Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Chareidi World

13 Ellul 5760 - September 13, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

 

Sponsored by
Shema Yisrael Torah Network
Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Produced and housed by
Jencom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home and Family
Analysis
The Proposal for Public Transportation on Shabbos

by Mordecai Plaut

Is it another empty plan? Is it merely the opening shot in the next election campaign? Is it Barak's real conviction? Most important, will anything be done about it? These are the questions raised by Barak's resounding declaration about two weeks ago that he aims to foment a "secular revolution."

Since Barak's entire government controls fewer seats than Labor alone used to have in the early days of the State, there is nothing that he can do if it requires Knesset approval. He could not muster the votes to pass any legislation, and certainly not something as dramatic and controversial as a secular revolution or even any part of it.

There remain, however, some areas in which the government has the power to act without parliamentary approval: by Cabinet approval or simply through the executive powers that various ministers wield. It is in these areas that Barak could begin his secularization of Israel.

One of the early moves announced was the dismantling of the Ministry of Religions. In general, no Knesset approval is required to create or dissolve government ministries. Even large and powerful ministerial portfolios can be created quite quickly, through a series of orders moving responsibility for various functions. Thus it was thought that Barak and Yossi Beilin (acting Minister of Religions) could easily carry out their plan.

Few people are really happy with the Ministry of Religions, so the opposition to its demise is not strong. Though no religious politicians would have dismantled the Ministry, it is hard to know if apportioning its functions to other ministries will help or hurt the religious community in the long run. In any case, it turned out that there are some 40 laws that require a minister of religion, so that position also may not be ordered out of existence without the consent of the Knesset.

Another area in which there is ministerial power that does not require Knesset approval is public Shabbos observance, including bus transport and airlines (El Al). Barak and other ministers declared that they would operate bus routes on Shabbos, as well as permit the national airline to fly on that day.

The public debate that has ensued shows the complexity of the issues, and exposes the militant secularist claim that they represent the will of the majority as the sham that it really is. On all the religious issues there is really a broad national consensus for the way things are actually done, though often it is only the noisy extremists who are heard.

Top ranking leaders in Barak's own Labor party criticized the Prime Minister for saying that he intends to operate public transportation and El-Al flights on Shabbos, and even political sources close to the Office of the Prime Minster say that Barak's declarations conflict with the party platform which supports the status quo on matters of religion. All of the internal surveys show that 70% of the members of the Labor party want Israel to have an explicitly Jewish character. If Barak wants to change the status quo, warn Labor party sources, he must raise this within the Labor party institutions, where his ideas are liable to encounter stiff opposition. In fact the Labor party institutions are due to meet about this issue later this week, on Thursday.

Egged Also Objects

The Egged corporation opposes the idea of operating public transportation on Shabbos for economic reasons. Egged claims that the operation of busses on Shabbos isn't worthwhile at all in financial terms, and if the government wants to operate public transportation on Shabbos it will have to subsidize it heavily.

Egged says that the demand for public transportation on Shabbos is very low, and that the few busses which are already operating are generally never more than half full and often almost totally empty. According to Egged's spokesman, Ron Ratner, the government can force Egged to operate on Shabbos, and Egged will have no choice and will have to obey. However, the government will have pay for it.

Today, the few buses that run on Shabbos are mainly from the ends of the country: from Eilat and from Kiryat Shemoneh to the center of the country. Unlike other cities, busses do run in Haifa and its suburbs on Shabbos.

UTJ's Statement

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) issued a statement about these matters. It read as follows:

UTJ sharply protests the anti-religious declarations of the Prime Minister, which have reached a peak in his proclamation of his intention to operate public transportation and El Al flights on Shabbos. . . .

UTJ believes that the purpose of these declarations is to pressure the religious parties in the Knesset to return to the coalition, and Mr. Barak is just trying to use religion for his own political purposes.

UTJ deems that before the Prime Ministers takes steps to separate religion from state he should separate religion from his political needs. UTJ notes that a number of the heads of the Labor party have also openly opposed Barak's declarations and attempts to undermine the status quo.

On Monday, the chaeridi MKs who sit on the Knesset Finance Committee prevented the approval of a request from the Finance Ministry to make various changes in the budget of the Office of the Prime Minister in protest against the secular revolution. Since the government has no real parliamentary control, it is relatively easy for disgruntled MKs to make their feelings known in such concrete actions. The Finance Ministry was not even able to bring its request up for debate.

