Geirera Chulda: Tel Aviv Mayor Continues to Thumb Nose at Shabbos: “There Will be Buses - Like in Brooklyn”
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Chuldai today stood by a Tel Aviv Municipal Council decision to seek permission from the Transportation Ministry to operate buses in the city on Shabbos.
Despite criticism, there will be public transport in Tel Aviv on Shabbos, Chuldai told Army Radio.
Public transportation on Shabbos would be a welcome relief for the non-frum residents of Tel Aviv who don’t own cars, and would help efforts to cut down on the use of private vehicles in the city, Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir said Wednesday.
“Driving is permitted on the Shabbat so the only people who are affected by the lack of buses are those who don’t own cars and find themselves confined to their homes on Shabbat,” Zamir said, two days after the Tel Aviv City Council voted 13-7 to ask the Transportation Ministry for permission to operate public transport systems on Shabbos.
Though the motion has little chance of gaining approval from the Transportation Ministry, Zamir said it highlights an issue that speaks to Israel’s place in the western world.
“The state of Israel is the only country in the western world that doesn’t have public transportation seven days a week. The fact that 70% of the population lives in cities means that there should be decisions made to limit the use of private cars. Because there are no cars on Shabbat people like myself have no choice but to buy a car for that one day a week. If I lived in Paris or in New York I would have no need for a car at all,” Zamir said.
Currently there are a few mini-bus lines and private “sherut” taxi vans that run in central Tel Aviv on the weekend. The sheruts are a convenient way to get around central Tel Aviv but they don’t provide an answer for residents of Tel Aviv’s suburbs and neighborhoods of South or North Tel Aviv far from the city center.
Zamir also said that he believed that the majority vote in the city council illustrates that like in the council, the majority of the residents of the city support having buses on Shabbos.
“I’m sure there are cities where the results would be the complete opposite. I’m not saying you should have it [public transportation on Shabbat] in all of Israel, but there should be in Tel Aviv.”
Monday night’s motion was proposed by Tamar Zandberg, a city councilwoman from the Meretz faction. The day after the motion passed, Zandberg wrote on her blog that while the measure may not have much chance of gaining approval, it is a common-sense decision that must be made for the sake of the city’s residents.
“In Tel Aviv, 40% of the residents don’t own cars, there are 24 hours each week in which they are stuck and grounded without the ability go distances further than a long walk or a bike ride. The sea, the parks, the museums, friends and family, everything becomes too far away on the one free day of the week.”
She said it could also have an effect on the car-owning public, who would be freed up to take public transportation, thus, in her estimation, cutting down on air pollution, car accidents, and incidents of drunk driving on the weekend.
She also argued that Israel needs to break away from the “status quo” on separation of church and state, a result of agreements made during the time of the founding of the state more than sixty years ago.
“You - the religious public - have held onto this [public transportation on Shabbos] for so long that people have stopped asking why. The time has come to start doing the most logical thing possible.”
A Transportation Ministry spokesman indicated Tuesday that the ministry would not approve Tel Aviv’s request. The Transportation Ministry will “not infringe [upon] the status quo which has been in place for decades regarding all aspects of public transport on Shabbat,” the spokesman said.
Nevertheless, Huldai on Wednesday vowed to continue the mission to bring buses to Tel Aviv on Shabbos. “We must determine if we want to live in a democratic, Jewish state or a solely Jewish state - which will be similar to Iran,” Huldai told Army Radio. “The citizens have the right to visit their relatives on Shabbat or go out for a trip,” he added.
The Tel Aviv mayor cited Brooklyn as an example of a place where Orthodox Jews practice their religion while public transportation operates everyday of the week.
{The Jerusalem Post/Matzav.com Newscenter}
12 Responses to “Geirera Chulda: Tel Aviv Mayor Continues to Thumb Nose at Shabbos: “There Will be Buses - Like in Brooklyn””
2. Comment from Tisha Kabin
Time February 22, 2012 at 3:22 PM
Brooklyn, is not in eretz yisroel last time i checked.
