Shabbos In The Entertainment Industry

Shabbos is in the news again, this time from an entertainment perspective.

The Big Brother (Israeli version) tv show has been trying for a few years already to land a religious or even a haredi personality a spot on the show. It has not worked out until now, but this year they seem to be as close as ever to succeeding. they have contacted two very high profile personalities, one of whom might actually say yes.

1. Big Brother contacted Itamar Ben-Gvir to join the show. Ben-Gvir refused, citing Shabbos as the main problem, saying he would not sacrifice his ideals, especially keeping Shabbos, just for same tv ratings, and even for keeruv rechokim. (source: Kikar)

2. Big Brother also contacted Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, head of ZAKA and a well-known haredi askan, about joining the show. Meshi-Zahav seems to be interested in saying yes. He said that if he can see it as an opportunity for keeruv rechokim, bringing together different parts of the nation, and making a kiddush Hashem, then he would accept the offer. The station would have to work with him and figure out a way to enable his participation while ensuring no breach of tzniyus and his ability to keep Shabbos remains intact. (source: Kikar)

I would be curious to see how this works out. I wait for word on whether or not these issues are somehow worked out.

3. An Israeli football/soccer player has been in the process of coming closer to Judaism and has recently been keeping Shabbos. As a result, he turned down offers from teams in the higher level leagues because they play their games on Shabbos. he accepted an offer with a team in the lower league because they play on Friday.

Snir Goata has said that even if he would receive an offer from a European team such as Real Madrid he would reject it because of Shabbos. Goata claims that there are many very talented athletes who don't reveal their true abilities because of chillul shabbos. Many players, Goata says, have to leave the sport or only play in the lower leagues because of Shabbos. (source: Srugim)