Israel’s government could fall over ultra-Orthodox enlistment
ASHDOD, Israel — A open-air market has become an unlikely battleground in a wider struggle that could potentially bring down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
For weeks, shop owners in the Big Fashion mall have received warnings and fines for illegally opening on Saturday — the traditional Jewish day of rest.
The dispute is part of a long-running debate between the country’s secular and religious populations over the role of the Orthodox in public life. It affects how much power religious Jews have over less-observant Jews on issues like shopping and riding public transport on the Sabbath, and whether the ultra-Orthodox will participate in traditional Israeli institutions like the military.
“It’s OK that there’s a Sabbath and people observe the Sabbath, but this is my salary,” said Karin Cohen, a mother of three who sells cupcakes and empanadas in the seaside city of Ashdod.
Cohen, 38, says she can only work on weekends — Friday and Saturday — and the enforced Saturday closings would kill off her business.
“I would like to walk around and honor the Sabbath, but I can’t afford to,” she said.
Ashdod's shopping dispute has prompted protests on both sides of the issue.
It also is symbolic of clashing world views and comes amid demands from an ultra-Orthodox party that is a member of the government coalition, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), that men from these communities continue to be allowed to skip mandatory military service. This has traditionally been the case because these men intensively study and interpret Judaic texts, which in 1948 was deemed to provide an essential service to the Jewish people.
For weeks, shop owners in the Big Fashion mall have received warnings and fines for illegally opening on Saturday — the traditional Jewish day of rest.
The dispute is part of a long-running debate between the country’s secular and religious populations over the role of the Orthodox in public life. It affects how much power religious Jews have over less-observant Jews on issues like shopping and riding public transport on the Sabbath, and whether the ultra-Orthodox will participate in traditional Israeli institutions like the military.
“It’s OK that there’s a Sabbath and people observe the Sabbath, but this is my salary,” said Karin Cohen, a mother of three who sells cupcakes and empanadas in the seaside city of Ashdod.
Cohen, 38, says she can only work on weekends — Friday and Saturday — and the enforced Saturday closings would kill off her business.
“I would like to walk around and honor the Sabbath, but I can’t afford to,” she said.
Ashdod's shopping dispute has prompted protests on both sides of the issue.
It also is symbolic of clashing world views and comes amid demands from an ultra-Orthodox party that is a member of the government coalition, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), that men from these communities continue to be allowed to skip mandatory military service. This has traditionally been the case because these men intensively study and interpret Judaic texts, which in 1948 was deemed to provide an essential service to the Jewish people.
Source: nbcnews
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