The great Shabbat debate
When religion and state clash: Eli Yishai and Yossi Paritzky battle it out
| Eli Yishai |  | Yossi Paritzky | | | | |
The affair involving the transfer of the Electric Company's transformer on Saturday, besides being a grave issue associated with desecrating the Shabbat, is also an expression of the debate regarding the public sphere in the State of Israel.
I never thought about debating the way people conduct themselves in their own homes, on Shabbat and at any other time. Yet the debate regarding the public sphere should take place, and if a battle is needed I will not shy away from it.
Some may say that my words are a worn cliché, yet what is right should be said, even if someone does not like it.
The Shabbat has been the Jewish people's symbol for thousands of years, while bridging the gaps of time, distance, and place. In Yemen, Poland and Morocco, the Shabbat was marked with the lighting of candles, two loaves of challah bread, and Kiddush.
The Shabbat is a symbol that united the Jewish people and kept it as one nation even before we had a country, flag, national anthem, or army. Over the years, following the establishment of the state, the opposite effect emerged: The Shabbat turned from a unifying element to a divisive one, in light of an attempt by certain elements to erase the Jewish people's history and create a developed Israeli people, but a faded Jew.
If we examine the struggles over the Shabbat's status, we'll discover a trend of erosion in the public sphere: At first we had the battles around movie theaters, which were opened on Saturdays; later, the move to shopping centers; and finally, desecration of the Shabbat under the State of Israel's auspices. Why does the labor minister need to be religious in order to enforce the law regulating hours of work and rest? Isn't this law equal to any other law?
The comparison between the 2000 turbine affair and the 2006 transformer affair highlights the need for an uncompromising battle for the country's Jewish character and for the public sphere. In 2000, the Orthodox enjoyed much power within the ruling coalition: 17 seats for the Shas movement and six for United Torah Judaism.
The prime minister was also a party to the decision to transfer the turbine on Saturday. The coalition agreements that are the basis of the current government, pledged not to undertake any move that undermines the state's Jewish character, unless this move is accepted by all coalition members. As such move is completely unacceptable to Shas, it clearly cannot be undertaken.
When I heard Saturday night about the desecration of the Shabbat, I unequivocally announced that the Shabbat is stronger than any government. National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer promised me that an inquiry will take place and conclusions be drawn by next day's government session.
PM Olmert added that the Shabbat is important to his government that that it is improper for the bureaucrats to take far-reaching decisions on matters like desecrating the Shabbat without receiving ministerial approval.
Following the protest and the handling of the issue by the National Infrastructure Ministry, the story disappeared from the media agenda within 24 hours. The great achievement is the letter handed over to Minister Ben-Eliezer by the Electric Company's director general, pledging that such thing will never happen again.
An uncompromising stance combined with quick action has prevented a current and future battle for the public sphere – which did not happen in 2000. Let's hope such incidents do not repeat, and if heaven forbid they do, then we'll keep on fighting.
The writer is Shas' chairman, the industry, trade and labor minister, and the deputy prime minister.
And indeed, lately there hasn't been much work in terms of religion and state in Israel. Where are the days of the protests on Jerusalem's Bar-Ilan road? Where are the protests for and against the High Court rulings on Jerusalem? Where are the Shabbat inspectors who imposed heavy fines on business owners? It's not that the genuine problems were resolved, heaven forbid.
The problems are alive and well and are fizzling below the surface, but as is the custom with us, matters of secondary importance become the essence, while the most important matters are marginalized.
Therefore, God was kind to us by introducing in with a matter of days from each other the issue of transferring the transformer on Saturday and the Jerusalem gay pride parade, so that we can "make a living" off each other. Finally, the hawks on both camps, apparent Orthodox on the one end and seemingly secular Israelis on the other, cleared their throats and screamed out, as if they were butchered chickens, those same slogans we're fed up with.
Transporting the transformer revived all the worn-out slogans: "Terrible desecration of the Shabbat" and "Jewish state", and "desecration of god's name" on the end hand, with "Israel won't be Iran"; "democratic state"; and "sanity will prevail" on the other. Then came the pride parade in Jerusalem, and here they already moved on to nicknames such as "beasts, mentally disturbed, and perverts," along with other phrases that make us want to throw up when we hear them, or see them posted on Jerusalem walls.
Had I been an ultra-Orthodox Jew who strictly adheres to Jewish law, neither the transfer of the transformer nor the pride parade would have left me sleepless. The desecration of the Shabbat in Jerusalem is much more terrible. Dozens of restaurants and cafes are open in the city on Saturday and some even serve, may such a thing not happen to us, insects and other things we shouldn't even mention.
If, as an Orthodox Jew, I was truly concerned about the state's Jewish character, I would scream out that foreigners who have no connection or attachments to Judaism, and who are certainly not Jewish even in accordance with the most lenient interpretation, arrive at the State of Israel and immediately receive "absorption basket" funds, citizenship, and other pleasantries.
As an Orthodox Jew, who is supposed to care about every Jewish soul, I would also scream out over the terrible deaths on the roads that every week claim the lives of good Jewish souls.
And secular Israelis? They're also silent while the State of Israel, which claims to be democratic, does not offer civil marriages and instead marries each man and woman in accordance with their religion (just like in Islamic countries). Those who are called secular do not make a sound even in the face of the fact that Israel is home to more than 250,000 people who cannot wed at all because they are categorized, at times even after completing their military service, as "lacking a religion."
Israel is the only country that does not offer any public transportation on Saturdays, because if you're wealthy and can afford a vehicle you are permitted to drive wherever you wish on Shabbat, but if you cannot afford a car, please sit at home on the Saturday. And we haven't even spoken about the organized shirking of military duty by those whose job is seemingly to study Torah.
In short, the real problems were not resolved, and possibly the opposite is true: Sweeping them under the rug only makes them grow bigger. But as usual around here, we deal with what looks good in media photographs, with spins, and with what makes for a good news item. We stopped engaging in in-depth debate over our problems a long time ago. A while ago we already despaired of a genuine attempt to reach a solution in matters that are of great importance to us. One sentence here, one exaggerated reaction there, and that's it.
Images of a homosexual with long hair together with a burning garbage dumpster at an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, and that's enough. It is worthwhile to mention the end of the story found at the opening of this piece. The essence is as follows: The protests, screams, and parades mean nothing. The issues will not be resolved on their own. Genuine problems require a genuine solution, rather than another spin or slogan. Yet the solution is not in sight until we decide whether we wish to be a modern country concerned with national needs or a shtetl at the service of God.
The writer served as national infrastructure minister on behalf of Shinui
