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10 Cheshvan 5760 - October 20, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Turbine Transfer Turmoil

by Betzalel Kahn

The chareidi community is infuriated over the transfer of an additional -- the sixth and last -- Electric Company heavy Compound, known as the "turbine," on Friday night, the 29th of Tishrei. It left the Taas enterprise in Ramat Hasharon on its way to the power station in Ashkelon. Many Jews were involved in the various technical aspects of the transfer.

In reaction, Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz said, "The Government did not fulfill the expectations it raised, and made no efforts to prevent the last of the turbines from being transferred on Shabbos. This is indicative of the Government's attitude toward the religious sector in Israel, and also deepens the rift in Israeli society."

Rabbi Gafni said: "To my dismay, no practical or serious attempt was made to cope with this simple problem which could have been resolved so easily. Apparently, the Prime Minster's statement that `he never yields to anyone,' also includes Shabbos kodesh. At a time when the problem of the turbine transfer has become a celebrated and publicized issue, due to the policy of the Prime Minster's office, the Prime Minister was obligated to forestall the terrible undermining of one of the most hallowed values of the Jewish Nation: Shabbos kodesh. Since he hasn't done this, he is answerable, and Shabbos will demand its due."

Yated Ne'eman's article on Thursday, Tishrei 26, which appeared prior to the transfer of the turbine on the subsequent Shabbos night, resulted in an outpouring of anger and pain among Shabbos-observant Jews throughout Eretz Hakodesh and the world at large, who were deeply distressed by the immense amount of Shabbos desecration which ensued.

As directed by maranan verabonon, the gedolei Yisroel, UTJ resigned from the coalition when the Prime Minister and his Government did not fulfill their promise not to transfer the turbines on Shabbos. Barak's assurances that the components would be transferred on a weekday proved false. No useful effort was made by the Government ministers involved in the affair to prevent the massive Shabbos desecrations.

UTJ, which led the battle against the Shabbos desecration, gave Barak's government time in which to find solutions for transferring the turbine on weekdays. Various suggestions were made, such as transferring the turbines over a number of nights during the week. The Prime Minister, by means of Minister Michael Melchior, proposed that the turbine be transferred by non-Jewish workers. However, investigations proved that this was merely a ploy, and that the turbines were actually transferred by Jews. In an interview with Yated Ne'eman, Albert Cohen, director of the transfer project, confirmed that although he is a Shabbos-observing Jew, he was forced to desecrate Shabbos as a result of the transfer.

Maranan verabonon had also said that we could not in any case countenance a precedent in which massive Shabbos desecration is perpetrated by non-Jewish workers, and that such a precedent is liable to lead to the breach of all of the walls of Shabbos. Rabbonim and public figures said that we must not forget that the incident involved deliberate and premeditated Shabbos desecration, whose purpose was lehach'is. They said that the Government callously and stubbornly rejected all of the practical suggestions to prevent the Shabbos desecration, and that their decision to transfer the turbine precisely on Shabbos kodesh out of irrelevant interests manifests exceptional intransigence.

Prominent rabbonim and communal figures warned: "The failure of the government headed by Ehud Barak to accede to the demand of hundreds of thousands of Shabbos observers in the country to avert the transfer of the turbine on Shabbos kodesh and to forestall the disgraceful Shabbos desecration, will case a deep rift in the Nation. The transfer is indicative of the government's deep rooted scorn for our most sacred Jewish values."

The transfer of the turbine on Shabbos with the full backing of the government caused much pain and anger in the chareidi community. All were deeply upset by the tremendous chillul Hashem manifested by the trampling of Shabbos lehach'is. In addition, they were upset by the manner in which the Government pulled the wool over the eyes of the chareidim by means of false promises, thereby offending the sensitivities of thousands of Shabbos-observant Jews and creating a serious precedent of public trampling of Shabbos.

Reports of this massive Shabbos desecration were publicized in Jewish communities abroad, and resulted in troubled reactions. Rabbonim and communal figures from abroad visiting Eretz Yisroel during the yomim tovim expressed their anguish over this Shabbos desecration and over Barak's disregard of the status quo. They then strengthened the chareidi representatives who are following the guidelines of maranan verabonon and encouraged them to remain on the alert and to protest all such future acts.

They added that the current Government is taking measures which will be neither forgotten nor forgiven, and that the heads of the Government should not think that Torah-true Jewry in Israel and abroad will consent to remain silent or to forgive or forget this disgraceful behavior.


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