M

embers of the Modiin Illit city council last week unanimously approved a proposal by Mayor Yaakov Guterman to commemorate Rav Aharon Leib Steinman ztz”l by renaming the city Ayelet Hashachar, after his sefer. Despite across-the-board agreement, the vote was preceded by a stormy debate between the mayor and his deputy, Tuvia Freund of Agudas Yisrael.

“I’m not deriding the motion,” Freund said. “Ayelet Hashachar is a very important sefer —I learn it, and my son learns it in yeshivah. But the opinion of my rebbe, the Karliner Rebbe, is that the names of rabbanim and seforim should not appear on garbage dumpsters.”

Guterman responded, “Rav Shraga Steinman asked his father-in-law, Rav Chaim Kanievsky shlita, if there is importance to commemorating Rav Steinman, who was moser nefesh for our city, and Rav Chaim said explicitly that it is important.”

Regarding Freund’s argument, Guterman replied, “In Modiin Illit, even the garbage is holy of holies, since it is produced by bnei Torah. For bnei Torah, physicality is also spiritual, and we must sanctify everything.”

Soon afterward, Freund said that he deferred his opinion to that of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and the vote passed.

Despite the approval in the city council, the name change must pass another hurdle: the government naming committee, where the proposal is expected to meet opposition, since there is already a kibbutz in the north called Ayelet Hashachar. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 715)