Mayor of Bnei Brak
According to Don Isaac Abravanel in his commentary on the Passover Haggadah, Bnei Brak mentioned in the story of the five sages was not the name of a locality, but meant glittering, beautiful things (from the Hebrew root barak). He would translate the passage: “It was told of Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua…that they reclined on beautiful mats (or the like).”
Rabbi Shmuel Weinberg, the mayor of Bnei Brak who recently visited New York, would partly agree with Don Isaac Abravanel’s explanation. He would insist, of course, that Bnei Brak was first and foremost a place name, the name of an ancient Jewish city, for which modern Bnei Brak was named.
However, he would also accept Abravanel’s explanation that Bnei Brak means something glittering, beautiful, exquisite. One should hear him speak about his Bnei Brak!
“Bnei Brak is now a city of one hundred thousand inhabitants,” Rabbi Weinberg said. “Eighty percent of the population are religious.”
“The city’s influence is felt throughout the country. It is the seat of large and famous yeshivas and the home of prominent rabbis and Hasidic leaders. Less known is the fact that the present religious renaissance of wide circles of Sefardi and Oriental Jews, has its origin in Bnei Brak. Sefardi and Oriental boys of the the Ponevez and other Bnei Brak yeshivas, and girls educated at the Or Hachayyim institutions, have been the bearers of this renaissance.”
“There is in Israel today a great movement of baalei teshuvah of young men and women who seek to return to the faith and tradition of our people. Bnei Brak plays a great role in this movement,” Rabbi Weinberg continued. “Baalei teshuvah are brought to Beni Brak to spend a Shabbath there. A Shabbath in Bnei Brak brings home the full flavor and spiritual significance of the Jewish day of rest.”
Rabbi Shmuel Weinberg has been associated with the administration of Bnei Brak for more than thirty years and has played a major role in the tremendous development of the city during this period.
In 1949 he was made treasurer of the Local Council (at that time Bnei Brak did not yet have the status of a municipality). He became a mayor for the first time in 1966, serving in that capacity for two years. Subsequently, he was deputy mayor for ten years. In November of 1978, when for the first time direct elections for mayor were held, Rabbi Weinberg was elected.
A man of medium height, Rabbi Weinberg’s round friendly face is topped by white hair. His high, wrinkled forehead and white beard make him appear a little older than his fifty eight years.
He is a scion of a family of Hasidic leaders. His father, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, the Slonimer Rebbe, emigrated from Poland to the Land of Israel in 1935.
Reb Shmuel told me about his father: “He opened a store in Tel Aviv, but had his Beth Hamidrash. During the week he was a shopkeeper. On Shabbath he was a Rebbe. All week he would study from five in the afternoon until three in the morning. For twenty years, until his death a year and a half ago, he worked on an encyclopedic work, “Otzar Erkhe Hatorah.” Five volumes have been published so far.
Shmuel attended Tel Aviv’s “Sinai” school and studied in the “Yeshivat Hayishuv Hachadash,” which had been founded by the late Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv.
Weinberg was a member of Brith HaChashmonaim, the religious nationalist youth movement which was affiliated with the Revisionists. Like most members of this youth movement, Shmuel joined the underground. He was active in the Irgun Zvai Le’umi and later in the Stern Group, and was twice arrested by the British. In 1944, he was held for half a year in Rafiah and in 1946 was detained for two months in the detention camp of Latrun.
After the establishment of the Jewish State he became active in Poale Agudath Israel. He was elected to the Bnei Brak municipal council by the “Religious Block,” composed of Agudah, Poale Agudah, religious Sefardim, Hasidim of Gur, Belz and Vishnitz, and other religious groups. The “Religious Block” backed Rabbi Weinberg also in the last direct municipal elections.
Rabbi Weinberg came to the United States at the invitation of the Rebbe of Vishnitz to participate in the big Vishnitz-Skver wedding.
The Rebbe of Vishnitz lives in Bnei Brak where there is a special quarter of Vishnitz Hasidim and institutions.
A chartered El Al plane brought 350 Chasidim from Israel to New York. The plane made a stop in London where it was boarded by 80 Chasidim of Western Europe. The food served on the plane was kosher l’mehadrin, prepared by Stessel, a Chasid of Belz, who has a catering establishment in Bnei Brak.
“The entire journey in the company of the Rebbe of Vishnitz was a long Rebbishe tish. There were divrei Torah, singing and dancing,” Rabbi Shmuel Weinberg told me.
My wife and I had the honor of welcoming him in our home. He was accompanied by Rabbi Berish Schapiro, rabbi of the Naroler Beth Hamidrash, who was Rabbi Weinberg’s host in Flatbush.
Rabbi Weinberg spoke of his city, describing its growth and economic development. Bnei Brak is an important industrial center. However, most of his talk was devoted to the city’s intensive religious life. There are 150 Torah institutions. This number does not include the state-religious schools and the schools of the Chinuch Atzmai, which are part of the municipal educational system. There are 400 Battei Midrash and Stiblach, and multitude of social and charitable institutions, including 400 free loan funds.
During his short stay here, Rabbi Weinberg met with communal leaders and workers. He discussed with them setting up of “Friends of Bnei Brak,” an organization of men and women willing to give of their time, energy and money for the further development of this unique city.
By Tovia Preschel
Jewish Press
March 7, 1980