Protesting Shabbos To Avoid Chelm In Tel Aviv

The City of Tel Aviv has been considering operating a municipal bus line on Friday nights. The goal was to help young adults who spend Friday night at the bars around Tel Aviv, they drink too much and then they drive themselves home in the wee hours of the morning. With the alcohol content in their blood streams way too high to operate heavy machinery in a responsible manner, Friday night is a hot night for accidents resulting in many injuries and even deaths.

City Hall thinks they can help these kids by operating a bus line that will make the rounds in the areas of the bars and pubs, and then take them home. The kids will no longer need to drive, they can go out and have fun, and they and their parents can rest assured that they will eventually get home safe and sound by bus instead of by car.

The ultra-Orthodox factions in the irya were upset that the City would begin operating bus lines on Friday night. Doing so would be a breech in the all holy status quo, and would mean chillul shabbos is being mandated by the city on an official level. Even though it is for the purpose of saving lives.

They already have such bus lines on Thursday nights and Saturday nights, and now want to add Friday night to the schedule as well.

The councilman of the ultra-Orthodox faction who was asked why they protested, when it is really an issue of pikuach nefesh - saving a life, responded making a very good point. Lubert explained that "Pikuach nefesh' (saving of human life) is not on the bus, but on education about the importance of human life. Many hours should be invested in knowing how to drive without drinking, and not in buses… The problem is that young drivers couldn't care less about the law and drink and drive."


It is basically the story of Chelm, where they had many accidents on the bridge, so they built a hospital under the bridge instead of fixing the problem. Lubert is saying that being mechalel shabbos for a bus line for the kids to get home drunk is very nice, but it is like building the hospital under the bridge - the real solution is to enforce the drinking and driving laws, educate the kids to drink responsibly, have a designated driver and the like. 


Creating the bus lines is not justified because that is not the solution to this pikuach nefesh - the solution is dealing with the drinking and driving issue. Heck, they can even take taxis home at their own expense - why does the city need to provide official service..