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10 Teves 5765 - December 22, 2004 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Haifa's Grand Canyon Again Opens on Shabbos

By Y. Ariel and Aryeh Zissman

"We will be happy to serve you all week and on Motzei Shabbat," declares a notice at the Grand Canyon mall in Haifa. This is not an exception these days. Many businesses have been asking Haifa's Vaada Lemaan HaShabbat for stickers indicating they observe Shabbos.

The stickers will be distributed as part of the battle over Shabbos observance in Haifa after Grand Canyon management breached the walls of Shabbos in the city and violated the law by opening its doors on Shabbos again last week. "There was a dignified status quo here and they are destroying it," Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav, technically of Shinui but closer to Labor, told Yated Ne'eman.

"This is chutzpah of the worst kind," says Baruch Zaltz, chairman of the Histadrut's Haifa Region, "because the store employees are required to work on Shabbat."

According to the Merchants Organization in Haifa the public cannot remain silent and "every effort must be made to restore the original state of affairs."

Yet despite this unanimity, the Grand Canyon continues to open its doors on Shabbos to the great displeasure of the city's residents, religious and non-religious alike, all in order to rake in a few more shekels. Chilul Shabbos for the love of money alone.

"[Mall Director] Yisrael Savion is a marketing genius," one of the city's leading advertisers explained, asking to remain anonymous. "Every few years he comes out with publicity about opening on Shabbos and then backtracks, and as a result he receives tremendous exposure."

But so far this time Savion is not backtracking. For the second week in a row a portion of the stores were open for business on Shabbos in violation of the Work and Rest Hours Law.

Rabbi Aryeh Blitental, a city councilman representing UTJ, says the current cycle of Shabbos desecration began when Savion sent a letter to store owners saying they were permitted to open on Shabbos, hinting to his approval.

"Several times in the past they tried to open the Grand Canyon, but every time they retracted following talks and dialogue from our side," says Rabbi Blitental. "This time I've found that they are serious based on the letter and what I've heard behind the scenes."

He says Grand Canyon mall's own revenues have two components: rental of the store space and a percentage of the daily receipts. This is a common arrangement at shopping malls. Proof of this can be seen on Motzei Shabbos. At the beginning of the winter the mall management asked all of the stores to open at 6:00 p.m. Blitental immediately contacted Savion to point out that in a few months when Shabbos ends later they cannot be forced to open so early. "And what if there are stores that want to open later or don't want to open at all on Motzei Shabbos?" he asked.

Savion's answer came as a big surprise to him. "Out of the question. If there are no sales there is no room for such a store here."

R' Blitental praised Mayor Yahav for dispatching inspectors who issued reports and fined businesses that employed Jewish workers on Shabbos. In a letter he sent to Savion protesting the incursion on the status quo he noted the mall is located in close proximity to Ramat Vishnitz and Neveh Sha'anan, both neighborhoods with numerous religious residents.

Yahav is not averse to confronting the issue directly even though his deputy, Tzvi Dahari, is from Shinui. As a member of the Labor Party, Yahav marched alongside Shinui in the elections, but does not hide his differences of opinions with Shinui on preserving the status quo in the city.

Local leaders note that some stores remained closed on Shabbos. The owner of one such store at the mall, Hatzorfim, contacted Mayor Yahav to seek his assistance in maintaining the status quo. Meanwhile notices will be posted throughout the city urging both the city's religious and non-religious sectors to boycott the businesses open on Shabbos as a protest against compelling employees to come in for work on the day of rest.

HaRav Yechiel Halevy Bamberger, rov of Haifa's chareidi community, is pained over the current situation. "If the Grand Canyon remains open, this will undoubtedly lead everyone else to open on Shabbos. All of the businesses and then the stores will also want to open and what will become of the Shabbos?" He also calls on the Torah-true public to strengthen its own Shabbos observance.

HaRav Moshe Rauchberger, chairman of the Committee for Shabbat, recalls that a few years ago all of the malls wanted to open on Shabbos until he and his fellow committee members took action. "We met with the mall owners and studied chapters from the prophets, Yirmiyohu and Nechemia, on keeping Shabbos. The mall owners were very inspired and rose up one at a time to declare they would not open on Shabbos. First was the general director of the Haifa Mall, second Merkaz Chorev, and others. The last to rise to his feet then was Yisrael Savion, general director of the Grand Canyon. He said then that if everyone closed he would close, too."

 

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