The right to shop vs. the right to rest

In a continuing effort to locate and firmly grasp the third rail of Israeli politics with both hands, treppenwitz is proud to present the following:

I was in Jerusalem stocking up on coffee shortly after the present cabinet had been announced (but hadn't yet been confirmed) when I overheard two women in the coffee shop loudly expressing their discontent over the prospect of Shas (a religious Sephardi party) taking over the 'Industry & Trade' portfolio which had previously been held by Shinui (a vehemently anti-religious party). 

The exchange went something like this (I'm quoting from memory):

Woman 1: Oh great... just wait and see.  The moment Shas has that 'Tik' (portfolio) we can all say goodbye to shopping on Shabbat (Saturdays)!

Woman 2:  Of course... and when do they expect us to be able to do our shopping?  The economy isn't bad enough that they need to force businesses to stay closed and turn away money... just to avoid offending a bunch of religious fanatics!  Next thing you know they'll start telling us how to dress.  I may as well go shopping for my Chador (an all-covering garment worn by some Muslim women) this weekend before all the stores are forced to close!

Clearly I'm not a real Israeli because I didn't jump into the discussion uninvited... and in fact, wasn't even able to formulate a proper mental response on the spot.  [Note to self: Keep a ready supply of opinions on hand for just such an occasion.]

Having grown up under the protective blanket of the 'separation of church and state', a part of me immediately sided with them that it was grossly unfair... even with almost half of the country being religious... that the religious beliefs of one group should interfere with the ability of another group to practice (or not practice) as they saw fit.

I went home feeling vaguely unsettled by the conversation I had overheard.  I was also angry at myself because, while I clearly had a dog in this fight, I couldn't seem to sort out who I wanted him to bite.

Then last night I read a well-written article on JPost that helped line up the issues for me.

What had tied my tongue was the sense of being part of a religious minority that seemed to be imposing its will on an unwilling non-observant majority.  For the sake of this discussion the whole 'majority/minority issue becomes less important as the two sides are almost equally matched these days (especially if one takes into account non-observant Israelis who have expressed support of maintaining the Shabbat status quo).  But even so, half the Israeli population shouldn't be able to impose its religious values on the other.

However, what really opened my eyes in this article was an essential factor that had been deliberately omitted from the loud discussion these women had been having.  The 1951 Israeli laws that established the delicate religious status quo, including the prohibition against Jewish stores conducting business on Shabbat, was not just a perk for the religious Jews and a slap at non-religious Jews.  It was designed so ALL Jews would be protected from being forced to work on the Jewish Sabbath... an untenable space between a rock and a hard place in which disaspora Jews had found it extremely difficult to find and keep a job.

Under less religious stewardship, the 'Industry & Trade' portfolio had deliberately turned a blind eye to more and more businesses staying open on Shabbat and reduced enforcement to virtually nil, which had resulted in more and more Jews having to chose between working on Saturday or losing their Job.  Oh sure, the business owners all offered an alternative day off during the week... but who wants Tuesday off if their kids are off from school on Saturday? 

As the JPost piece so aptly points out, the Supreme court has spoken definitively on challenges made by the pro-Saturday business lobby's attempts to offer a mid-week day off to any Jews forced to work on Shabbat by ruling unanimously that:

"...existing Shabbat legislation protects workers' rights and that only a universal day of rest, shared by all family members, can afford them one free day that all can spend together. Alternative time off will not achieve the same social aim."

The article goes on to point out that in a scenario where shabbat shopping was starting to become the norm, smaller family-owned mom & pop stores were forced to either work 7 days a week or face unfair competition from the big chains with larger work-forces.

Israel is slowly moving towards an official 5 day work week with more and more businesses closing on Friday in addition to the legally mandated Saturday.  While this is slightly out of sync with the rest of the world (when aren't Jews out of sync???), it does offer a reasonable alternative shopping day (Friday) that didn't exist in the previous 6 day work week scenario.

Examined with this information in mind, it is not the religious who are trying to impose their values on the non-religious, but in some respects, the other way around.  If one feels that no religious values should be protected, that is a legitimate platform... but it is a tad disingenuous to try to make it seem that it is the religious who are being dismissive of others' rights.

Once I'd absorbed the gist of the JPost article I started getting steamed about an underlying aspect of the conversation I had overheard in the coffee shop... namely that some evil appointed autocrat (even the JPost picture editor went out of his/her way to show a picture of the new Shas minister practically kissing Rav Ovadia's hand) was issuing religious edicts with the king's borrowed signet ring against the interests of the downtrodden populace.  This kind of blanket antipathy and suspicion that many non-religious people feel towards all things/people religious is horribly unfair. 

By stating his intention to begin enforce existing law supporting a continuation of a delicate status quo (note: he is not advocating anything that isn't already on the books and unanimously upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court), the new Minister of 'Industry & Trade' is upholding a basic right held by ALL Jewish Israelis; the right to have the same day off as everyone else in the country! 

It seems to me that something sorely lacking in all other aspects of our national life (a rare commonality) should be seen as a good thing.

Having experienced a sort of quasi-legitimacy in the US where my Sabbath never seemed to align with the plans of my school, office or non-Jewish / non-religious friends, I can see where this law might, in some small way, also offer the opportunity to place everyone on an equal social footing. 

Is that such a bad thing?

Go read the article... it deals with the issues much more thoroughly than I do in this (typically emotional) post.  Comment if you'd like... but PLEASE don't use unhelpful words or phrases to describe people on either side of this issue.  State your ideas in such a way that they stand on their own merits and do not rely on the reader's pre-existing prejudices.  Thank you.