National Union Secretary-General Ofir Sofer responded to the Supreme Court decision to allow opening of stores in Tel Aviv on Shabbat.
Sofer said that "Naor is correct about the personal interpretation of Shabbat by each person, but here we are talking about the public interpretation of Shabbat. As long as we allow more and more businesses to open, hundreds of thousands of workers will be forced to work on Shabbat and there will be a contradiction between the personal and public aspects of Shabbat."
Sofer warned that "hundreds of thousands of citizens may find themselves unemployed because they are unwilling to work on Shabbat. It is clear that there is a huge chasm between the will of the people and that of those sitting in court. They do not attach importance to the will of traditional people who wish to enjoy their families on Shabbat. It is a shame the judge is splitting the nation and [her decision] could lead to chaos and to an unnecessary schism in our nation."