3. Comment from avi
Time February 22, 2012 at 3:28 PM
So leave and go to new york!!!!
4. Comment from juda
Time February 22, 2012 at 5:49 PM
@#3
i dont have direct knowledge of what g-d wants but my hunch is he would rather the not yet religious live in tel aviv and take public transit run with chilul shabbos than have them move to NYC and completely assimilate
5. Comment from anonymous
Time February 22, 2012 at 5:58 PM
AVI….you sound quite angry.
So, I assume you would like to have it operate on shabbos, right?
figured
6. Comment from Anonymous
Time February 22, 2012 at 6:03 PM
#3 why dont u leave and go to iran?
7. Comment from Bewildered
Time February 22, 2012 at 6:15 PM
Tisha Kabin, what’s your point?
8. Comment from Anonymous
Time February 22, 2012 at 6:28 PM
This is the stupidest move yet. Through the years there was no bus service on Shabbat in secular Tel-Aviv. Now when Israel and the world is on the brink of who knows what, this chochom decides to desecrate the holy Shabbat as a public desecration, which is the worst kind (a chilul Hashem). It’s as if he is spiteing Hashem. We pray that in spite of today’s stupid leadership, the yidden in Eretz Yisrael and everywhere will be protected, just because of HIS great rachamim. (Basically, he probably is doing what he is being told to do because they are going all out to ’secularize’ the country, r’l.
9. Comment from Anonymous
Time February 22, 2012 at 6:29 PM
This is the stupidest move yet. Through the years there was no bus service on Shabbat in secular Tel-Aviv. Now when Israel and the world is on the brink of who knows what, this chochom decides to desecrate the holy Shabbat as a public desecration, which is the worst kind (a chilul Hashem). It’s as if he is spiteing Hashem. We pray that in spite of today’s stupid leadership, the yidden in Eretz Yisrael and everywhere will be protected, just because of HIS great rachamim. (Basically, he probably is doing what he is being told to do because they are going all out to ’secularize’ the country, r’l.)
10. Comment from Rabbi Avraham Goldstein
Time February 22, 2012 at 7:58 PM
This is the hypocrisy
Even goyim know the difference between New york Paris and Tel Aviv .
11. Comment from cohen
Time February 23, 2012 at 7:17 AM
# 4
live far away yet without assimilating .
12. Comment from SAGACIOUS
Time February 23, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Chulda–another member of the “Erev Rav” who infest Israeli politics. I think he truly belongs in Iran with the rest of the “sonei Yisroel.”.
1. Comment from cohen
Time February 22, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Rabbi Lau’s public response
“I have a feeling of deep disappointment and much pain upon hearing of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa City Council’s decision of last night to recommend operating public buses on Shabbos,” the rav said. “This is a significant blow to Kedushas Shabbos which is a remembrance of the creation, the exodus from Egypt, the day of rest and the day of spiritual elevation and family cohesion”.
The rav added the decision is a blow to the 103 year history of the city which was established as the first Jewish city, and it is synonymous with personalities such as the first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, Ehad HaAm and Chaim Nachman Bialik, who did so much to maintain the character of Shabbos in the city.
Operating buses on Shabbos is a violation of the long-standing status quo upon which the state was founded added the rav. He concluded by saying “I turn to Mayor Ron Huldai, who was supported by thousands of Shomer Shabbos voters, please, reverse your decision and don’t contribute to extinguishing the Shabbos candles. I also turn to the ministers of the interior and transportation to prevent this serious breach towards continued shmiras Shabbos”.
Rav Lau spoke with Israel Radio and when asked what he has to offer for the many Israelis who do not have a car, he explained that “We must do something to earn calling Israel a Jewish State, and this entails not running public transportation. He added that when the decision was made decades ago, there were fewer people with private vehicles but the nation’s leaders understood the need of preserving the Jewish character of the state”.
Rav Lau explained that in Paris, one does not find a club operating on Sunday. “Each state has its character and one who moves to Tel Aviv knows in advance there is no public transportation. We must define what the state is and this includes defining what is meant by a Jewish stat.”