to Mr. Yishai but it would not be allowed by the editors so I shall compromise my feelings by saying. Please Mr. Yishai, go take a long walk off a short pier.

The fact is that Israel has a law barring businesses from working on Shabbat. This is because Shabbat is part of our ten commandments and basic character of the Jewish people. Like it or not you cannot just disregard the law when it suits you. Why does it take a chareidi shas member to have to enforce a basic law applicable to all Israelis and the character of the state? Shouldnt everyone in Israel ask the basic question of "what should our country look like?" "what should we believe in?" Why leave it to the Chareidim????

Please join Mr.Yishai while he strolls down that pier.

Have you been to China recently? I have! People in China are working without any lives whatsoever. Israel has laws governing how long and when businesses may operate. Each and every one of us - Jew or non-Jew; secular, traditional or orthodox deserves to have a quality of life based on the laws of the land. Our day of rest, being that Israel is a Jewish country, is Saturday; in other countries it's Sunday or Friday; the important thing is that we should have one day minimum where we can connect with our friends and families, away from work.

Sir, I agree with you wholeheartedly. The issue is not one of should there be or not be a day of rest. Each person has the right to decide how he should spend that day. Rest and recreation are conceived differently by each person. Many folks wish to spend the afternoon with their family in a fine country restaurant, why should they be denied this pleasure, this is their concept of rest, has Yishai the right to deny them this ?

So I guess the civil authorities need to work on Saturday in order to enforce businesses open Saturdays. That’s OK right? Laughing My Ass Off

I think that there should be a day of rest. Nonjews have Sunday and it is not a working day - stores are closed, firms are closed, only essential stores work. We have Shabbat. I agree that laws that apply in nonjewish country concerning Sunday should apply to Israel in Shabbat. It is NOT that I would force everybody not to, for example, carry umbrella on Shabbat. If he wants, that is his problem. But I do not think that there should not be day of rest - on contrary, I think it is humane and civilized that Israel, as well as other nations, have its day of rest. And if somebody wants to throw a rave party at his home, including lights and cooking and who knows what - that's his problem and state should stay away.

I agree with #5. While you are enjoying your mealin a fancy restaurant, the waiters and chefs are beeing forced to work by their greedy employer. It's the employer who gets rich while the low wage worker is forced to suffer. If they don't agree to work Saturdays, they don't get hired. I had enough of this in hutz l'aretz. We all need to have a day off on the same day. It doesn't help me to have a day off on Tuesday if my kids are in school. It's bad for family life and for society. In the march forward of civilization the concept of a day of rest was a step forward in ancient times. Canceling Shabbat is going backwards. I saw a show about Chinese workers who were working 7 days a week and 12 hours a day. Shalom is right.

The law isn't regarding thei fine country restaurant, that comes under a different business category - entertainment - and there nothing will change; this is about commercial businesses that are not recreational, from what I understand

No one is forced to work on Shabbat. What total nonsense. People choose to work, we all have a choice. This is just one of the pathetic lame exscuses that Sh-ass use to justify religious coercion. its called a democracy i suggest you look it up. Freedom of choice and freedom from religious coercion.

1) WHY a country restaurant? Why not barbecue? You take your meat, take your family and go to specific place where you can have barbecue. In case of rain - state can make special places for barbecue, covered. We have it in country where I live, and I must admit it is a huge hit - it is difficult to find a place for barbecue (but this is mainly because of bad design of the place, not the idea itself). 2) Entertainment - usually in these places, young people have guitars. Also, we have a platform where young bands come with their equipment and make concerts, hoping that some music producer will hear them. OF COURSE, then you will fall in clash with haredim, but that is completely another issue.

Why should we have to Ask Permission from the State to Earn Money? Get the State OUT of Israeli enterprise.

Shalom, I agree that the "status quo" allows the entertainment industry to be open on Shabbat, but nowhere in this article do I see any indication that an entertainment based business would be treated differently than a store or an international call center.

whether people keep Shabbat halachally or not is their own business, but we all need to have the same day of rest. when they got rid of the sunday trading laws in the uk, it completely changed the nature of Sunday, and family life. people on the bottom end of the scale had no choice about working on sundays, even tho there was "religious exemption" clause - because if they didn't they wouldn't get the job. i agree that the Shabbat business/trading laws should be enforced. as the world speeds up, we need Shabbat even more than ever. the only people who benefit from 24/7 trading & business are the big multi-national companies who want everyone to be wage slaves. we gave up slavery when we left Egypt -we don't need to go back into slavery, which is what working on Shabbat leads to.

Sabbath will hire workers who violate the Sabbath and good, decent Jews who keep the Sabbath will not be hired because they won't be available to work on the Sabbath. How amazing that avi should suggest that good Jews be put at a disadvantage in being hired because they do what G-d asks of them. If you don't want to obey G-d, why should he send you any work?

