Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Israeli Government Teeters As Minister Resigns Over Shabbat Railway Work

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A haredi Orthodox government minister resigned from his post over railway work that took place on Shabbat.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of the United Torah Judaism party officially resigned on Sunday after a new signaling system was installed on rail lines in the Negev on Saturday. Litzman had announced on Friday that he would resign if the work took place over Shabbat.

The United Torah Judaism Party and its six seats will remain in the government, however, meaning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition is safe for now, according to reports.

“I regret Minister Yaakov Litzman’s decision to resign from the government. He is an excellent health minister and has done a great deal for the health of the citizens of Israel. The national government headed by the Likud is the best government for the State of Israel. I think all the coalition members are interested in its continuation. I don’t think- I know,” Netanyahu said in a statement at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Litzman said Sunday he resigned after consulting with his rabbi, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the head of the Ger Hasidic movement.

“Throughout the generations, we knew we were protected by Shabbat, we knew it was the root of the covenant between the people of Israel and G-d. Unfortunately, Israel Railways has recently made Shabbat into ‘National Renovation Day’: they needlessly do all their renovations on Shabbat,” Litzman said, according to Ynet. “I’m disappointed I couldn’t stop the desecration of Shabbat. Shabbat is precious to us all.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.