Yesterday they voted on and approved, by a vote of 18-4, the new plan to open 165 businesses - markets and kiosks, on Shabbos. According to the new municipal law they passed, and will need to get government approval for, no businesses will open on Shabbos near a shul nor in a religious neighborhood.
According to the new law, the city will be divided into areas, with quotas for numbers of businesses to be opened in each area. Each area will have its numbers be determined based on the type of population living within it. In an area with more requests than the numbers allowed, the decisions for which businesses will be permitted to be opened will be determined by either a lottery or a rotation arrangement.
Priority will be given to businesses at major junctions and commercial areas, where there is already activity on Shabbos (such as restaurants).
Arrangements will be made to prevent disturbances, including not opening of businesses in close proximity to active shuls.
Sources: NRG and Haredim10
Interestingly enough, while today it seems that about 300 businesses open on Shabbos in Tel Aviv, the new law waiting for government approval would only allow 165 businesses to be open on Shabbos.
Source: Kipa
I am not sure if that last factoid is a comforting point or not. On the one hand it means there will be less businesses open on Shabbos, which is good. On the other hand, the businesses that are open will have government and official approval, rather than in the previous situation where it was illegal and not approved or granted any official status. As well, what starts out as 165, will most likely eventually grow when they decide after some time that the system has worked well to many people's satisfaction and they can increase its numbers.
I wonder what Gideon Saar will do now...
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I don't see it mentioned. Is there something in this Great Step Backwards that protects the employees who don't want to work on Shabbat from being coerced, fired, demoted, harassed, discriminated against, not hired, etc. so their bosses can (maybe) make a bigger profit ? Maybe there aren't so many in Tel Aviv but maybe not. Even if there's one in Israel of all places, it is too many.
ReplyDeleteJust recently, someone said, that the Hamas succeeded in closing Jewish businesses on Shabbat, because people were not in the mood for going out, when they might have to run if there was a siren.
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