Laying the cornerstone for the new Torah center
Laying the cornerstone for the new Torah centerCourtesy

Work began on the construction of a large Torah center, Netivot Shalom, to be named after the Rebbe of Slonim in the city of Immanuel in Samaria last week.

Participating in the event were rabbis, the leadership of the communities in Judea and Samaria, and local dignitaries.

The Torah center that will be built will include a study halls, a school, and classrooms for the younger ages and a spiritual community center, as well as luxurious halls where residents will be able to hold joyous celebrations at cost prices.

The Torah center overlooks the Cana Stream mentioned in the Bible as the boundary of the inheritance of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasheh.

Immanuel, a hasidic city located in the heart of Samaria, is in the midst of an extensive development boom. All the hundreds of new housing units currently under construction have already been sold, and future plans for the expansion of the city are currently in planning in order to address the needs of thousands more families who wish to move to the city. Young families from Israel’s haredi hasidic communities of Boyan, Vizhnitz, Slonim, Alexander, and more are moving to Immanuel, where they find good quality education and a strong and supportive community in its clear, tranquil mountain air.

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Among the many dignitaries who participated in the cornerstone-laying ceremony were Immanuel Mayor Rabbi Eliyahu Gafni; MK Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism); Kedumim Mayor Hananel Dorani; Beit El Mayor Shay Alon; Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan; Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni; Rabbi Haim Kizner, rabbi of the Chabad community; Rabbi Moshe Avraham Golinsky, rabbi of the Slonim community; developer Rabbi Moshe Singer; and other dignitaries.

All the participants congratulated the city's leadership for turning Immanuel into a magnet for young families and a developing city of Torah.

At the ceremony last week, Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni told the participants: “We are in the midst of the Three Weeks when the nation of Israel mourns the destruction of the Temple. In Immanuel, they have decided that now is the time to continue the building of the world of the Torah in Israel and particularly in Samaria. This is of great value for the settlement of the Land of Israel, and in the eyes of Heaven.”