The walls protecting the holiness of Shabbos are being
breached in Ramat Gan following a move by Commerce and
Industry Minister Ehud Olmert to reduce the fines levied on
businesses that operate on Shabbos, warns the city's United
Torah Jewry chairman, Rabbi Tzvi Sheinfeld.
Speaking at a conference held in Ramat Gan, Rabbi Sheinfeld
said he was aghast at the sight of stores and restaurants
open on Shabbos as if it were the middle of the week. "The
numerous acts of chilul Shabbos testify to the breach
in the status quo maintained throughout the years in the city
of Ramat Gan on the issue of Shabbos, and this is due to the
failure to enforce the Work and Rest Hours Law and the
reduction of the Shabbos fines by 80 percent, which has led
to terrible breaches in the walls of Shabbos.
"My hope is that the leaders of the city will realize that
preserving the status quo regarding Shabbos is in the
interest of the secular public just as it is in the interest
of the religious public and is designed to allow the city's
entire population to live together."
In his talk Rabbi Sheinfeld also said, "United Torah Jewry is
the only address to turn to for all of the educational and
Torah institutes in the city, including Chinuch Atzmai's
Chorev, with its boys' and girls' schools, Nesivos Moshe,
Maalos HaTorah, the network of kindergartens, kollelim
and numerous Torah shiurim."
He also noted that before the elections he met with Mayor
Tzvi Bar, who promised after the elections he would attend to
the institutions facing budget crises or severe lack of
space. "Now that the coalition has been established I hope
the Mayor will find time to take care of chareidi education
in the city."
