MKs Dr. Ruth Calderon (Yesh Atid) and Elazar Stern (The Movement) are working in unison to redefine Shabbos in the public sector. While the Knesset is still in summer recess, the MKs are hard at work as they prepare yet another bill to attack the long-standing religious status quo in Israel and to permit more chilul Shabbos in the public sector around the country.

According to the YNET report, the new bill is based on the Gabizon-Medan document, a document that would grant far reaching authority to local municipalities regarding the adherence to Shabbos in the public sector. This includes the opening of community centers on Shabbos, coffee shops, restaurants, and much more. The bill, if passed into law, would grant the authority to make these decision to the local government, taking it away from the Ministry of the Interior. Hence, if a City Hall wished to open museums, theaters or anything else in the public sphere on Shabbos it would have that authority and the Ministry of the Interior would be powerless to intervene as has been the case in the past.

The MKs feel the non frum community throughout Israel lacks places to go with family members on Shabbos. “The time has come to permit all the kehillos in Israel to observe Shabbos as they wish” stated Dr. Calderon. “The bill creates a new reality, one that compels addressing the basic rights of the non-religious community vis-à-vis Shabbos, calling for mutual respect to permit that community to maintain its lifestyle [on Shabbos too].

M Stern added “On the one hand we are concerned with Jewish values but on the other hand there is a growing gap between being Jewish and Israeli”, citing this bill seeks to address that problematic gap.

They feel the bill truly addresses the significance of Shabbos in the public sector aside a desire to maintain the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish Democratic State for all its residents.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)