Eli Yeshai and the Hours of Work and Rest Law

Not a bad title for a book. Very reminiscent of the Harry Potter series. He could play a super muggle because he definitely has no magic in him. First lets set the scene. Our main character is Eli Yishai from Shas the Sephardic ultra orthodox party. He is the Minister of Industry Trade and Labor. There is an irony there but I don't want to go there now. In the scene he is confronted by the fact that the last Harry Potter book is scheduled for release on Shabbat. At 0201 Saturday morning to be exact. That's Israel time. The books are being globally released all at the same time.Two of the major bookstore chains in Israel will be offering the book. What will our guy do?

According to HaAretz the bookstore Steimatzky is planning a launch for the book this Friday night at the TelAviv port. The rival chain Tsomet Sfarim will be having an event at its Ga'ash branch. Eli Yishai has threatened to fine them under the hours of work and rest law because they are employing people on Shabbat. I could have predicted this scenario once I heard that the book would be coming out on Shabbat. Before I give the final word I want to reveal another character in this saga. Member of Knesset Ravitz of United Torah Judaism the Ashkenazi Ultra Orthodox party. According to Ynet news he has said "Aside from the book and its poor content..." Did he read the book? Lets see, a book that gets kids reading and one that adults love as much as the kids must be a piece of crap. He went on to say that it " serves as education for teenagers in Israel." Well first of all anytime my kids can learn about good versus evil I'm for it. I think however he was talking about Israeli teenagers who are not ultra orthodox. So it was really a dig at our kids. To that all I can say is that they get their bagrut(matriculation exams) and graduate high school, they do army service and then they go to university and they get jobs.They become productive members of society. Do you get my drift MK Ravitz?

Here is my bottom line. Israel is the Jewish State. It is the state for all Jews. It is not the Ultra Orthodox Jewish state or the Reform/Progressive Jewish State for that matter. Steimatzky is having an event in Tel Aviv. It is not opening all its branches. Tzomet Sfarim is having its event at Ga'ash which has stores open on Shabbat all the time. Neither are in places that might disturb the Shabbat for someone who is observant. Eli Yishai and company are simply wrong on this one.

submitted by Carol