Rav Tzuriel Avraham, the rabbi of Blue Square supermarkets and Chief Rabbi of Nes Tziona stated on Sunday night that the chareidi boycott of Shefa Shuk supermarkets has been placed on hold for the time being, at least by many Gedolei HaDor.

Rabbi Avraham told Radio Kol Chai that he personally has been in contact with Gedolei HaDor Shlita, or their representatives, stating that as of Sunday night, Rabbis Elyashiv, Kanievsky, Steinman, Posner and Ovadia Yosef have lifted the ban on buying at branches of Shefa Shuk.

The ban stems from the fact that branches of the AM:PM convenience stores do operate on Shabbos, leading for the call to stop supporting Shefa Shuk, which caters to chareidim and under the same ownership of AM:PM.

According to Rav Avraham, continued negotiations have led to an understanding, that most of the leading Torah Authorities mentioned now believe more can be accomplished via negotiations than a boycott. Rav Avraham stated that not everyone is in agreement, stating the Gerre Rebbe has not lifted his ban, instructing his chassidim not to buy in Shefa Shuk until the last branch of AM:PM closes its doors on Shabbos.

This past Shabbos, additional branches of AM:PM closed, with 5 of the 15 stores now closed for Shabbos.

Rabbi Avraham added that as a result of much information, there was never an official boycott signed by the gedolim, stating Rabbis Steinman, Kanievsky and Yosef never signed and Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv did sign, but the document was “placed in a safe” for possible use in the future – stating that it was never decreed that chareidim should refrain from buying in Shefa Shuk.

According to a report in the daily Yediot Achronot, David Wiessman, who holds controlling shares in Dor Alon, has threatened if the rabbis do not back off, he will open the Blue Square Co-Op stores on Shabbos, a chain which is now closed on Shabbatot. Wiessman stated that by opening on Shabbos, Blue Square would have a sizable advantage over SuperSol, and this would compensate for the chareidi boycott. (Dor Alon owns Blue Square, AM:PM and Shefa Shuk.)

Alternatively, opening on Shabbos would result in Blue Square losing its hechsher (kosher supervision), which would also result in a loss of clientele.

A senior spokesman for Blue Square denies the accuracy of the report, stating the supermarket chain has no intention of opening on Shabbos.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)