Ultra-Orthodox target unkosher deli in non-religious neighborhood

Just two days after violent protests against the desecration of the Sabbath rocked Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, protesters have widened their focus against secular activities by demanding the closure of a newly opened non-kosher delicatessen outside their neighborhood.

The struggle against the shop is being considered a precedent, and comes hot on the heels of religious protests against the opening of municipal parking lots on Shabbat. In addition, dozens of police and protesters were injured this week in clashes following the attempted arrest of ultra-Orthodox businessmen accused of tax evasion.

The Laguna delicatessen, which opened just one week ago on busy Jaffa Road in the city's center, is just outside the large and growing ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Makor Baruch. The shop sells seafood and non-kosher meat products.

Representatives of the religious community quickly made it clear to the shop owner that he should immediately stop offering non-kosher foods.

The head of the Committee for the Sanctity of Shabbat, Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld, was furious when the deli opened, and said his committee “cannot remain silent when a non-kosher shop opens right beside the Makor Baruch neighborhood, a well-known ultra-Orthodox community.”

Rosenfeld did not deny that the shop was located outside the ultra-Orthodox community.

“We will decide what to do,” Rosenfeld said. “There is a plague of shops selling pork throughout our holy city, and we will not let that plague approach our own community as well.”

According to ultra-Orthodox sources, the Laguna is the first shop to sell non-kosher food on Jaffa Road in central Jerusalem, something they feel crosses a red line. They believe that the opening of one such shop will inevitably lead to the opening of other similar shops in the center of the capital. There are other shops that offer non-kosher meat elsewhere in the city.

Ultra-Orthodox communities threatened Thursday that if the Laguna continued to offer non-kosher food, they would consider protesting outside the shop itself. Laguna's owner, who identified himself only as Vladimir, admitted that he was intimidated by the threats and was considering a compromise. “They told me not to sell seafood and pork because this is a religious area,” he said. “Perhaps I'll change the shop's style and stop selling those food products until they calm down and forget about it.”

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