It is unimaginable that a Jew in the Jewish state could be fined for not working on Shabbat. That will not happen. If it did, the return to Zion would be pointless. This is not about forcing Shabbat observance or "shutting down the country" on Shabbat, although I do not understand Sarona Market's "vision" of being open "seven days a week" -- which is not quite what the Prophet Isaiah had in mind. No, what we are talking about here is the levying of fine on a business owner who did not want to work on Shabbat. How can we remain indifferent in the face of this callousness? Jews in Zion are being fined by their brethren for refusing to work on Shabbat, based on the petty claim that they are "not respecting the lease." The business owner is not challenging the terms of the contract, but this is not a private story, as it touches on fundamental questions that affect all of us. A lease that requires a Jewish business owner to work on Shabbat must be null and void. As a society and as a collective, we have an eternal contract with Shabbat, which overrides the greed of Gindi Holdings (the owner of Sarona Market). I am not talking about enforcing strict religious observance of Shabbat. No one is seeking to do so and most of Sarona Market is open on Shabbat. On the other hand, we must oppose attempts by Knesset members to legislate a new "Shabbat Law," as if this is what we need. Wherever there is religious coercion, there is no kindness, no thoughtfulness, and, ultimately, no faith. Luckily, no law has yet been passed that obligates circumcision. National poet Haim Nahman Bialik did not observe Shabbat in the halachic sense, yet in the 1930s he wrote to a kibbutz pioneer: "The Land of Israel without Shabbat will not be built, but will be destroyed, and all your work will be for naught. The Jewish people will never give up Shabbat, which is not just the foundation of Israel's existence, but the foundation of human existence. ... Without Shabbat, there is no image of God and no human image in the world. ... It is Shabbat, not the culture of oranges or potatoes, that preserved our people during its wanderings. Now that we have returned to the land of our forefathers, shall it be discarded like some worn-out thing-" Indeed, Shabbat is not just a religious matter. It is a symbol of our culture, tradition, history, and, more than anything, our unity. We have a duty to our children and the public as a whole to preserve Shabbat as a day for culture, not for work.
