The "National Union" Party's "Jewish Israel" Platform

Tuesday night I walked down to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem to take part in the National Union Party's christening of their "Jewish Israel" platform. The platform lays out the party's stance on several of the issues facing Israel and the Jewish People today.

One of the issues discussed was the observance of the Sabbath in the public domain. This is one of the major points of contention in Israel. For the observant Jew, the Sabbath is the Holy of Holies, and he is ready to sacrifice much in order to observe it. For others, the Sabbath is less important, and what interests them is having public transportation and open stores to shop at on their day off from work.

The National Union is proposing that the Israeli work week be changed to be in synch with most of the world. Instead of working from Sunday to Thursday, Israel will work from Monday to Friday (finishing work on Friday early enough to prepare for the Sabbath). The idea is that Sunday will be the day off where Israelis can go to the beach, shop, etc. and the Sabbath will be more strictly kept in the public sphere.

This is a very major idea, a game changer. I think that it is worth a try.

Predictably, the press ignored this item and concentrated on Rabbi Yehoshua's remarks on the LGBT issue:

“I have invested many hours in helping those who have difficulty in this area [of homosexuality],” he said. “But there is an illness that is spreading and taking over. We’re becoming a country that looks more and more like LGBT-stan.”

It was a great speech. Here's a pic:

Menachem Begin Talks About the Sabbath

Translation:

There was never a nation like this. Craftsmen, sandlers, tailors, wagon drivers. Sabbath! The man was a king, a king! The children around the table. The queen, Sabbath. Come bride, come bride. Every Jew a king. In the city there is not traffic, nothing moves. No wagon, absolute quiet. The gentiles also honor the Sabbath. In Saloniki the port was closed because all of its workers were Jews.

Sabbath Observance Saves Jew From Ill Fated Plane Flight

The saying "More than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews" took on a new meaning.

A Victory for the Sabbath in Tel Aviv?

I have to admit that the site of supermarkets in Tel Aviv that are open 7 days a week used to break my heart. We have merited to live in the era where the Nation of Israel is returning to the land of Israel. The land is giving its fruit, the army is victorious, and Hebrew, as a spoken language has been revived. Torah is being widely learned, perhaps on an unprecedented scale. In the midst of all this, to see stores that proudly proclaim that they desecrate the Sabbath is like hearing somebody singing off-key in the middle of our song of redemption.

In the light of all this you can imagine what I thought when I read the following:

The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality must enforce municipal bylaws which prohibit the operation of businesses on the Jewish Sabbath (Friday sunset through Saturday sunset), the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The court ruled in favor of an appeal filed by food retailers in the city against a decision by Tel Aviv Administrative Court Judge Esther Covo from February 2012, who refused to order the closing of businesses on the Jewish Sabbath.

Supreme Court Judge Miriam Naor, Elyakim Rubinstein, and President Asher Grunis ruled that the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality must enforce municipal bylaws in order to uphold the law. "With its present conduct, the municipality in practice allows the ongoing violation of this law. There is also concern that it is convenient for the municipality not to uphold the law in view of its profits from the levying of fines."

Judge Rubinstein said that he hoped that "an enforcement solution would be found to uphold the law, honor the Sabbath, and the residents of Tel Aviv."

The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality said in response, "Tel Aviv-Jaffa will continue to be a free city. We will study the ruling and find a solution to balance the Sabbath day of rest and the freedom that the city allows, as it has done until now."

Dr. Aviad Hacohen offers some interesting analysis of the case:

One shouldn't assume that Tuesday's Supreme Court verdict will totally halt Sabbath commercial activity in the "city that never rests." But if enforced properly, using every tool in the city's arsenal, it could reduce the extent of commerce on Shabbat, thereby leveling the playing field between retail chain tycoons and the owners of mom-and-pop stores who can't or don't want to stay open 24/7.

As the Supreme Court's Deputy President Justice Miriam Naor said, this is not an attempt to coerce religion. Rather, there is an existing by-law that is not being properly or meaningfully enforced, thereby defeating its purpose. Those who travel the world know that larger metropolises than Tel Aviv preserve the character of their weekly day of rest. It affords city residents a respite from the noise and bustle of daily life.

The verdict brings justice to the appellants and their friends, small grocery owners, who wish to rest a bit from the Six days of Creation. For the sake of profits, large retail chains, with their vast money and resources, employ workers on the Sabbath. These workers are usually from the lower socioeconomic strata and toil for poverty wages. This phenomenon has been spreading throughout the first Hebrew city and gives small shop owners almost no chance of surviving. Not to mention their desire to spend a little time with their families and not be slaves to their work.

As Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said, the ludicrous fine imposed today on store owners who open on Shabbat makes a mockery of the law, turning it into an officially sanctioned lie. It deters no one and therefore foils the law's intent.

Some people are very upset about this ruling. After all, it interferes with their freedom. What will they do if all of a sudden they discover on the Sabbath that there is no milk in the refrigerator?

The solution is of course to do what the Jewish People have done for centuries: prepare for the Sabbath! Check your refrigerator on Friday morning and see what is missing. Make a list of what to buy and then head off to your local grocery store/supermarket. It's really simple: even secular leftists are capable of doing this!

