Residents of Macdonald Street in Netanya, who protested three years ago against the opening of the religious Shuvu school on their block, were surprised to see that a Chabad yeshiva had opened at the site last week.

One resident told the ynet website, “Over the past few days, I noticed a stream of chareidi men going into the campus. When I left the house early in the morning, I saw young men carrying towels on their shoulders, evidently on their way to a nearby mikveh. When I asked them, I found out that a yeshiva had opened here two weeks ago. As it’s very new, they haven’t put a sign up yet, but it’s a Chabad yeshiva.”

On Thursday evening, local residents already felt the presence of the yeshiva. “At around 9:30 at night, we heard singing,” said another neighbor. “I saw dozens of young men in the campus courtyard doing a Chassidic dance. Our street already has three shuls, and we never had any problem with them. But opening a yeshiva on this little street is like opening a community center. Here, student life doesn’t seem to stop at the end of the school day. Apart from the noise, the yeshiva has made the street look dirty and there’s lots of garbage sticking out of the trash bins.”

The residents’ main concern, however, is that the new yeshiva is a sign that the area is on its way to becoming chareidi. “In Netanya, there are certain religious streets that became closed to traffic on Shabbos, and the secular residents sold their apartments and moved out,” said one resident. “But our street has been secular for decades, and we have no intention of changing things. We want to appeal to the Netanya Municipality and find out if there was any official agreement to open a yeshiva on our street, whether this yeshiva has a permit, and if things have been done according to the law.”

The director of the campus, lawyer Etti Pilpel, gave the following response: “Originally, the residents of Macdonald Street objected to the Shuvu School. This opposition was the result of the noise and air pollution caused by the buses that drove the students to school. Today, that problem no longer exists, so it’s not clear what is bothering the neighbors. In fact, for many years the campus housed a Reform center and Temple.”

The city’s response was, “The municipality is currently working to evacuate this campus.”
(SOURCE: COL.ORG.IL)