Apr 1, 2020

the yerushalmi head vs the police

The community of Mea She'arim (or parts of it) is one of those that has been in conflict with the police in recent days over the regulations form the Ministry of Health. The police go in to break up illegal gatherings and minyanim, and the fights break out, arrests and fines, police leave, and then the cycle starts again. This is also true in parts of Bnei Braq as well, and RBS B, but right now let's focus on Mea She'arim.

The :shtieblach of Mea She'arim is a good example of the innovative and adaptive capabilities and of the wit of the Yerushalmi head.

The police closed them down, shut the shul. In its place the yerushalmim there decided instead to open a kiosk, a makolet, selling food.

A makolet is allowed to have 4 people in line at each cash register, standing 2 meters apart, plus the cashiers.

So they opened a makolet in the place of the shul, and set up two "cashiers", allowing 4 people in each line. That is a total of ten people. And then they daven while in line for the cashier (who are also davening as part of the minyan).



It is a cute attempt to try to get around the rules. I doubt it will hold the police at bay for long.

The biggest problems I see with it:
1. are you allowed to use a shul as a makolet?
2. They are now running an [almost definitely] unlicensed business and can be shut down for that instead.
3. They can almost definitely all be arrested for tax evasion and all those types of crimes for not filing taxes, not recording transactions and all the rest of the fraud crimes they are committing.

Cute, but I doubt it will last long.


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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 01, 2020 8:39 PM

    just wondering, how are these people not plain scared for their lives and the lives of their family? I am not criticizing them, I just want to understand their mindset. Where I live, we are just plain scared - we are terrified - in tears - hoping to stay healthy and alive. We stay inside except to buy food, throw out the garbage.

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    Replies
    1. Rafi G.April 01, 2020 10:07 PM

      no idea. I asked that same question the other day when I asked that without getting into the religious discussion of the importance of minyan versus the importance of pikuach nefesh, why arent they just scared to put themselves in danger. I dont know. Maybe they just dont understand. Maybe they think it is a Zionist plot. I dont know

      Delete
  2. AvinoamApril 02, 2020 7:14 AM

    Or maybe they feel that they are zocheh to demonstrate mesirut nefesh for tfila, perverse as that seems to us.

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  3. bored stiffApril 03, 2020 3:11 PM

    I Don't really see pictures of anyone actually Davening. I would rather say that a neighboring makolet realized his store won't be able to handle his customers according to the new regulations in his tiny store so he decided to branch out into the neighboring (sadly) empty shul. Are you sure your version of events is correct?

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