Or to quote: "The Interior Ministry recently demanded that in order to receive a business license, the business owner must commit to abide by the working and rest hours act. " The Working and Rest Hours Act itself defines which businesses exempt from it - so Sagi here, for example, will still have his restaurants and movie theaters. The whole ruckus is about the fact that the municipal councils consistently avoided enforcing the law when it comes to *all other businesses*, which means most people employed today in Israel are likely to face an ultimatum of working on Saturday or being fired, not just those in the entertainment and food service industries. And the fact that the law is there to protect the citizenry from just that? Well, that gets buried under vast amounts of political BS. This is little more than saying "If you want a business license, obey the laws of running a business" With an emphasis on a law large business owners in this country have gotten used to avoid.

It is simply a recipe for disaster when the state interferes in economic affairs in such a degree as Mr. Yishai is hoping for. Just take a look at what the U.S is going through right now. The fact is that Jews must observe the Shabbat, but this is a private affair. There are private interests such as Chabad which are very successful at getting more and more Jews to become observant and that is wonderful. But government force in this instance will accomplish little to nothing and will prove to be economically and socially disastorous. There will come a day when the vast majority of Jews will come back to proper observance. But that must come from the people themselves.

Surely there are better items worthy of our politicians time and exorbitant salaries. Although I am religious, self employed and already have a hard enough time trying to build a business in Jerusalem, perhaps the so called democratic government we have should be concentrating on raising wages and enforing workers rights so it would allow for hard working people to actually make enough money to counter the ever increasing inflation and be able to live in the black for a change....

"This is because Shabbat is part of our ten commandments ". Must be something new.I hope you know how to read.

Try to get basic medication on Shabat in Israel. Maybe one day you WILL have this problem( I hope not).

All countries that have religious laws as the basis of its legislation, suffer late, underdevelopment and poverty. The only ones who profit from such laws are those which grant permissions religious. It is sad that we are changing when we give to such people

Is your point that only Jews who keep the Sabbath are good, decent Jews? Because, if that's the case, your contention is not only very judgmental, but you're overlooking the fact that there's already an enormous amount of antipathy toward religious coercion on the part of the majority of Israelis. In fact, I would venture to guess the animosity towards the ultra-religious runs so deep that if the Arabs ever left the Israelis the hell alone, there'd be a civil war between the haredim and secular Israelis. And the reason I say that is after having spent several years living among Israelis and hearing the things they say about those people who try to shove their religious observance down everybody's throat, there's almost nowhere else to go because the Haredim have already gotten away with far too much and they've now been emboldened to the point where probably nothing short of draconian responses will get them to back off.

i met a young woman who is a college student. She said that in the jobs that are available to students, she can't find work if she doesn't agree to work on Saturday. I had enough of this in the US. My husband is an accountant. It was very hard for him to find his first job after college because of tax season, when they all work on Saturday. We don't need to live in a country like this here. This whole business at Intel started because some Jewish workers complained that they were being coerced to work on Shabbat.

Every Friday they publish in the newspapers where there is an emergency pharmacy open in a geographical area. Saving human life trumps everything.

I think you might find we are taliking about Israel so that is of no conern of yours , seeing as you desert Israel yet think it is your job to run our lives from the comfort of LA. If you think that petty insults will work by calling me an arab then it just goes to show how sick you really are. However do you manage with all those shops open on Rodeo drive on a saturday?traitor jew !

Im sorry but the fact is Intel has been operating for over 20 years on Shabbat, as was the agreement with the council and goverment in attracting buisness to Jerusalem. No one and i repeat no one is forced to work on Shabbat. Any one who on the production line who wishes to work is compensated 200%. Basically some charideem workers got jealous that they couldnt get 200% which is their choice and call in the mob. Intel is not a public domain it is a private domain end of. So susan from Kfar Saba check your facts .

Remove the right to vote, sit in the knesset, work in government, drive a car, have a weapons permit, college or university and the back of the line for employment for those that do not serve, including defending Israel on Shabbat and the holidays. Many of us choose to work on SAhabat, because our employers do not pay us according to Israeli labor laws. Where is yishai and the rest of the knesset? They do not pass laws that would imprison company owners and managers that steal from their employees. We need the hours on Shabbat and the holidays to survive. As long as the knesset allies itself with owners and managers that steal from the workers. We will have to work Shabbat.

In my birth country at least , where the rest day was sunday , but Jewish shops were open , as were others who wanted to work this day too . People have the RIGHT to a day or two of rest . Those who work on Shabbat are compensated with hogher salaries . They are NOT obliged to work Shabbat . There are religious bus drivers at Dan and Egged , they have'nt to violate the Shabbat as their buses ride BEFORE the end of Shabbat .