"We will be happy to serve you all week and on Motzei
Shabbat," declares a notice at the Grand Canyon mall in
Haifa. This is not an exception these days. Many businesses
have been asking Haifa's Vaada Lemaan HaShabbat for stickers
indicating they observe Shabbos.
The stickers will be distributed as part of the battle over
Shabbos observance in Haifa after Grand Canyon management
breached the walls of Shabbos in the city and violated the
law by opening its doors on Shabbos again last week. "There
was a dignified status quo here and they are destroying it,"
Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav, technically of Shinui but closer to
Labor, told Yated Ne'eman.
"This is chutzpah of the worst kind," says Baruch Zaltz,
chairman of the Histadrut's Haifa Region, "because the store
employees are required to work on Shabbat."
According to the Merchants Organization in Haifa the public
cannot remain silent and "every effort must be made to
restore the original state of affairs."
Yet despite this unanimity, the Grand Canyon continues to
open its doors on Shabbos to the great displeasure of the
city's residents, religious and non-religious alike, all in
order to rake in a few more shekels. Chilul Shabbos
for the love of money alone.
"[Mall Director] Yisrael Savion is a marketing genius," one
of the city's leading advertisers explained, asking to remain
anonymous. "Every few years he comes out with publicity about
opening on Shabbos and then backtracks, and as a result he
receives tremendous exposure."
But so far this time Savion is not backtracking. For the
second week in a row a portion of the stores were open for
business on Shabbos in violation of the Work and Rest Hours
Law.
Rabbi Aryeh Blitental, a city councilman representing UTJ,
says the current cycle of Shabbos desecration began when
Savion sent a letter to store owners saying they were
permitted to open on Shabbos, hinting to his approval.
"Several times in the past they tried to open the Grand
Canyon, but every time they retracted following talks and
dialogue from our side," says Rabbi Blitental. "This time
I've found that they are serious based on the letter and what
I've heard behind the scenes."
He says Grand Canyon mall's own revenues have two components:
rental of the store space and a percentage of the daily
receipts. This is a common arrangement at shopping malls.
Proof of this can be seen on Motzei Shabbos. At the beginning
of the winter the mall management asked all of the stores to
open at 6:00 p.m. Blitental immediately contacted Savion to
point out that in a few months when Shabbos ends later they
cannot be forced to open so early. "And what if there are
stores that want to open later or don't want to open at all
on Motzei Shabbos?" he asked.
Savion's answer came as a big surprise to him. "Out of the
question. If there are no sales there is no room for such a
store here."
R' Blitental praised Mayor Yahav for dispatching inspectors
who issued reports and fined businesses that employed Jewish
workers on Shabbos. In a letter he sent to Savion protesting
the incursion on the status quo he noted the mall is located
in close proximity to Ramat Vishnitz and Neveh Sha'anan, both
neighborhoods with numerous religious residents.
Yahav is not averse to confronting the issue directly even
though his deputy, Tzvi Dahari, is from Shinui. As a member
of the Labor Party, Yahav marched alongside Shinui in the
elections, but does not hide his differences of opinions with
Shinui on preserving the status quo in the city.
Local leaders note that some stores remained closed on
Shabbos. The owner of one such store at the mall, Hatzorfim,
contacted Mayor Yahav to seek his assistance in maintaining
the status quo. Meanwhile notices will be posted throughout
the city urging both the city's religious and non-religious
sectors to boycott the businesses open on Shabbos as a
protest against compelling employees to come in for work on
the day of rest.
HaRav Yechiel Halevy Bamberger, rov of Haifa's chareidi
community, is pained over the current situation. "If the
Grand Canyon remains open, this will undoubtedly lead
everyone else to open on Shabbos. All of the businesses and
then the stores will also want to open and what will become
of the Shabbos?" He also calls on the Torah-true public to
strengthen its own Shabbos observance.
HaRav Moshe Rauchberger, chairman of the Committee for
Shabbat, recalls that a few years ago all of the malls wanted
to open on Shabbos until he and his fellow committee members
took action. "We met with the mall owners and studied
chapters from the prophets, Yirmiyohu and Nechemia,
on keeping Shabbos. The mall owners were very inspired
and rose up one at a time to declare they would not open on
Shabbos. First was the general director of the Haifa Mall,
second Merkaz Chorev, and others. The last to rise to his
feet then was Yisrael Savion, general director of the Grand
Canyon. He said then that if everyone closed he would close,
too."
