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11 Sivan 5762 - May 22, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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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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