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29 Av 5759 - August 11, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Protests Against Bank Mizrachi Machines Working on Shabbos

by Betzalel Kahn

The wave of protests against Bank Mizrachi continued, due to its recent decision to operate its ATMs on Shabbos. The bank claimed that it has received some sort of authorization from the Tsomet Institute of Alon Shevut, which determined that "it is possible to operate an ATM (automatic teller machine) on Shabbos, because it doesn't involve the use of manpower or human contact." The first ATM of Bank Mizrachi to operate on Shabbos will be located in the Savyonim shopping mall in Petach Tikvah. Other banks close their machines on Shabbos.

The Tsomet Institute has recently drawn unfavorable publicity for its identification with several initiatives that -- while they may or may not be within the technical bounds of halacha -- are definitely deeply threatening to the general spirit of the laws in question, and especially Shabbos.

A number of avreichim, clients of the bank, have prepared a manifesto protesting the unprecedented operating of the ATM on Shabbos and yom tov, and have recruited signatures from a broad cross-section of shomer Shabbos communities throughout the country. They noted that the move will certainly undermine the general sanctity of Shabbos, and may well open the way for further breaches. Whether or not it is a technical violation of Shabbos, it certainly runs contrary to the spirit of Shabbos.

In their appeal to the Shabbos-observant clients of the bank, they write: "We have learned that the executive board of Bank Mizrachi intends to breach the walls of the Shabbos while offending the sensitivities of thousands of its Shabbos observant clients. Since we area able to prevent this in advance, by the issuing of a sharp and adamant protest which will be sent to all those involved in the decision, the bank's clients are asked to participate in the effort on behalf of Shabbos kodesh."

This manifesto, which was circulated in centers throughout the country, contains Yated Ne'eman's article on the issue, as well as the following text, which will be sent to the executive board of the bank: "We the undersigned, the clients of the bank, hereby express our protest over the serious breach in the walls of the Shabbos soon to be perpetrated in the Savyonim shopping mall, by the operating of an ATM on Shabbos. We the steady clients of your bank, joined it only because it is a religious bank which honors Shabbos and the values of religion. The main reason we joined it is that all of the installations and activities of the bank do not function on Shabbos. We hereby ask you to continue to preserve the tradition of the bank and not to cause us to protest or to incur losses to the bank, by our leaving it."

Reuven Adler, the assistant senior general director of Bank Mizrachi responded that the bank observes Shabbos and religious practices strictly. "No employee of the bank (religious, secular or non-Jewish) works on Shabbos or on holidays. The bank continues to maintain its religious character, and we have no intention of offending the sensitivities of our religious and chareidi clients."

Adler claimed that "in order not to offend our religious and chareidi clientele, we consulted the Chief Rabbi of Israel, who referred us to the Tsomet Institute, which has made a comprehensive study of the topic of leaving ATM open on Shabbos, that is, of not closing it on erev Shabbos or erev yom Tov, as distinct from opening up an automatic banking machine."

The bank also said that "even if a number of ATM's will remain open on Shabbos, they will be situated in non-chareidi or non-religious areas. By the same token, the bank intends to fully heed the limitations and reservations presented in the halachic statement of opinion of the Tsomet Institute. The machine will function completely automatically, without human intervention."

Mr. Adler also noted, "Other banks in Israel actively offer services on Shabbos, something which Bank Mizrachi doesn't do and doesn't intend to do. But until now, there has been no outcry whatsoever on the part of the religious and chareidi clients of those other banks regarding the services they offer on Shabbos and yom tov."

Those customers who joined Bank Mizrachi because of its special attitude towards Shabbos are very upset by this latest move of their bank in trying to compete with the other banks by offering services on Shabbos, even with some sort of heter. However, one of the avreichim said, "It is surprising that the chareidi clients of other banks which desecrate Shabbos don't protest."


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