The religious front in the City Council of Haifa is planning
to ask the city's chief rabbis as well as all Haifa rabbis to
enjoin area religious and traditional residents to boycott
the Grand Kanyon (Mall) if it continues operating on Shabbos.
Mayor of Haifa Amram Mitzna commiserated with the feelings of
the religious front, and has directed municipal inspectors to
issue fines to stores operating on Shabbos in violation of
the status quo and the auxiliary municipal law. Mitzna, who
was verbally attacked last Sunday (Cheshvan 28) by various
Leftists, among them Yehudit Naot of Shinui, said that he
doesn't intend to let Shinui to introduce a mean spirit into
Haifa.
The relatively new Grand Kanyon, the largest commercial
center in the region, is located beside the Neve Shaanan and
Hadar Carmel areas, home to many chareidi and religious
people. When the mall was getting its planning approvals, its
promoter, Gad Zeevi and general director, Yisrael Savyon,
declared that it would operate in accordance with the status
quo, and that the stores would be closed on Shabbos.
However, on Shabbos, 27 Cheshvan, the two broke their
promise, when four stores opened on Shabbos: the ToysRUs toy
shop, the Atid Mechashvim computer shop, Office Depot and
Tower Records.
UTJ's representative to the city council Rabbi Chaim Williger
said that he was surprised by the opening of the stores on
Shabbos, especially since the religious members of the
council supported the building of the mall in its current
location after it was firmly promised that stores in the mall
would be closed on Shabbos. "In my opinion, the promoter, Gad
Zeevi and the general director of the mall, Yisrael Savyon
who is currently abroad, were not parties to the opening of
the stores on Shabbos," he said.
The deputy mayor of the municipality, Moshe Stetman said that
he believes that the directors of Grand Kanyon tired to test
the reactions of the religious sector. "I hope that after
having seen the reaction, they won't repeat their behavior."
On the preceding Friday, representatives of the religious
bloc learned of the plans to open the mall on Shabbos. UTJ's
representative in the municipality R' Chaim Williger and
deputy mayor Rabbi Moshe Stetman, rushed to Mayor Amram
Mitzna, and asked him to issue an order to close the mall on
Shabbos. Mitzna was sympathetic to their request and said
that such an act indeed violates the status quo. He addressed
the directors of the malls, warning them not to violate the
municipal auxiliary law, but to no avail.
The religious front, in conjunction with Haifa's Religious
Council, sought to issue a Restraining order preventing the
Shabbos opening of the stores. However because it was so
close to Shabbos, it was impossible to issue the order. Rabbi
Williger personally appealed to the store owners not to open
their stores on Shabbos. Both he and the city's deputy mayor,
Moshe Stetman, told ToysRUs and the other stores concerned
that they were acting in violation of the law.
Except for the four mentioned above, most of the proprietors
complied with the request and did not open on Shabbos. Mitzna
fulfilled his promise and sent municipal inspectors to the
mall, where they issued fines of NIS 360 per store. The
spokesman of the Grand Kanyon said that the stores had opened
on a one-time basis because of the beginning of the new
semester in the universities.
Rabbi Williger, in turn, said that he could not understand
the connection between the new semester, which began three
weeks ago, and the opening of stores on Shabbos. He also said
that he failed to see any connection between the
universities' new semester and a giant toy store.
The religious front intends to ask city rabbonim and
Chief Rabbis to enjoin the public to boycott the mall if it
continues to operate on Shabbos.
Mitzna said that he thinks that Grand Kanyon was just trying
to some make headlines, even though its directors know that
the law forbids opening business areas on Shabbos. "The
municipal inspectors will continue to do their utmost to
prevent the opening of businesses on Shabbos, as was the case
until now," Mitzna said.
The mayor of Haifa added that despite the "red" image of
Haifa, it still has a municipal auxiliary law which forbids
opening businesses on Shabbos. "In Haifa, we are proud of the
mutual respect between Arabs and Jews, and between the
religious and the secular, and the law is known to the owners
of Grand Kanyon," he said.
UTJ MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman visited Haifa and met with Mayor
Mitzna. The two discussed the preservation of the municipal
status quo with respect to Shabbos, and Rabbi Litzman cited
other mayors who fought against Shabbos and no longer occupy
influential positions, nor hold the reigns of power.
