Popular Jerusalem Cafe Closes in Shabbat Feud
We Want Our Cafe: Fans of Restobar, a non-kosher favorite for secular residents of Jerusalem, protest its closure in the holy city. Image by haaretz
Restobar, one of the few restaurants in central Jerusalem that was open on Shabbat, shut its doors Monday after its landlord refused to renew the lease unless the establishment closed on the Jewish day of rest.
Shahar and Avigail Levy, the owners of the eight-year-old restaurant-bar located in Rehavia, announced the closure on their Facebook page Monday morning.
“It’s sad that in Jerusalem in 2013 there are benighted people who impose on others to accept a way of life that isn’t theirs by force … and in one fell swoop erased the livelihood of some 50 employees and dozens of suppliers who were sustained by this business for many years.”
A demonstration took place Monday evening in front of the eatery to protest what organizers said was religious coercion.
Since its opening in January 2005, the nonkosher Restobar has been an attraction for secular residents.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
