Haifa mall on Shabbat
צילום: רוני שיצר
Time to define ‘Israeli’ Shabbat
Secular Israelis must demand public transport, closed shopping centers on national day of rest
After 57 years, the time has come for serious discussion about the nature of the Jewish state. The blue-orange clash the country saw this past summer was not only a clash over the disengagement from Gaza, but also about the question of Israel's identity.
Whereas every citizenship textbook gives clear definitions of democracy, Israeli society has yet to define for itself exactly what a "Jewish" state means. The debate about a specifically "Israeli" Shabbat can serve as an excellent starting point for this issue.
Every individual needs a weekly day of rest and entertainment. Some people choose to spend their day off in synagogue, others spend the day resting or hiking with family and friends.
This discussion has nothing to do with entertainment, but rather with the very existence of a weekly day of rest, differentiated from the rest of the week.
No socialist proposal
The current Shabbat Law proposal currently on the Knesset agenda is intended to preserve Shabbat as a general day of rest. The law would ensure cultural and entertainment freedom, provide for public transport on Shabbat, and force shopping centers to be closed.
This is not a socialist law intended to preserve workers’ rights who would otherwise be forced to work on Shabbat. Rights are rights are rights, and therefore they have nothing to do with the debate about an Israeli Shabbat. A healthy debate about workers’ rights must be conducted without regard for the debate about the nature of Shabbat in Israel.
It would certainly be possible to point to the problematic cultural effects that go along with opening shopping centers on Shabbat, including – in addition to the impact on the country's "green" health, and the glorification of shopping culture over general culture – the heavy blow to workers.
But as I said above, the proposed law is no socialist law, but rather a social one that would anchor the national and social priorities and enshrine in law every person's right to a day off from the daily grind; a day of rest with a different character to the rest of the week that allows families to spend time together, to see the country, to pray or rest how ever they see fit.
This is not a religious law. There is no attempt to force non-observant people to observe traditional Jewish law (halacha). Rather, it is a national law that would ensure a joint day of rest with a different character from the rest of the week and that would make public transport available on Shabbat once and for all.
Why Shabbat?
Why must Shabbat be the day of rest? Because Israel is the national home of the Jewish people. As much as we do not want a halachic (Jewish law) state, it is clear to all that the national home has national symbols, including the Hebrew language, the flag, the national anthem and the calendar.
Sunday is the accepted day of rest in the Christian West; Friday is a special day in Muslim countries. By the same logic, Shabbat should be the accepted day of rest in Israel.
While there is truth to the claim that forcing the closure of shopping centers on Shabbat constitutes a blow to freedom of choice, we must declare loud-and-clear that every social law carries with it huge parallel values and benefits and positive and coercive elements.
When we think about a day of rest, do we think of doing the weekly shopping, or of a true day of rest, free of the elements that define other days of the week?
The time is now for the secular majority to stand up and shout that as Jews, as Israelis and as secular people, we want a different sort of Israeli Shabbat.
Tammy Molad-Hayou is the head of a social organization and a Labor Party candidate for the 17th Knesset
