The High Court of Justice allowed the Tel Aviv municipality to operate 164 businesses in the city on Saturday, subject to the terms set forth in the bylaws of the city.
The decision dealt with two main areas: one part dealt with opening businesses on the Sabbath in three different complexes—Tel Aviv harbor, Jaffa harbor and the old train station, while the second part dealt with the opening of supermarkets in some parts of the city, but not in all of them.
The decision was made after the Supreme Court ruled in the past that the Tel Aviv municipality should regulate the operation of supermarkets on the Sabbath. The municipality approved two decisions: the first approved the operation of entertainment complexes, and the second, the operation of some of the supermarkets.
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A Supreme Court petition was filed against this policy, and today the Supreme Court justices ruled that there was no reason for them to intervene and authorized the operation of the supermarkets.
“Different people hold different positions regarding the legal translation that must be given to the recognition of the nature of the Sabbath as a day of rest,” wrote Judge Dafna Barak Erez in the ruling.
Tel Aviv -Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai said in response to the High Court ruling, “as I said four years ago, the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa was free and will remain free.”
Meital Lahavi, Huldai’s deputy, said in response: “We welcome the High Court’s decision not to interfere with the local authority’s discretion regarding the local character of the Sabbath in the community. The plan to open supermarkets on the Sabbath, which we decided on during the city council, is undoubtedly balanced and takes into account the variety of populations and their needs and allows for the proportional opening of businesses in a way that allows vibrant life in the city without interruption while maintaining a quiet and calm Sabbath.”
Miki Gitzin, a member of the city council and director general of Free Israel, said: “I welcome the High Court of Justice’s ruling that approved the municipal bylaws of the Tel Aviv Municipality… This is a happy day for the residents of Tel Aviv -Jaffa and for anyone who wants to maintain a free society in the State of Israel.”
However, not everybody was thrilled with the decision. The Merchants’ Association said that “trading on the Sabbath is not a symbol of individual freedom, but rather a subjugation of it. Now, the Members of Knesset have to see the good of the public at large, to create a separation between leisure and retail trade on the Sabbath and to protect the weekly rest day of small business owners and salaried employees, not only in Tel Aviv, but throughout the country.”
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said: “The decision to allow the opening of supermarkets on the Sabbath is a serious blow to the holy Shabbat and the Jewish people. I intend to meet with the prime minister soon, together with my colleagues from Agudath Israel, ministers and other MKs whose Shabbat is important to them, and to protest the severe blow to the status quo on the Sabbath. The High Court’s decision is a violation of the status quo and we will act by all means possible to restore the status quo. The Sabbath has no one to take care of her and I will do everything to keep Shabbat safe.”
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman said: “The High Court’s decision constitutes a severe blow to the Jewish Sabbath and the Jewish character of the State of Israel. This is a continuation of a gross legal intervention in the values of religion and halakha, which leaves no choice but to advance a legal process to circumvent the High Court of Justice, in order to prevent further erosion of Israel’s tradition and religion.”
MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), formerly a member of the Tel Aviv -Jaffa city council, said: “This is a victory of sanity. This is a balanced and moderate plan that should be accepted, and an important statement about the authority and right of a city to make its own bylaws. The High Court of Justice extracted the Sabbath from the religious coercion of the government to the local communities.”
By Ynet News
(Translated and edited by N. Elias)
