Shabbos Chukas

7:13 - Candle Lighting
7:53 - Shkia
8:31 - Motzei Shabbos
9:06 - Rabbenu Tam
-Have a Good Shabbos!

English Siyum HaShas Controversy

Two organizations, two separate events, two different dates, one venue, one English speaking crowd, and one Siyum HaShas. 

In celebration of the 12th Siyum HaShas, there will a matchup of organizations competing for the English speaking crowd. First up, on Tuesday, 12 Av/July 29th, Dirshu will host an event held in Binyanei Ha’uma. Though, just five days later, another Siyum HaShas is being planned and hosted by Kollel Iyun Hadaf; and where else does it take place if not for Binyanei Ha'uma?

To me it seems rather perplexing that the events weren't combined into one. After all, how many English speakers will be around this summer to attend? More so, it is quite decieving that Dirshu is advertising its Siyum as "the major event for English speakers", forcing the KIH to recently advertise its own Siyum as "The Original English Siyum HaShas in Yerushalayim".

Readers Write-In/Suspicious Man On Paran

(For illustration purposes only)

(Editors note: The following was emailed to us by one of this blog's readers.)

This afternoon, I saw a man on the Paran shopping strip acting in a suspicious manner. He was dressed like he was religious, with a beard and a cap. He was hanging out near the candy store for a bit, not doing anything in particular. I felt uneasy because he was near my young child, so we went down the block to look at merchandise outside a different store. 

About 10 minutes later, he appeared in front of that store and picked up something from the floor, passed near my kid, then acted like he was browsing through their wares...not really doing much besides looking busy. He hung around there for some time, while I watched him and my kid carefully. He finally went back the way he had come. I did not see him do anything wrong, but feel that parents should be extra vigilant in busy areas such as in front of those stores.

Signed, 
Anonymous

Bus Line Changes

New Bus Map (click to enlarge)

Yeshiva World reported today that many bus lines are going to change on June 29th. One of the main changes is that there will be 220 less busses a day passing Rechov Agripas. This is because Agripas, traffic wise, is the worst street to be on, ever since the light rail tracks began being built on Rechov Yaffo. On the official website, there is a map of all the upcoming changes. Affecting us Ramat Eshkol'ers, the 4/4A, 25, and 45 will all undergo changes. The 4/4A will now also stop at the Givat Ha'Mivtar Train Station. The 25 and 45 will now travel Betzalel and Eliyash to Ha'nevi'im towards Levi Eshkol, instead of traveling through Agripas to Ha'Nevi'im. 

There a couple new lines that will be serving Ramat Eshkol. The 40 will make its way from Levi Eshkol towards Bar Ilan and then Golda Meir, thereby being the first bus to take that route. The 52 will go through Ma'avar Mitla and Yam Suf and make its way though Ezrat Torah, Sorotzkin, Givat Shaul and eventually Har Nof. 

Also newsworthy, the 2, 9A, 10, 15/15A bus lines will all be cancelled.

Shabbos Korach

7:13 - Candle Lighting
7:53 - Shkia
8:31 - Motzei Shabbos
9:06 - Rabbenu Tam
-Have a Good Shabbos!

Kids Being Targeted All Over Jerusalem

The following was reported on Kikar HaShabbat and translated by YWN: 

Residents of the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Maalot Daphna, Shmuel HaNavi, Golda Meir and Arzei HaBira (ed. note: also Ramat Eshkol) are concerned over attacks against children in those communities, Kikar Shabbat reports that a small girl in a playground (ed. note: playgrounds seem to be abusers' favorite place to work) in Arzei HaBira was targeted on Monday, 28 Sivan 5772 as she entered a closed slide. It appears the attacker, dressed in chareidi clothing, was waiting inside. M, a female resident of the community saw the girl crying her heart out explaining “At first none of us understood what was going on. A bit later she explained that she entered the slide and was attacked by a man there, a strange man.” 

Residents explain this is another attack in the community and they are more than a bit concerned. They are not sitting around waiting for miracles, and they have begun by posting announcements to increase awareness and hoping to obtain information that may lead to his apprehension. P, a resident of Maalot Daphna was a witness to such an attack a number of weeks ago. “I saw a chareidi male attacked by residents. It appears he tried to attack a child. He was spotted and they ran after him”. The perpetrator managed to flee and remains at large at this time.

Important Updates

Recently, you may have noticed some changes occurring on this site. First, I would like to point out that we have changed the name of the site, in order to keep our readers from getting confused with another Ramat Eshkol organization.

Second, we have added a "Ramat Eshkol General Info" section to the site, which provides local, hard-to-find, in-depth information from around the neighborhood, in an easy, free and convenient directory. From shul times to local real estate agents, bank hours and furniture listings, we also plan on adding a lot more local information over the coming months. 

