Is the Trans-Israel Highway Company regularly performing
infrastructure work on Shabbosos? That depends on who you
ask.
Residents at Beit Chilkiya, a chareidi moshav, claim work is
done every Shabbos, while the company insists there was only
one such incident.
Several weeks ago one of the moshav members sent a letter to
Degel HaTorah's Bnei Brak offices warning that work on the
section of the road south of the Yad Binyamin intersection
involves large-scale Shabbos desecration. In the letter he
wrote that from his balcony he has seen the work going on
every Shabbos since Simchas Torah.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni then contacted the director of the Trans-
Israel Highway project, Yehuda Cohen, demanding he
investigate the matter immediately and if necessary issue
instructions to stop work on Shabbos.
Recently Rabbi Gafni received a reply from the company
claiming "work was performed on a single occasion on Shabbat.
We have instructed the contractor not to repeat this and that
work is permitted only on weekdays."
Now the question remains whether the company is keeping its
word or whether it continues to perform groundwork far from
the watchful eye of the shomer Shabbos public.
