This research examines the attempt to establish the role of Lithuanian Yeshivas as a spiritual alternative to western culture, such that will facilitate the real vocation of every young Haredi man - to come closer to God. The Haredi concept of western culture is one that focuses on "body building" and material possessions and is therefore limited. By contrast Haredi society and the Torah world in particular are viewed as focusing on the spiritual, reaching for a closeness to God and aspiring to sanctity, and hence unlimited. The research examines the difficulties in realizing this utopian vision, so central to understanding the Haredi society of scholars, and these are described against a background of crises in the yeshiva world in recent years and a significant drop from Haredi learning establishments.

This study examines patterns of cooperation between small municipalities both in israel and abroad. Cooperation frameworks aim to achieve efficacy and reduce expenditure as well as to improve the quality of services to citizens, reduce risks, solve mutual problems, develop municipal and economic projects and to forge nucli of power to confront central government.Undoubtedly, mutual trust is a fundamental factor in any arrangement as is a good working relationship between employees in positions of power, whether elected or professional.

• This essay details the urban consequences of the Al Aqsa Intifadah and the separation barrier project on Jerusalem. In West Jerusalem, the onset of terror, and specifically a wave of suicide bombings, hastened the city’s decentralization. Rapid decline of the economy and the disappearance of tourism further battered the city’s vitality. Israel’s  increased barriering of the city, culminating in the separation barrier project, was a major low for the city’s Arab inhabitants, and the urban fabric of East Jerusalem. Neighborhoods inside and outside the barrier were divided, with massive effects on daily life, work opportunities, property values, and relocation patterns. The paper argues that without a strategic package of urban recovery measures, Jerusalem is in danger of becoming locked in a spiral of decline.