Hanukkah in the Shuk
Hanukkah in the ShukFlash 90

Following "legal difficulties that have arisen" in approving a night lockdown, said intended to prevent a general closure, alternatives are now being examined that will allow gatherings on Hanukkah and towards the end of the civil year, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The Health Ministry continues to work on the draft resolution, and therefore the cabinet meeting scheduled for tonight will be postponed and is expected to take place tomorrow.

The legal difficulties arose after the Health Ministry refused the legal advisor's request to issue a clear professional opinion supporting imposition of night lockdown.

The Health Ministry estimates that in any case, Israel will enter tight restraint within a week or two, which will include significant traffic restrictions.

However it is still not clear what traffic restrictions will be imposed during Hanukkah itself.

The announcement comes after the Cabinet decided Monday night to institute a nighttime lockdown over the Hanukkah holiday, which itself followed denials by officials regarding any lockdown during Hanukkah, saying instead a lockdown was being considered after the eight-day holiday.

Speaking to Israel News Talk Radio's Tamar Yonah show, Attorney Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Smith today responded to the zig-zagging governmental announcements denying and then warning of a Hanukkah lockdown, saying: "Let's pay attention to the fact that it’s a textbook situation of a psychological manipulation, psychological operations in a control situation, where a prison warden is trying to get greater and greater control on the prisoners and tightens down, then lessens up, tightens down, lessens up; and it makes everyone more and more subjugated, because what happens is: every time they loosen up on something, you, by definition, accept whatever has become the normal until then.

“So for example, if they'll loosen up on a particular decree about synagogues, or about gathering in houses of worship, then you will suddenly feel such relief you'll say, ‘it's okay; I can handle the social distancing and the masks, because at least I can now go to my synagogue or my house of worship, or, ‘I could send my kids to school, so if they have to be tested, at least it's better than having the schools closed.’

“This is Psychological Warfare 101,” concluded Rabbi Smith.