Barak Defends Himself

Prime Minster Barak defended his social-civil plans for Israel. However, he also softened his remarks saying that he has no intention of using coercion, but rather of reaching an understanding with all sectors regarding the new moves.

On Sunday Barak appeared in New York before the members of the Conference of Presidents of Jewish Organizations in the United States, stressing that he never defined his plan as a "secular revolution" and has no intention of harming the religious sector.

"Israel must become an open and pluralistic state. We will not force this on the populace. It won't take place overnight. I am a great believer in dialogue. A way must be found to implement the plan through agreement," he said.

Along with this he argued: "It is time that Israel had a constitution, and that a couple which cannot marry according to the Orthodox approach will have another alternative besides getting married in Cypress. . . . The millions of Russian immigrants, most of whom do not have private cars, should be given the opportunity to go to the beach on Shabbos, to visit someone in the hospital or to travel to entertainment."

He also said: "If we want to privatize El Al, there will be no one who will want to buy a company whose planes are grounded 15% of the time.

Chareidi Politicians Weigh In

Chairman of the UTJ party Rabbi Meir Porush said that Barak will go down in history as one who aimed to cause strife between the religious and the secular. "Barak is now barely the Prime Minster of Meretz, and even One Israel is tired of his fanciful ideas," said Rabbi Porush.

"Barak is draining the State of Israel of all its Jewish content," said Eli Yishai, chairman of Shas. "Politically, this constitutes a divorce from most of the traditional and religious citizens of the State. . . . Barak takes hysterical initiatives, whose sources stem from his feelings that he might incur an ideological and political loss."

Rabbi Ravitz responded to Barak's proposals by saying: "Barak is the first Prime Minister who is prepared to forgo being the Prime Minister of a Jewish State, and sees before him only his political survival. He is prepared to uproot all that is at the basis of the Jewish Nation in order to remain in power.

"I think that Barak is causing damage to the State of Israel, to the government, to his party, and mainly to himself. I am certain that we will overcome all of the decrees and will merit a situation in which Israeli society will condemn this terrible wave of outrageous decrees against Judaism," Rabbi Ravitz concluded.

Rabbi Moshe Gafni also responded to Barak's comments: "Barak is fulfilling his promise that he will be everyone's Prime Minister. However, the problem is that he isn't everyone's Prime Minster at the same time. One time, he is UTJ's Prime Mister, when he promises to take measures against the drafting of yeshiva students. Another time, he is the Prime Minister of Meretz and Shinui, who will improve public transportation. Then he is Shas' Prime Minister, who will dismantle the Religious Affairs Ministry. After that, he becomes the Prime Minister of the Likud, who won't divide Jerusalem, and then the Prime Minster of the Left, who will divide Jerusalem. Now we have to wait and see, whose Prime Minister he will be next month. Apparently his future as a Prime Minister won't be very long.

"Barak's remarks were very serious, even though it is clear that he didn't intend to threaten the religious parties. For the first time since the founding of the State, a Prime Minister is trying to split the people and to divide it into two camps, and we must drop him as fast as possible, because his remarks are very dangerous, even though no one pays serious attention to them," Rabbi Gafni concluded.

Last Friday Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau attacked Barak for his intention to permit buses and planes to operate on Shabbos.

In a speech before the Commercial and Industrialist Club in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Lau said that he blessed the desire to separate religion and politics, however Barak himself makes use of religion for political needs. "I ask therefore ask the Prime Minster: Just as one must not use religion for as an ax for political advancement, so is it forbidden to use the war against religion for political advancement.

"I ask the Prime Minster to keep these minimal things which constitute the seam which unites all parts of the nation, so that the drapery won't unravel and we will be transformed into two nations. There are already being two cultures here."

Rabbi Lau spoke ironically about Barak's and Yossi Beilin's intention to dismantle the Religious Affairs Ministry. He said that in his opinion, the Religious Affairs Ministry isn't sacred, and one must make sure that by its dismantling, the religious services it provides to all who seek them won't be harmed. HaRav Lau proposed in this context that the Prime Minter also examine the abolishing of additional ministries such as the Infrastructure Ministry and the Ministry for Regional Development.

 

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.