Thousands of Kfar Saba residents participated in a
demonstration and mass tefilloh on Shabbos Vayeishev
in the city square, located near the Arim Shopping Mall, to
protest the mall's new policy of opening on Shabbos.
Led by the city's rabbonim, neighborhood rabbonim and
rabbonim of botei knesses, thousands of protesters
came to rouse rachamei Shomayim over the alarming
chilul Shabbos, which represents a major breach that
threatens to seriously harm the Shabbos throughout Eretz
Hakodesh.
Over thirty thousand people gathered at 11:00 a.m. on Shabbos
morning for a mass tefillas Musaf led by educator Rav
Tzvi Weingarten, known to the entire population of Kfar Saba
as a teacher and a tutor for bar mitzvah preparation.
Afterwards Rav Ben Tzion Kramer, rov of the downtown area,
recited two chapters of Tehillim together with the
entire assemblage, followed by verses of kabolas ol
malchus Shomayim led by Rav Shmuel Avrech, rov of the
Yemenite community in Kfar Saba. To conclude the event
children recited Shir Hayichud, with thousands of
voices repeating each line.
Some 25 Meretz and Shinui activists gathered nearby, trying
to disrupt the tefilloh. They held signs reading, "We
come to drive away the darkness" [Banu choshech
legaresh -- an old anti-religious slogan], "Israel will
not be another Iran" and "To each his own shopping" [Ish
bekinyato yichiyeh, a sick pun on Ish be'emunaso
yichiyeh]. Despite attempts their to lure the public into
debates, their provocations proved ineffective as the large
assembly dispersed with exemplary orderliness.
During the course of the day, (non-Jewish) Labor and Welfare
Ministry inspectors arrived at the mall to issue store owners
heavy fines for Shabbos desecration.
Among the participants at the protest were Deputy Mayor
Attorney Yaakov Ochayoun (Likud) and Deputy Mayor Amiram
Miller (Labor), who promised to employ every available means
to close the mall on Shabbos. Ochayoun said he had looked
into the possibility of rescinding the mall's right to use
public areas for children's rides.
Local merchants--currently rebuilding the Chamber of Commerce
in order to launch widespread public protest against the
opening of the mall on Shabbos--were also present at the
demonstration. The opening of the mall puts competitive
pressure on all the other merchants in the area to also open
on Shabbos in order not to lose their business.
Meanwhile neighborhood residents are organizing protest
activities against the mall, claiming that since it began to
operate on Shabbos their day of rest has turned into a day of
suffering due to the surrounding noise and bustle.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, chairman of the House Committee, and MK
Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, chairman of the powerful Knesset
Finance Committee, told the Vaadah Lemaan HaShabbat BeKfar
Saba and Vaad Ha'askanim that they would do everything in
their power to have the mall closed on Shabbos.
