El'ad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

El'ad
Hebrew	אלעד
Government	Local council (from 1998)
Also Spelled	Elad (officially)
District	Center
Population	27 800 (2006)
Jurisdiction	2 700 dunams (2.7 km²)

El'ad, also spelled Elad (Hebrew: אלעד‎), is a town in the Center District of Israel. Located about 25 km east of Tel Aviv on Route 444 between Rosh HaAyin and Shoham, it also lies just west of the Green Line. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2006 the town had a total population of 27,800. The building of El'ad started in the late 90's, but due to the high demand and massive construction, it achieved (local council) status already in 1998. It is the only town in Israel officially designated a religious municipality.

The town was built from scratch according to urban planning paradigms not unlike Modi'in and nearby Shoham. While those towns were designed to suit a mixed population of non-religious and religious, El'ad was originally planned to suit a mixed population of Modern Orthodox/Religious Zionist Jews and Haredi Jews, but the majority are now Haredi. It was built as a part of the solution to the acute shortage of alternate and affordable housing for Haredi families who, traditionally, were concentrated primarily in both Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. Accordingly, El'ad was planned in a way that would suit the religious lifestyle with a larger selection of housing options with some projects offering larger than average apartments to accommodate religious families who tend to have more children than the average national population. Another unique characteristic was easy access and short walking distances to local education institutions to avoid the need for school transportation costs.

The Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi is Rabbi Zalman Grossman and the Chief Sefardi Rabbi is Rabbi Shlomo Mordechai Malka. There are at least 18 synagogues of different Jewish ethnic persuasions. A central charitable organization is Kupat Hatzedoko Matan Beseter[1].

[edit] External links

Report about court ruling regarding special loans for Haredim in El'ad (by an anti-religious lobby organization)
An article about Haredi education, mentioning El'ad (uses the spelling Elad) (Yated Neeman)
A paper about new cities development in Israel, citing El'ad as an example
A summary of population of Israeli cities by Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

Center District
Cities	Hod HaSharon \| Kfar Saba \| Lod \| Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut \| Ness Ziona \| Netanya \| Petah Tikva \| Qalansawe \| Ra'anana \| Ramla \| Rehovot \| Rishon LeZion \| Rosh HaAyin \| Tayibe \| Tira \| Yavne \| Yehud-Monosson
Local councils	Be'er Ya'akov \| Beit Dagan \| Bnei Aish \| El'ad \| Elyakhin \| Even Yehuda \| Gan Yavne \| Gedera \| Giv'at Shmuel \| Jaljulia \| Kafr Qasim \| Kfar Bara \| Kfar Yona \| Kiryat Ekron \| Kokhav Ya'ir \| Mazkeret Batya \| Pardesiya \| Ramot HaShavim \| Savyon \| Shoham \| Tel Mond \| Tzoran-Kadima \| Zemer
Regional councils	Brenner \| Gan Rave \| Gederot \| Gezer \| Drom HaSharon \| Hefer Valley \| Hevel Modi'in \| Hevel Yavne \| Hof HaSharon \| Lev HaSharon \| Lod Valley \| Nachal Soreq
Boroughs	Neve Monosson