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NEWS
Luna Grand Park in Haifa Shuts Down
by Y. Arielli
After opening five months ago with declarations that it would
operate seven days a week, the $8 million-dollar Luna Grand
Park recently announced it would be closing altogether due to
low attendance. Rav Moshe Rauchberger, chairman of the
Religious Council's Committee for the Shabbos said the public
did a kiddush Hashem by adhering to calls from
rabbonim to boycott the site, leading to its complete
closure.
Haifa's chareidi and religious community raised strong
objections when owners announced that the attraction, located
at the Grand Shopping Mall, would be open seven days a week.
State-of-the-art attractions were installed and the owners
invested large sums in an advertising campaign in the hopes
of transforming it into the North's leading amusement park.
"We hope that the religious public as well will come on
weekdays," said the manager of the Grand Shopping Mall at the
time of the opening.
This statement alerted the city's Committee for the Shabbos,
which then met with local rabbonim. After amusement park
management again refused to comply with their request to
close on Shabbos, the committee issued a proclamation
forbidding visits to the amusement park, calling on local
residents to refrain from lesayei'a le'ovrei
aveiroh.
Managers are hoping to reopen during the summer and Rav
Rauchberger says he hopes they have learned their lesson not
to breach the walls of Shabbos so that rabbonim can remove
the prohibition.
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