A recent issue of Chadash Umeyuchad, the weekly
gazette of the chareidi community of Beit Shemesh, made an
eye- opening disclosure. It says that the massive Shabbos
desecration taking place at the Shabbos Flea Market of
Kibbutz Tzor'ah near Beit Shemesh is not perpetrated only by
the members of the kibbutz -- which the High Court, in its
recent ruling, referred to as a corporation whose religion is
unknown -- but also by many peddlers from the region who
market their wares on the kibbutz every Shabbos.
A month ago, Justice Ari Tivon, of the Jerusalem Labor Court,
determined that kibbutz Tzor'ah near Beit Shemesh did not
violate the Work and Rest Hour Law when the Canaan clothing,
belonging to and located on the kibbutz was open on Shabbos.
The rationale for his ruling was that the kibbutz is a
corporation whose religion is unknown.
The desire of the kibbutz to make large profits from these
sales led its attorneys to make a false claim in the Work
Court. In response to their claim that they are a
corporation, Justice Tivon ruled that the workers did not
violate the Work and Rest Law, since the religion of a
corporation is unknown.
However, the Chadash Umeyuchad journal has disclosed
that the flea market in Tzor'ah is open to everyone, and that
very few members of the kibbutz frequent it. Every Shabbos,
the kibbutz holds a flea market, to which merchants from all
over come in order to peddle their wares. Every week a
different kind of fair is held, one time an antique furniture
fair, another week an electrical appliance fair etc. The
kibbutz demands a high commission from every merchant who has
a stall in the bazaar. These merchants are Jews, and are not
a corporation without a nationality. As a result, the flea
market is illegal.
In the wake of this disclosure and the ruling of the judge,
the chairman of the Finance Committee, Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz
said: "This judge, who has no respect for Jewish tradition,
and has cynically issued a preposterous verdict, became a
partner to the sham which took place in the court, when he
and the accused hid the fact that the merchants who peddle
their wares on the socialist kibbutz on Shabbosim are
not members of the kibbutz, and but rather they rent stalls
from the kibbutz in exchange for the commissions they give
the socio-capitalistic kibbutzniks.