I know, mistakes are made. Sometimes we just don't notice on Friday morning that milk is missing. In that case, knock on your neighbor's door, inquire about his health and the health of his parents and/or children, and then politely ask him to borrow some milk. You do not need a doctorate in international relations in order to do this!

While we are on the subject, check this out. It is an interview with the grocery store owner who initiated the court case against the Tel Aviv Municipality. He claims that the Hareidi and religious parties did not help them in their struggle. He also has some other very interesting claims (the interview is in Hebrew).

Here's an appropriate pic from the archives:

Barkat Says Jerusalem Parking will Open on Sabbath

From IsraelNN.com:

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat said Tuesday evening that the city-operated Safra parking lot would open this coming Sabbath, less than a month after the parking lot closed when Haredi protests on the issue turned violent. He also said the city had asked courts for permission to open the Carta parking lot, near Jerusalem’s old city.

“This is a matter of principle that doesn’t change the status quo,” Barkat claimed. “Consideration and negotiations do not take the place of making decisions when necessary.”

Can I say that "I told you so"? Check my other Barkat related posts.

Mystery Tree Number 3

Okay, I know that this one is not easy. Click on the pic for an enlargement:



Update: That Zman Biur guy sure knows his stuff! Yes, it is a caper bush. In Hebrew it is called Tzalaf or Nitzpah (see Demai 1:1).

The caper bush is mentioned several times in Talmudic literature. For instance there is a discussion of what blessing to recite before eating different parts of the tree (Berachot 36). Our sages say that the caper bush is the boldest tree (Beitzah 25B). Rashi comments there that he doesn't know what is bold about the Tzalaf. Tosefot says that its boldness is in that three different parts of the tree can be eaten and that it provides new fruit every day. In Rabbi Rafael Halperin's Encyclopedia LeBeit Yisrael it is written that the caper bush's boldness is in that it is hard to destroy: If you burn it or chop it down it will quickly regenerate. I remember Rabbi David Samson telling me many years ago that the Tzalaf is bold in that it can take root in nooks and cranies, something that most trees cannot do.

In the Jerusalem Talmud (Shabbat ch. 15 halacha 3) there is a story where our caper bush plays a major role:

Once a pious man took a walk on the Sabbath in his vineyard and he saw a breach (in the fence that surrounded the vineyard). He thought to himself how he was going to repair it when after Sabbath. (Then) he said, "Since I thought to repair the fence (during the Sabbath, when he was usually careful not to think about mundane matters), I will never repair it."(This he did to atone for thinking about this on the Sabbath). What did the Holy One Blessed Be He do? He caused a caper bush to grow there and it filled the breach. From this caper bush he ate and it provided him with sustenance all his life.

Here is another caper bush in bloom in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Shaul:

Just Before Shabbat II

We light olive oil candles with floating wicks:





A little bit about the Jewish people and olives:

The Jewish nation is compared to the olive by the Prophet Yirmiyahu:

"Hashem has given you the title of a beautiful, fresh olive." (Yirmiyahu 11:16)

Several explanations are offered by our Sages for this comparison.

Rabbi Yitzchak sees in it the fulfillment of Jewish destiny in the end of days. When the Patriarch Avraham came to the ruins of the Beit Hamikdash to pray for his exiled descendants, G-d reassured him that, despite their serious sinning that precipitated their exile, there was still hope for their survival and return. A voice from Heaven quoted the above comparison to the olive, explaining that just as the true essence of the olive is the oil which can be extracted from it at the end of its existence, so too will the true essence of the Jewish nation emerge at the end of days. How this massive return to G-d will be effected has already been outlined by our Sages who stated that in order for Jews to be worthy of redemption by Mashiach a wicked ruler will be imposed upon them by Heaven, whose draconic decrees will motivate Jews to repent their ways and return to G-d.

This concept is echoed by Rabbi Yochanan who pointed out that just as the oil is extracted from the olive by crushing it, so too do Jews return to the proper path only through suffering.

Maharsha makes an interesting observation regarding the relationship of the olive to its oil. In the Torah listing of the seven agricultural species for which Eretz Yisrael is famed, the olive is described as the "oil-producing olive" (Devarim 8:8), for it is the oil rather than the fruit that is the true essence of the olive.

Jewish survival is the theme of the comparison to the olive in the approach of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. His focus, however, is on the tree bearing the olives rather than the oil produced from them. Just as the olive tree does not shed its leaves both in winter and summer so will Jewry remain both in this world and in the Hereafter. Maharsha explains that winter is an allegory for the difficulties that Jews suffer in the generations preceding Mashiach, while summer symbolizes the era of redemption that awaits them.

Just Before Shabbat

I snapped this one just before Shabbat. My kiddush cup is a little tarnished. Do you think that it holds a shiur?

Another Picture From The Holy City Of Tel Aviv

I saw this on Y.L. Peretz Street in Tel Aviv. A Sabbath keeping shopkeeper urges others to keep the Sabbath as well:

Keep The Sabbath And Say Psalms For The Soul!

I snapped this one the other day in Tel Aviv:



The upper sign reads, "Keep and remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it." Then in small letters, "For it is the source of blessing."

The lower sign reads, "Also in the new year we say Psalms for the soul."

Everybody knows that Jerusalem is holy. Did you know that Tel Aviv is also holy?