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21 Kislev 5769 - December 18, 2008 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Tel Aviv Court Rejects Petition to Close Tiv Taam Market That Operates on Shabbos and Sells Pork

By Yechiel Sever

The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that the Tiv Taam branch in Ramat Hachayal, a suburb of Tel Aviv, does not have to close on Shabbos and does not have to stop selling chazir despite municipal ordinances.

The affair began several months ago when Tiv Taam opened a large market in the commercial sector of Ramat Hachayal, and like at the chain's other markets in Tel Aviv, this branch remained open on Shabbos and sold non-kosher meat.

A few days after its opening several local residents filed a request to issue an injunction against the market for violating city ordinances, adding that he branch was operating without a business license. The petitioners asked the court to shut down the market entirely, or at least close it on Shabbos and issue a ban against selling pork on the premises.

In response Tiv Taam argued that the old ordinance, with its sweeping ban against pork sales, is no longer relevant and to the best of the chain's knowledge, is no longer enforced. Regarding its hours of operations the chain claimed the municipality, which has discretionary powers to allow businesses to operate on Shabbos, is not acting to close markets and businesses open on Shabbos. Even if the municipality were to determine Tiv Taam is in violation of the municipal ordinance, the court should not intervene in the matter argued the defense counsel.

The court ruled in favor of Tiv Taam. The judges noted the city ordinances were not intended to prevent claims of harm to "freedom and religious sensitivities."

Responding to the decision, MK Rabbi Uri Maklev said, "Once again we are seeing court rulings that are known in advance. When the law addresses religious matters suddenly there's a significant transformation. There are two sets of laws in the State of Israel: when the law is related to the chareidi sector the answer will differ from a law related to the general public.

"It comes as no surprise that within the justice system there has been a severe gnawing away at the status of the courts. Even figures within the system are lodging stiff criticism of the court system. When laws are formulated based on world view in an attempt to destroy any trace of Judaism, apparently this trickles down to other rulings as well, bringing the court system to another low point in its steep decline. Even the secular public now recognizes the judges' level of `objectivity,'" said Rabbi Maklev.

 

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