Meat Sale R' Levine

I figure that this poster (click to enlarge) might be helpful to some. It's for a sale of meat from R' Shmuel Levine, R"Y of Chofetz Chaim in Argentina. All the meat is from South America and adheres to the Beit Yosef. 


Each type of meat is sold only by carton, and each carton holds between 11-14Kg for the top section of meats and 6-7Kg for the bottom section. 


The last day for orders is on Tuesday, June 19/29 Sivan, and the sale will be held on Thursday, June 21/1 Tamuz. Call 052-715-4400 to make an order.

Readers Write-In/Woman Harassed Near Old Age Home

(Editors note: The following was emailed to us by one of this blog's readers. The story is a little outdated, but the reality is the same.)

It was about 2 yrs ago so I dont know if its relevant to today's safety. But just to warn people- I was walking alone on paran on motzi shabbos (about 11ish).  The stores are all closed, so its much more deserted. It was the part of paran between the nursing home and paran 4- no buildings (across from Yesh).

Daily Shul Times

Bais Medrash Le’Torah Ul’Tfillah
5 Ma’avar Mitle

Shachris.......7:35

Mincha..........Mincha Gedola, 2:45
Ma'ariv..........8:45, 10:45


Kehillas Givat HaMivtar 

Midbar Sinai

Shachris.........Vasikin, 7:00, 7:30*, 8:00, Friday also at 8:30*
Mincha...........1:15, 20 minutes before Shkia
Ma'ariv..........8:15, 8:45, 9:45*, 10:45
*Minyan is in the upstairs Shteeble

B’nei Yeshivas
Gan Chamesh Esreh

Shachris: 

Mincha:
Ma'ariv: 9:00 and every half hour after at least until 11:00

If you see inaccuracies or if you'd like to update this list, contact us here.

Shabbos Times

Candle lighting is at 7:11

Shkia is at 7:51

Shabbos ends at 8:29

Rabbenu Tam is at 9:04

Have a Good Shabbos! 

P.S. If you would like to feature a Divrei Torah here one week, contact us and we'll appreciate it.

Jerusalem Festival of Lights Ends Today

 The Jerusalem Festival of Lights is ending today. The multi-million dollar festival is actually quite spectacular. There are amazing light structures, light shows and exhibits. The Festival will be open from 8pm until midnight and is located the entrance of the Old City. Check out the Festivals' official web page over here. More pictures and a video after the jump. Click to enlarge.

Blog Renaming

This blog has been started less than a week ago. When I started off, I named it Patrol Ramat Eshkol. Eventually I decided to change the name to Kol Ramat Eshkol, to reflect two things. A) Kol/קול means "voice", as I would like this blog to be the "voice" of topics unspoken until now, mainly abuse prevention. B) Kol/כל means "everything", as I eventually decided to not only focus on abuse and harassment, because it's very helpful to residents if I post all the general news that pertains to Ramat Eshkol.

Now, the reason I am mentioning all this is because I wasn't paying attention when I renamed the blog. Just days before, in the N'shei Ramat Eshkol email, an askan posted a project called "HaKol of Ramat Eshkol", where people get together to help effect change in the neighborhood, one agenda at a time. Today, he notified me of the similarities. 

Being that both of us are working in the same arena, serving the community, I decided that I must rename this blog again. I am hoping that some of you can give me some good ideas in the comments on what to name this blog...

Suspicious Collector

Click to enlarge

I don't usually get annoyed by beggars. But after this guy opened my door on his own, in my mind it says a lot about the person. Come to your own conclusions, but at the very least be careful. This guy is still making his rounds now, as he was just by me at 7:45.

Lady Harassed on Ramat HaGolan

For illustration purposes only 

I was called by a woman who related to me her story on June 6, of how she was harassed on Ramat HaGolan street, right near Mevo Di Zahav. As she was walking on Ramat HaGolan, a man driving a car, called out to her asking for directions. As she was directing him where to go, he started to say really inappropriate things to her. She ran away from the car and the car sped off before she thought to glance at the license plate. 

Heeding The Call

I started this blog as a project on the side, and I would like to use it to help our community here in Ramat Eshkol. Whether it be for general information, news, or safety updates, I would like for it to be posted here. HOWEVER, as of now I don't expect to post here every day. I do, however, plan on making it my responsibility to post anything that pertains to the safety of the community. Especially since it's the main reason I maintain this blog.

