"Should I Let an Untrained Man Drive 300 Tons?"
"I feel bad about this. It's not pleasant for me personally,
this applause of those who cheered along the route of the
turbine. I'm traditional (masorati), and surely other
Jews worked with me on Shabbos," Albert Cohen, the manager of
the Turbine Transfer Project for the Friedenson company
said.
"In my opinion," Albert Cohen said, "there were technical
necessities. In the course of the transfer of the turbine on
Shabbos, a number of accidents occurred and it was only by a
miracle that they ended without a disaster. We diverted the
entire transfer procedure [to Shabbos], and prevented serious
chain accidents.
"I've been involved in transports for many years, both in the
army and as a civilian, and this is the biggest and heaviest
load I have ever seen. It was always customary to transfer
heavy components on Shabbos. But the police generally don't
allow the transfer of such components on Shabbosim.
Everything depends on the weight and size of the
component.
"If the load had traveled at a quicker rate, and not at 5-10
kilometers an hour in the middle of the night, it would have
caused many traffic jams. At the current speed, I have to
drive 13 consecutive hours. I didn't wait, and took an Arab
subcontractor with me, and worked with him. But there surely
were other Jews involved.
"Before Shabbos they brought me a non-Jewish worker. What did
they expect of me? Should I let him transport 300 tons?
Should I train him in a split second? Impossible!" Cohen
says.
"They suggested all sorts of compromises, such as
transferring a few components at one time. But that's
impossible. Just making the cart which carries the turbine
takes two months. It's also impossible to take the turbine
along other highways. Its 10.5 meters wide. I would block the
roads, and even block myself on other roads."
Cohen claims that a minimum of work was done on Shabbos.
"Only the transferring of the turbine, because there is no
other way. Nothing else."
Cohen describes himself as a traditional Jew who puts on
tefillin every morning. "I consulted with my father.
He is a chareidi Jew. He told me that if I reached the
conclusion that there was no other way, then I should do it.
The chillul Shabbos was very hard on me. Personally,
it was very hard for me. I feel bad about the whole thing,
especially about the cheering and the applause on the route
we traveled."
Albert Cohen firmly believes that there is no other solution
to the problem. "Let them try once to transfer it on a
weekday. At night, it blocks three or more lanes. In my
opinion, the police made a professional decision."
