A number of frum customers of El Al Israel Airlines have discovered that when the company is called at its American number, the call is sometimes routed to company representatives in Israel. As a result, some Yidden have brought attention to the fact that shomer Shabbos consumers should not call El Al anytime on Friday when it is already Shabbos in Eretz Yisroel, because one will be causing a Yid, albeit an irreligious one, to answer the phone on Shabbos.
Currently, Israel is seven hours ahead of the United States, so 9 a.m. EST is already 4 p.m. in Israel. A call placed at that time could directly result in chillul Shabbos.
We have tried to determine the extent of El Al’s shemiras Shabbos. The company says that it does not fly from sundown on Friday until sunset on Shabbos. Further information is more difficult to obtain. It would seem, though, that plane maintenance and other work is performed on Shabbos, even by Jewish workers.
Answering telephones and other clerical work is apparently performed as well, hence this alert about not calling the EL Al offices on Friday.
This concern was raised most recently by R’ Don Greenberg of Lakewood, NJ, in his popular Masa U’Matan publication.
{Dovid Bernstein-Matzav.com Newscenter, with assistance from Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
Another reason not to fly with the zionist airline.
Anything about Halucha on a website is NULL & VOID & has no meaning at all what so ever.
for the very simple reason, anybody could write whatever they want & in order for it to be authenticated it has to be more than just somebody posting on website.
“Currently, Israel is seven hours ahead of the United States”
The US actually has 9 different Time Zones!
Izzy, you are welcome to check any halacha you hear about on the internet with your Rav. Posting a halacha on a website does not make the halacha “null and void”, no matter how much you protest so.
You need to check anything you see on a website with your Rav, the same way you would check it if you heard it in the grocery store.
Not only does a halacha need to be “more than just somebody posting on a website”, it also needs to be more than just somebody chatting in the store. That’s why you learn, and that’s why you have a Rav.
chaim – is it better to fly with a goyishe airlines? what does zionist have anything to do with it? your sinas chinam could be worse than being mechalel shabbos