budget,” she says. “That has had a dramatic influence on my ability to get things done. “I didn’t plan for the Corona pandemic. But despite this, what I have seen is that there are amazing people, there is tremendous potential, and I believe in this city.”
Modern Beit Shemesh was settled by immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Romania, Morocco, and Kurdistan when it was built in the early 1950s. Zvi Wolicki, a veteran Beit Shemesh resident since 1994 and one of four Likud representatives on the City Council, recalls that the city’s population when he first arrived was approximately 25,000. Wolicki says that the city’s first haredi neighborhood, Nachalah U’menuchah, and Bayit U’menuchah, were built in the late 1980s, with the idea that it would be a smaller, separate haredi section of Beit Shemesh, next to the larger area of the town. “In the 1990s, there were only four haredi representatives on the City Council out of a total of 17,” he says. Wolicki continues, explaining that “when Meir Porush was in the Housing Ministry (Porush was deputy minister of housing in 1995 and 2001-2003), he saw Ramat Beit Shemesh as a solution to the housing shortage for the haredim.” As a result, the haredi population of Beit Shemesh soon expanded rapidly, and today haredi politicians make up a majority of the city council.
The Beit Shemesh population grew further when the Russian olim arrived in the early 1990s, and American and other English-speaking immigrants started coming at about the same time. “Beit Shemesh continued to develop new communities for English speakers,” says Wolicki. “More and more waves arrived because there was always a young community being developed.” According to Wolicki, Beit Shemesh has the highest percentage of English speakers of any city in Israel. Today, the overall population of Beit Shemesh is close to 135,000 and is rising rapidly.
Mayor Bloch bristles when asked if she considers Beit Shemesh to be a haredi city. “I don’t know who decided that Beit Shemesh is a haredi city,” she declares. “It is a diverse city, and it is a microcosm of Israel. There are immigrants from Morocco, the US, Ethiopia, and the Former Soviet Union. There are secular Jews, and National Religious Jews, and traditional Jews, and Hassidim, and Lithuanians (haredi Jews that are not Hassidic nor Sephardi). Everyone is here.” The tension between groups that accompanied the term of her predecessor has lessened, and Bloch says that “we can live together. No one needs to be afraid of anyone else, and we need to allow everyone to lead his own life. I believe in this with all my heart.”
Throughout our interview, Beit Shemesh residents come to greet Bloch, briefly interrupting to ask the mayor specific questions. One prospective buyer asks her if there will be traffic jams in the new neighborhood. Another woman approaches the mayor and says, “Do you recognize me? You know my sister.” Bloch smoothly maneuvers between her constituents’ questions and our interview.
New neighborhoods are not the only thing in Beit Shemesh’s future. Bloch is busy attempting to develop the city’s economic muscle by adding a new hi-tech park. “Housing is very important, but it’s not everything,” she says. “Part of my job is to create the balance between housing and quality of life.”
One field that is ripe for development in the area is tourism. The entire Beit Shemesh region is rich in Biblical history and archaeology. Beit Shemesh is first mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Joshua as a city in the territory of the tribe of Judah on the border with the tribe of Dan. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a well-preserved, previously unknown Jewish settlement dating from the 7th century BCE, filled with artifacts and antiquities adjacent to Highway 38, near the entrance to Beit Shemesh. Wolicki, who holds the foreign affairs, tourism, and environmental portfolios on the City Council, says that the city will be developing an archaeological park, visitors center, museum, and hotel near the site during the next three years.
In addition, the development of a nature reserve and large public park is underway at Tel Yarmut, which overlooks Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimel. Yarmut was a major Jebusite area, and a monumental Early Bronze II palace was discovered in the lower city. “We are preserving the archaeology and are building paths,” says Zvi Wolicki. The acropolis at Tel Yarmut is the highest point in Beit Shemesh. Wolicki adds that another area of Beit Shemesh, known as Dalet-Sheva, is slated for tourism, and a resort hotel is being planned for a future date.
This year, the city is marking its 70th anniversary, and Bloch expresses her wish that Beit Shemesh becomes the place where people from disparate groups can live in peace and harmony. “I want it to be a modern city, with people who are happy to be living here.” Ever the optimist, she adds, “I think it’s possible.”
The mayor is undoubtedly encouraged by a recent KAN Channel 11 report that suggested that Beit Shemesh is Israel’s happiest city.
Bloch comments on the large number of American immigrants who have made Beit Shemesh their home. “Beit Shemesh is a city that has become a preferred destination for immigrants from the United States,” says Bloch. It is still that way, and I invite people to come and take part. There is nothing like Beit Shemesh.”
As the interview comes to a close, Bloch poses near the Neve Shamir construction site. Ever the educator and ‘people’ person, she asks the young woman photographer, “Where do you live? Where did you grow up?”
As the sun reaches its noon zenith, Beit Shemesh, or in English, the “house of the sun,” is beginning to live up to its name. Aliza Bloch gets in her car and is soon on her way to her next destination.