Has it occurred to Mickey Gitzin and all these Israel Hofshit people that when in order have a Shabbat in which they ride a bus, sit in a cafe, or a cinema or stop for a watermelon on the way to the beach that they can only do those things by somebody else having to go to work instead of having Shabbat. Usually service industry workers are not the wealthy or powerful. They are under tremendous pressure to make compromises to keep working. And if it becomes legally possible the pressure mounts on anyone who observes Shabbat to keep their jobs--or be hired in the first place. She and others who think like her want to buy their "freedom" by enslaving others?. They're against" religious coercion" but want to create a situation of "secular coercion" of the kind I thought I left behind when I made aliyah. I'm here to be a Jew in my land, which is not like anyplace else in the world. What they advocate is a complete perversion of "l'hiyot am hofshi b'artzeinu"..

just when i thought it couldn't get any worse...i read this article and realized it could!!!! does the author know where the word shabbat came form? well let me tell you it came form the torah that g-d gave us...so no problem if you want a day off from your busy week enjoy but please don't blame it on our shabbos - g-d onle gave one shabbos He didn't divide it by city or country - there is no such thing as a jerusalem shabbath and a tel avivian shabbat - next you tlvniks weill be asking for a LGBT shabbos!!! there is only one shabbos either keep it or dont but dont touch are shabbat a westernize it like you try to do to everything else holy!! with lots of love! may you come to appreciate the real beauty of shabbos really soon! ps if you ever need a shabbat seudah feel free!!

Live tel aviv alone The one who wants a shabat like in Jerusalem can move to Jerusalem Tel aviv is unic ,I love to seat a this coffe shops and restaurants in shabat in particulaire

Obviously this person prefers anarchy. Lets just throw out the moral reasons for not opening on Shabbat and focus on the legal reasons. When a non-entertainment business is opened they get fined by the city. These businesses that are open blatantly violate the law because they can afford the fine. This also creates an uncompetitive advantage against businesses that follow the law and stay closed on Shabbat. If anyone could just break any law and pay the fine there would be complete anarchy. Nobody would follow any law.

Why can't people just be allowed to live and let live? The Religious want everything their way and expect the secular MAJORITY of Israel to be tolerant but they are no prepared to be tolerant to others! As for people working on Shabbat well, they get paid Shabbat Rate but no one should be forced to work on Shabbat if they don't want to. The choice is theirs! Let it be that way ans stop forcing religion on people. All you are doing is driving people away from Judaism and from Israel and that is the last thing we need with a growing Arab population!

Unless you are religious, 'Shabbat' does not make sense or fit into this day and age. I work everyday, by the time Im off work the sun has set and I am too tired to do grocery shopping or meet anyone for dinner/coffee. For me 'Shabbat' is a weekend and a day off and on my only day off I like to go to see movies and eat brunch at cafes around Tel Aviv. I'm sorry but we are past the the days of sitting in candlelight and playing dreidel dreidel. Nobody would or could force an observer to ride the bus or eat out on Shabbat, but you would be forcing me to sit at home in misery sucking on my thumb.

It seems you haven't read or understood the article. The Supreme Court decided this. Not "the religious" or "the rabbis," etc. This is a court decision, and they didn't even ask the rabbis for their opinion!

I always prefer to stay in TA when spending my holidays in Israel, because of the fact one can still buy food or go to a restaurant during Shabbat. There are plenty of people who like to go out instead of sitting and praying at home.

The sum total of the High Court's ruling is that Tel Aviv has to re-write its ordinance. Ergo, "...as long as the bylaw has not been changed..." In other words, the High Court told them in the ruling itself they had the option of dodging the bylaw by re-writing it. That gives them the power to do away with the bylaw entirely if they want. There is no coercion to worry about. Its up to the city council.

I am now in the US. I spent a few days visiting non-Jewish friends. One friend told me about a relative of hers who gets off Wednesdays and Sundays. Except that lately his company is making him work one Sunday a month. He needs the job so he doesn't have a choice. This is the new slavery. The only ones who make out from Sunday openings in the US or Saturdays in Israel are the chains who are owned by the rich. Its the low wage workers who pay the price. You want to go out to dinner on Friday night, the waiter has to work to serve you. You want to ride the bus, what about the poor bus driver? Who needs a day off during the week when the kids are in school or the spouse is working? #7, if you plan ahead you will have food on Shabbat and you can invite friends over to your apt. You don't have to sit home playing dreidel. Its just greedy businesspeople who benefit from 7 days a week business.

Before crying over poor people who will be forced to work on Shabbat have you thought about such thing as shifts, alternative days off and just about the fact that some people would actually prefer to have a day off during the week (when other members of the family are busy) to stay with a baby or an elderly relative and thus save some money instead of paying it to caretakers?

Is sooooooo lame

Can't you see with whom you are dealing..... I love it when people in Canada, the US, etc..... give us their advice on how to lead our lives here. I would love to work on Shabbat and have time during the week to settle some personal business I can't take care of because I am working 9 hours a day/5days a week

We are a jewish nation. we have away of doing things like shabbat and being closed. if you do not like it you are free to leave. you would be killed in some places having a beer in the middle east but not in israel. would you ask for pork in IRAN or saudi arabia? NO because there islamic places and it is not aloud there. so shit your pie hole.

Religious women work the entire Shabbat so the men and visitors wil be comfortable and provided for. I doubt there's a single shop worker who works as hard on the Shabbat as your average religious woman does. Just being religious is hard work, especially on the Shabbat!

Yo sh*t head- Jewish does not mean religious! You can be Jewish and not practice Judaism. Most of us are born Jews and have no control over it- however we can control if we want to practice any religion and what we put in our mouths and when.

I remember way back when, in the time of the wobblies that the leftists fought and even died for a 5 day work week where people would not have to be wage slaves and could rest and spend leisure time, these were atheists who valued man-kind. Is the current left so hateful of the religious and religion that they would sacrifice the working man?