Should Sunday be a day of rest in Israel? Though the Knesset voted yesterday in favor of a preliminary version of a bill to this effect, it now appears that even the bill\'s sponsors may be having second thoughts.
According to the proposal, Monday through Thursday would become nine-hour workdays, and Friday would be a short day. The proposal was initiated by MK Nachum Langental (National Religious Party), though the government opposes it. Langental says that the bill is designed to reduce tensions between the secular and religious, particularly on the issue of public Sabbath observance. If the demand for leisure activities were to be shifted from the Sabbath [Saturday] to Sunday, this would ostensibly make it easier for the secular population to \"swallow\" the ban on public Sabbath transportation that exists in many locations. Objections to the bill have been raised on several fronts, however, and Langental and other supporters say that these will all be investigated as the proposal proceeds along its legislative path. Its next stop: The Knesset Labor Committee, following the upcoming Knesset recess.
\"If it turns out that the law will in fact cost the State too much money, as the Finance Ministry and other critics say, I will withdraw the bill myself,\" Langental told Arutz-7 today. \"But as it stands now, every so-called expert has a different idea how much it will cost.\" He also could not say for sure whether it would lead to more Sabbath observance. He did say that the \"business interests that we spoke to say they would be happy not to have to open on Shabbat, especially if we make Sunday a day for shopping and all their Shabbat business moves to Sunday.\" Asked how such a situation could be guaranteed for the long-term, he said this would have to be discussed and verified in the coming deliberations.
Arutz-7\'s Yosef Zalmanson also spoke with the NRP\'s #2 man, Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, and asked him how the bill squares with the Biblical command to be productive six days a week and the Sages\' dictum that \"too much leisure leads to sin.\" Rabbi Levy responded that in terms of the youth, \"the issue of what to do with schools on Sunday will have to be discussed... The main purpose is to preserve the Sabbath.\" He agreed that all other aspects that may be affected by this decision will have to be discussed and looked into.
According to the proposal, Monday through Thursday would become nine-hour workdays, and Friday would be a short day. The proposal was initiated by MK Nachum Langental (National Religious Party), though the government opposes it. Langental says that the bill is designed to reduce tensions between the secular and religious, particularly on the issue of public Sabbath observance. If the demand for leisure activities were to be shifted from the Sabbath [Saturday] to Sunday, this would ostensibly make it easier for the secular population to \"swallow\" the ban on public Sabbath transportation that exists in many locations. Objections to the bill have been raised on several fronts, however, and Langental and other supporters say that these will all be investigated as the proposal proceeds along its legislative path. Its next stop: The Knesset Labor Committee, following the upcoming Knesset recess.
\"If it turns out that the law will in fact cost the State too much money, as the Finance Ministry and other critics say, I will withdraw the bill myself,\" Langental told Arutz-7 today. \"But as it stands now, every so-called expert has a different idea how much it will cost.\" He also could not say for sure whether it would lead to more Sabbath observance. He did say that the \"business interests that we spoke to say they would be happy not to have to open on Shabbat, especially if we make Sunday a day for shopping and all their Shabbat business moves to Sunday.\" Asked how such a situation could be guaranteed for the long-term, he said this would have to be discussed and verified in the coming deliberations.
Arutz-7\'s Yosef Zalmanson also spoke with the NRP\'s #2 man, Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, and asked him how the bill squares with the Biblical command to be productive six days a week and the Sages\' dictum that \"too much leisure leads to sin.\" Rabbi Levy responded that in terms of the youth, \"the issue of what to do with schools on Sunday will have to be discussed... The main purpose is to preserve the Sabbath.\" He agreed that all other aspects that may be affected by this decision will have to be discussed and looked into.