Though, the point of me writing this post is, so that reader be informed that I am deeply interested in hearing your stories and testimonies so that I can notify the rest of us. I know that there are known molesters and sexual harassers around the community, and that certain people do not share this knowledge with others until it's too late. I am sadly reminded of the Leibby Kletzky tragedy that happened exactly 11 months ago. I want to attempt to change that with your help.

Man Asks Kids to Help Carry CD's

A man dressed like a Charedi, has been asking kids to help him carry his CD's. The following is a repost of the incident posted in the N'shei Ramat Eshkol email on June 7:

A man (dressed like a charaidi) has been walking around the neighborhood offering children five shekel if they will help him with his CD's.  (He may change his lines.) Please watch out for your children and call the police if you see anything suspicious.

We have here another case of  a man that looks religious, targeting the neighborhood kids. I may deduct based on the description of him looking Chareidi, that he is probably not the same person that was taking pictures of kids at the Igloo Park. That pervert was wearing a knitted kippah, and it's likely that he isn't changing disguises from Mizrachi to Charedi. Although, he may be the same person that was targeting kids near Mishkan Esther, it is very hard to know with the amount of information given in the classified ads. 

Woman Harassed on Paran

The following story happened to my wife. On Monday 5/28, walking on Paran near Maavar Mitla, someone that looks like an American yeshiva guy started following and harassing my wife. First, while walking towards her, he started by saying "hello" and "what's up" to her. After repeating this a couple of times, she looked around and realized that he must be talking to her.

She makes a face at him, turns around, and starts walking back to our house, while he started to make dirty and inappropriate comments. He also remarked "What you so scared about?" although it was pretty obvious why at that point. He kept on following her, she kept her pace up and didn't turn around again. She was lucky to be near our home and ended up safe.  

Kennes about Technology

I just found this poster advertising a Kennes Chizuk, "Facing the Challenges of Modern Technology", scheduled for June 17/27 Sivan. The speakers at the event will be R' Yitzchok Berkovitz, R' Yaakov Hillel of Ahavat Shalom, and R' Yosef Elefant from the Mir. The speeches will be only in English, catering to English speaking Bnei Torah. It seems that women are not invited. The event will take place at 8:45 in Bais Yisrael Hall at 16 Ezras Torah. There is a 10 nis admission fee. A live broadcast for women will be available on Kol Halashon by calling 03-617-1111. For more info or to book advance/group tickets, call 02-653-6007.

Just adding my two cents- I find it funny that while the Asifa speeches in America were given in Yiddish, in Israel, the speeches will be given in English. עולם הפוך ראיתי

Another Child Abuse Close Call

This is another incident that happened a week after the first incident that I posted. The following is reposted from the N'shei Ramat Eshkol email on March 16:

This is a public service announcement from another concerned resident: My chessed girl notified me that there was an older man wearing a knitted yarmulka who was walking around the Igloo park with a camera and taking pictures.  He went over to children who were playing by themselves and asked them, "are your parents here?"  He spoke Hebrew and English.  She called the police but the man left before anything happened.

So about a week before this story, another kid was approached by a suspected abuser. This week we have a man taking pictures of the kids, probably planning out his next target. This needs to stop, and it must stop now. I call on everyone to try to be as vigilante as possible, to call the cops right away, take pictures of suspicious individuals, and to try to get as clear a description as possible. License plates can be an especially good method for the cops (and vigilantes) to track criminals and abusers.

A little work, can make a big difference. Let us not dig our heads in the sand, as we all truly know that no community is insusceptible to the problems that just .1% can cause.

Child Approached by Adult Near Mishkan Esther

To start this blog off, I would like to first report on incidents that happened in the past couple of months. I would like for people to gain an idea of what's going on so they can come to their own conclusions.
The following is reposted from the N'shei Ramat Eshkol email list on March 9th:

This is a public service announcement from a concerned resident to remind us that there are adults on the streets in our neighborhoods that can do harm to our children. This person's child was approached by an unsafe adult in the area of Mishkan Esther last Friday night. She would like to remind us to please protect our children appropriately.

This is one of the many incidents where children have been targeted for abuse that has been voiced out by our community members.

In the Beginning...

I have decided to start this blog to benefit the English speaking Ramat Eshkol community. The main reason I have for undertaking this project is due to all the recent postings in the N'shei Ramat Eshkol email list about suspicious people, predators, and criminals. These immoral people, targeting our kids, wives and homes, are to starting to feel like they're here to stay. I plan about blogging about these suspicious people, crimes, and similar events, to help paint a picture of what's happening around the neighborhood.

I hope this blog can cause some community members to brainstorm for solutions and eventually effect meaningful change. Also, if I find the time, I may decide to post about other things too, as long as it helps the community. בעזרת השם נעשה ונצליח.