Tel Aviv allowing some stores to do business on Shabbat

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JERUSALEM – Tel Aviv will permit a limited number of grocery and convenience stores to open on the Sabbath and holidays.

The City Council approved an amendment giving the stores the go-ahead, but the country’s Interior Ministry also must approve.

Currently it is illegal in Israel to open retail businesses on the Sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday.

“The principle that led to this bill is keeping the Tel Aviv spirit, one that cares for the Shabbat as a day of rest, as a social value in the Jewish State, and allows for the provision of services and the freedom for everyone to use this day as they wish.” said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai

Haredi Orthodox Councilman Rabbi Naftali Lubert said the vote was “a black day.”

Last June, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality to enforce a by-law that bans its businesses from opening on Saturday.

The high court ruled that two large supermarket chains violated the by-law. The court suggested the city could change the by-law to allow businesses to remain open on Saturday.

The owners of the small shops claimed they were losing customers to the chains that could afford to remain open on Saturday and absorb the modest fines levied for their transgression.