Bnei Brak, also spelled Bene Beraq, is an Israeli city. It lies in the Gush Dan district of which Tel Aviv is the largest city, between Ramat Gan and Petach Tikvah. The city is a major focus of chareidi Jewish life, and this article is thus mainly focused on such travellers, since for other travellers, Bnei Brak is not an especially interesting destination.
There are some city bus lines in Bnei Brak.
South of Jabotinsky Road, the main traffic artery, is the Haredi area of the city, almost exclusively inhabited by Haredi Jews. Walking in these areas is a unique Israeli experience, but be respectful of the local customs. Wear long-sleeved clothing and full pants; a head cover is also recommended. On Shabbat (Friday night and Saturday), it is not recommended to openly display/use electronic devices, ride a bicycle, or make noise in this area.
Rabbi Akiva street, running mostly east-west, is the "downtown" of Bnei Brak - the biggest shopping and transportation destination in the city.
There are many Judaica stores. It is best to limit Judaica purchases to mezuzah covers (not parchments), candlesticks and artwork, which are not intrinsically religious unless you are qualified to judge the authenticity of an item. As in all shopping, let the buyer beware.
The chareidi population in Israel is generally poorer than the rest of the Jewish population. Therefore the prices are lower, and you can often find better deals on all sorts of domestic items than elsewhere in the greater Tel Aviv area.
The first women-only department store is located in Bnei Brak. For ultra-Orthodox women this a good place to shop since men are not allowed inside the store.
Bnei Brak is one of the cheapest places in Israel to buy food (both fast food and supermarket goods), but in general the quality is unremarkable. The most interesting food seems to be available on Thursday nights in preparation for Shabbat.
Cholent is the classic Ashkenazi Jewish dish for Shabbat - a stew that's left cooking all night to provide hot food for Shabbat day when cooking is forbidden. In Bnei Brak you can buy cholent before Shabbat to save yourself the trouble of cooking - or better yet, as the local youth do, eat it while chatting with your friends on Thursday night. A number of cholent restaurants operate in Bnei Brak on Thursday nights, you can often spot them by the line heading out the door as people wait to purchase a bowl. Come late, things tend to get busy after 9pm.
The local population is not in the practice of partying in the secular sense. If you are in town for the festival of Purim, or get invited to a wedding or other festivity, you can expect to have a good time, with separate-sex dancing and the odd l'chaim (toast).
There are no hotels in Bnei Brak itself, but there are hotels in surrounding suburbs nearby.
For those interested in Torah studies, there are various yeshivot in Bnei Brak. The Ponevezh Yeshiva, pictured on this page, seems to be the best-known in town.
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