Tel Aviv Shops Resist Shabbat Closing Law
Many Tel Aviv grocery stores stayed open on the Sabbath even though Israel’s interior minister rejected an amendment to a municipal statute that would have allowed their opening.
Municipal inspectors handed out fines on Saturday of slightly more than $200 to the businesses that remained open despite an Israeli law that makes it illegal to open retail businesses on the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown Friday and ends after sunset Saturday.
Employees at the large Tiv Tam grocery store wore T- shirts with the slogan “Tel Aviv does not keep Shabbat” while they worked on Saturday.
Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saar late last month rejected the amendment that would have allowed some stores to stay open on the Sabbath and holidays.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.