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Who is More Important:
Dr. Herzl or Rav Shach?
Rabbi Elazar Shach
Dr. Theodor Herzl
The city of Bnei Brak epitomizes the most extreme evolution of Israel’s street commemoration process, as described in the previous chapters.
Within its borders, a collision of conflicting Israeli narratives unfolds—a struggle between the legacy of the Zionist Dr. Theodor (Binyamin Ze’ev) Herzl and the reverence for Rav Elazar Shach, a fierce opponent of Zionism.
Bnei Brak was established in the 1920s and 30s as an agricultural colony between Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva.
After the first houses were built and roads paved, the local council did what every other municipality did at the time: they honored the visionary of the Jewish State, Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, by naming a central street after him: Herzl Street.
When the first sign bearing that revered name was raised, Bnei Brak was home to several thousand residents from across the Jewish spectrum—religious and secular alike. Most had immigrated to Israel following the Zionist dream, participating in building the land and seeing themselves as pioneers of the New Yishuv. The town boasted secular and religious schools, a cinema, yeshivas, and synagogues. It held a branch of the "Histadrut" (the General Organization of Workers), a cultural hall, a workers' club, and branches of Zionist youth movements.
Since the establishment of the State in 1948, and over the course of three decades, the city's face transformed.
The secular residents left, followed by Religious-Zionist families for whom Zionism was a core value. Their place was taken by Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) families, a sector that had historically opposed Zionism, viewing it as a secular movement that strayed from authentic Jewish values. For the Haredi leadership and rabbis, cooperation with the Zionists was seen as a mere "necessity of the moment," based solely on practical interests.
To them, Herzl was no role model. On the contrary, he represented the secularism they fought relentlessly.
Herzl Street was already part of the city center, but as long as Zionist factions held significant weight in the city council, no one dared to touch it.
One of the "Welcome" pillars at the entrance to Bnei Brak, with the Hebrew inscription: "Please respect our way of life during your visit."
In the 1990s, the Haredi factions finally raised the flag of victory in the municipality. Election results gave them an overwhelming majority, and after decades of political struggle, their representatives took over the Bnei Brak City Council.
Their control was absolute. With power in hand, they worked to reshape the city to reflect Haredi character: they closed the city's main cinema and the last remaining secular school, canceled universalist cultural activities at the local Histadrut building, and cut budgets for any organization that did not align with their lifestyle—while funneling generous funds to yeshivas and religious institutions.
Every newly paved street was named after a famous rabbi or Haredi activist. When the supply of new streets ran out, they turned their attention to existing ones, systematically removing Zionist symbols and replacing them with their own.
They did this with "HaShomer Street," which commemorated the Zionist "HaShomer" defense organization; the name was removed and the street split into two sections—one named after Rav Aharonowitz and the other after Rav Kahaneman. They did the same with Moshe Sharett Street, named after Israel's second Prime Minister; his name was replaced by Rav Poverarsky. The commemoration of Nachum Sokolow, the fifth president of the Zionist Organization, was also shrunk—his name remained on one part of the street, while the other was renamed after the Maharshal (Rabbi Solomon Luria). Eliezer Kaplan Street (Israel's first Finance Minister) became Rav Weinberg Street. The Lubliner Rebbe took the place of the "Second Aliyah," Rav Shlomo Berman pushed aside sections of "Kibbutz Galuyot," and Arazim (Cedar) Street became Rebbe of Rozhin Street.
The process was simple: the city council's naming committee decided, and the signs were swapped.
A street in transition—from "HaShomer" to "Rav Kahaneman."
Herzl Street remained in place, stuck like a thorn in the backside of the Bnei Brak locals.
It began in the heart of the city, near major synagogues and institutions, and stretched north to the Pardes Katz neighborhood. Hundreds of Haredi residents lived on the street and were forced to see Herzl's name on every piece of mail they received. Thousands passed it daily, seeing a name that grated on their eyes and evoked deep-seated aversion.
At a certain point, the more stringent residents refused to even utter the name. When they needed to mention the street, they used the euphemism: "The continuation of Rashi Street" (pronounced in a heavy Yiddish accent: "He-mshech Ra-shi"). Anyone familiar with the area knew that these were two separate streets, built one after the other.
In 2001, the Bnei Brak municipality decided to relieve its "suffering" residents.
The city council convened and decided to change the name of the street to commemorate Rav Elazar Shach, one of the mythological figures of the Haredi world, known to his followers as Gadol HaDor (The Leader of the Generation).
This was one step too far.
The municipality had not acted illegally; it was within its full rights under the Municipalities Ordinance. As long as it dealt with fading figures from the second or third tiers of Zionist history, the changes caused little noise. It seemed like an internal matter between a city and its residents.
But when they touched the "Holy of Holies" of the Zionist movement—the Visionary of the State, Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl—it ignited a public firestorm that made headlines and reached the Knesset. Some pointed out that his replacement on the signs, Rav Shach, had been one of the fiercest opponents of Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel.
To avoid overly provoking the establishment and the Zionist public, the naming committee decided to split the street in two: the large, prestigious section was named after Rav Shach, while a small section at the end—essentially a tiny alleyway—remained named after the Zionist visionary. In his small alley,
Herzl could no longer cause much offense. It is a mostly industrial area, where passersby are both religious and secular, and very few Haredim live nearby.
The council members played dumb, asking: "What's the big deal? We didn't erase Herzl entirely. The street was too long; there’s room for both."
Dr. Herzl makes way for Rav Shach on the street signs.
The sidelining of Herzl and the resulting public outcry led the Knesset to ensure such incidents would not happen again.
The "Municipalities Ordinance" was amended (Amendment 86), stipulating that any local authority wishing to change a street name named after "one of the nation's great figures or a name of religious, national, or state significance" must receive government approval via the Ministerial Committee for Symbols and Ceremonies.
However... one can always find a way around the law, especially the legislator's intent.
The undiminished motivation drove the Bnei Brak City Council to conduct a "blitz" of erasing historical symbols and replacing them with internal heritage. In January 2023, the council decided to change 24 street names and 10 urban complexes in one fell swoop, replacing them with names of a purely Haredi flavor.
And how ironic... as part of this swap, the remaining portion of "Kibbutz Galuyot" Street (The Ingathering of Exiles)—expressing the Zionist spirit of gathering Jews from all sectors—will be erased. In its place, the street will be named "Ahavat Yisrael" (Love of Israel).
Here is the decision as written (in Hebrew. Click the image to read):
A blitz of street name changes. Bnei Brak City Council decision from January 2023.
This is the final chapter in the project "The Intersection of Herzl and Jabotinsky: Commemoration and Heritage on Israel's Streets."
The three-part series: